Latest pictures from the nest

On Thursday, Kay and I were fortunate enough to visit the Boardroom at the Franklin Institute for a photo session.

It is an extraordinary, almost spiritual experience to gaze into an eyass's eyes and have that gaze returned intently with no fear.



The eyasses are intensely curious about everything in their environment. Every time Kay raised her camera, they craned forward, tipping their heads from side to side, watching us. There was absolutely no fear or nervousness from them. They were interested in and watching us the whole time.




Their eyes are HUGE!



And each time we changed position, or someone walked by the privacy screen, an eyass would step closer to peer at what was happening.



Their wings are also huge! When they flap it is astonishing how big and grown up they look.



It is really starting to get crowded in the nest and can only be a matter of a day or two before someone ventures out onto the ledge.



As the tiercel came in to land with a freshly caught bird in his talons, the eyasses crouched down at the back of the nest to give him room.



He feeds them conscientiously even though the eyasses are now pretty much able to feed themselves from the food brought to the nest.



The eyasses' feathers are coming in all over their bodies replacing the baby fluff, and you can begin to see the chestnut feathering on their chests. The eyass on the right has fewer feathers around its neck and back, and is probably the one from the third egg, a couple of days behind the other two.



A close-up of the feathers shows some of them still in the casings.



Their tail feathers are also growing in fast....



.... as well as those FEET!




We left the eyasses full of food and peacefully settling into sleep in their usual pile....



.... under the watchful care of the Franklin Institute.