Berry College Eaglet Day 55, Nest Cam Round-up: Hays, Northeast Florida, Two Harbors, White Rock, Loch of the Lowes, and Berry Bluebird

So many pictures today. I'm just going to apologize now if it's too many!

Today was day 55 for the Berry College Bald Eagle. What a busy day it was! There were long moments of just standing and staring off into space. I had to keep checking to make sure the cam wasn't frozen. (And it wasn't...)

 

 

But even when nothing was happening, something was happening! In this pic, the eaglet is standing on one foot. Adults do this a lot. I don't think there is any problem with the foot, just trying something new. The left foot is tucked up under the feathers.

There was lots of flapping, but thanks to the camera angle, we can't see the baby's head... (I really wish they'd fix the camera angle!) Look at that wingspan!

 

  

Discoveries were made, like, "What does this stick taste like?"

And, "I have a tail back there?"

 

The face-plant nap is always popular.

And the big wing stretch is very popular. If the nest is 6 feet across, then the chicks wingspan is getting close to 6 feet.

This big stretch shows how big the eaglet's body is.

There was another attempt at self-feeding today. Unfortunately, this was another nestover that didn't have any meat on it... Hopefully, the baby will get something good to try this on.

There's lots of "white-wash" over the edge of the nest now.

You can see how well the baby's feathers insulate and keep the eaglet dry, with the rain beading up on the baby's back.

That's a lot of pictures and I'm just getting started!

At the Hays nest, the two older chicks showed each other some aggression while the baby stayed low (smart baby):

The tiff is soon settled when nature calls.

 

The baby has a good-sized crop, so I'm satisfied that it's doing ok.

They were all lining up, thinking, "Food!"

I got a quick look at one of the Northeast Florida fledglings right before it flew away:

 At the Two Harbors nest, the baby was being lazy. I checked in at one point and all I could see is nap-time.

Later, all I can make out is grey fluff and this big foot sticking out.

I thought I was going to see something happen at the White Rock nest when I brought up the cam. But this was as exciting as it got. Which is a good thing.

There was a bit of a "tail-wind" ruffling feathers.

 I checked back in later and found I'd missed a position change.

Then while I watched there was an egg roll, but I didn't get to see the eggs.

And back down on the eggs...

 I had a couple of extra minutes today before work to try to get a daytime picture of the Scottish Wildlife Trust's Loch of the Lowes Osprey nest. A pretty scene.

This is the usual thing to see when I bring up this nest after I get home from work -- just a sleeping Mom.

The rest of these are the brief moments when she opens an eye or looks around prior to going back to sleep. These are probably 20 seconds of action during about 1.5 hours of viewing... (I don't want to set false expectations for anyone going to these cams...)

She looked like she was set for the night, so I checked other cams. When I came back, she had changed position and I missed it... I guess we'll have to wait until tomorrow to see if she has laid a third egg.

Mom Berry Bluebird surprised us today and laid a forth egg, even though she began incubating last night. Pretty eggs!

 Here's a couple of different incubating poses.

 

I don't know what she was doing here... Part of her left foot is visible.

I don't know if bluebirds roll their eggs or if she was just checking them out.

I'm not sure why she was calling out here. She was really excited. She left for a few minutes and then came back and resumed incubating. Let me tell you, if you blink, you miss these birds doing something. Bald Eagles are lumbering birds in comparison!