INDEPENDENCE -- TOUGH LOVE -- COURAGE

Big Bear Bald Eaglet Simba appears to be honing his skills to become independent with episodes of wing flapping while perched on his tree nest's launch branch, but he has not yet taken that first flight as best I can tell.   

Some observations I made with visits via the 24/7 live video camera Friday and Saturday suggest parents Jackie and Shadow may be introducing some tough love measures to encourage son Simba to accelerate his activities to become independent.   He exhibited instances of agitation toward his parents, pecking at his mother, as they did not always respond to his whining calls, leaving him alone for longer time periods, with fewer food offerings and more struggle to feed himself.  

I wonder if Simba must develop courage to make that first leap into the air?  Does he feel apprehension about trying to capture food?  Looking out at Big Bear Lake I’ve wondered what happens to an eaglet who accidentally ends up in the water learning to swoop down to catch a fish?  

I was surprised to learn bald eagles frequently swim.  How do they learn to swim?  The birds sometimes catch fish too large to fly with so must release the fish or swim to shore with them gripped in their talons.  

The bald eagles use an avian style butterfly stroke as demonstrated by this New Hampshire bird:

This bald eagle swam clear across the entire Mississippi River:

I wonder if Simba's parents are, in fact, using what we humans refer to as tough love measures to prompt his continued development of self-reliance skills?   

Surely Simba will have the courage to be making his first flight any day now.  Hope he can make it back to the nest after his first few short flying ventures before leaving the nest permanently.

Live Feed 24/7 Video Cam:  https://youtu.be/5b2dUgK6VV4

Courage is a quality not only our earth's cohabiting creatures exhibit but so do we humans to best  survive.   I think there are different types of courage though we often think of it in relation to military behavior on the battlefield.   Anytime we undertake anything new we're tapping into a certain degree of courage to do so -- risking making a mistake or being unsuccessful.  Courage is required in our personal and professional lives.   What requires courage for one person might not for another.

We exhibit different types of courage at different stages or ages in our lives.   For example, there can be some courage required early in our older years deciding if or when we should retire.  Or, maybe, retirement is involuntary and courage is needed to focus on how to best continue our life. 

Even if our lives proceed relatively smoothly there can still be issues of uncertainty for some, such as where best to live requiring some decision-making courage.    Some of us demonstrate courage in everyday living in how we cope with medical issues.  

What each of us determine to be courageous for ourselves, while often the same, can also be quite different from one another.  Taking an unpopular stance on issues can be courageous.  What do you think of as courageous behavior or acts you or others have taken?