OK Experts Tag Eaglets To Learn More About Population

Oklahoma researchers want to learn more about the state's bald eagle population.

Biologists with the wildlife department and experts with the United States Geological Survey are tagging eaglets.

The chicks can't fly yet, but their mom and dad were keeping close watch overhead.

There is a male and a female. They are about eight weeks old, so all their feathers are still dark.

"Bald eagles take about four, four and a half years before they get that white head and tail that most people identify with a bald eagle. These chicks, at about eight weeks, are about eight pounds or so and they're pretty well developed,” said ODWC wildlife specialist Jena Donnell said.

Only the female eaglet was big enough to be equipped with a cellular transmitter, that will collect information on where the bird is and how high and fast it can fly.