Date Admitted: January 29, 2021
On January 29, we were granted permission from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to retrieve E17 and E18 from the Southwest Florida Eagle Cam nest to provide a veterinary check and treatment for their eyes.
Thanks to help from our friends at Joshua Tree, Inc we were able to remove them and transport them to our clinic on Sanibel.
Status Updates
Intake Exam
January 29, 2021 3:45 pm
Our veterinarians have completed the exam on the two eaglets. Both of the eaglets eyes were crusty and partially closed, but they were reported to be well fed and otherwise in good shape. They were unable to determine an exact cause for their eye condition as of yet, but swabs were taken for testing. After the eyes were cleaned, both eaglets received antibiotic and anti-inflammatory eyes drops. At this time, we do not have a timeline for their return to the nest, but hope to be able to do so as soon as possible. 
First Feed
January 29, 2021 4:12 pm
The eaglets were transferred to our rehabilitation team and given a feeding. Their eyes will continue to be monitored for improvement as they receive more feeds. They are fed cut up mouse pieces. We purchase frozen lab mice and rats for feeding our wildlife patients to ensure there are no rodenticides. 
FAQ's
January 30, 2021 8:01 am
We had a lot of questions and comments on our posts yesterday so we thought we would answer some of the frequently asked questions with a post since we are unable to respond to so many individually. Will the parents accept the eaglets back and continue to care for them? We never know exactly how the adults will respond. It is not a certainty they will accept them back and depends on the amount of time the eaglets are away from the nest. This why it is so important that we get them back as soon as we possibly can and also why extreme caution is used by USFWS when granting permission to enter the nest. We have successfully renested eaglets in the past (including E8 in this very nest), so we are very hopeful they will be accepted back without any issue. How long will the eaglets be in care? This is dependent on how their eyes respond to our treatment. As soon as they are ready, we will get them back up to the nest. Can you determine the sex of the eaglets? No, we will not sex them while they are in our care. This requires a blood test that we cannot do in house and we do not want to cause additional stress by drawing blood if it is not necessary. Will the eaglets be banded/tagged? No, the eaglets are too small to be banded and this also requires an additional permit. We do not band or tag any birds released from our care unless it is specifically requested by a permit holder to do so. How much do the eaglets weigh? E17 weighed 220 grams at intake while E18 weighed 157 grams. 