Nest Cam Round-up: Hays (Eaglet Fell), White Rock (Christian Sasse Live Broadcast), Decorah (Eaglet Rescue), Maine (Siblicide - Sadness and Hope), Berry College Bluebird

There was much drama just now at the Hays nest. One of the eaglets that hasn't fledged yet was jumping down from a branch into the nest, hit a branch and fell past the nest. Here's a video of the fall. The eaglet is on a branch above the nest right in the center. It fell at time stamp 20:45:59. This happened when it was starting to get dark. There wasn't enough light for anyone on the ground to try to spot the eaglet. I hope it's ok. Here's a s'cap of the third eaglet still in the nest. It was looking over the edge (at the sibling that fell?)

I caught Christian Sasse doing another live broadcast at the White Rock nest today. We were treated to some great close-ups of one of the eaglets!

I still like the wide angle because of the beautiful scenery.

Wingercizing:

One of the Decorah fledglings was found in the middle of the street today and did not try to fly away from people. The folks from the Raptor Resource Project were able to capture it and are holding it overnight for observation. I hope they treat it for lice!

The news at the Maine nest is not good. The little eaglet died overnight. (If you aren't familiar with what happened, you can read my blog post from yesterday.) This morning, the bigger eaglet was calling for its parents. When they didn't come, it tried to eat the sibling. I think it was getting small bites, but it doesn't know how to defeather a bird yet. One of the parents came to the nest and was removing its feathers when suddenly it left. Later in the day, after having left my computer, I came back to find it frozen with a parent on the nest. But I don't know what occurred during that visit... But it is good news that at least one parent is coming to the nest more often now. And I believe the eaglet was fed today. There is no doubt that this is a sad situation. But there is hope for this nest. The dead sibling will now provide much needed food for the remaining sibling, giving hope that it will survive the food shortage that caused the siblicide. I know this is hard in general and heartbreaking for the people that follow this nest. But these parents will be better able to provide for one eaglet and hopefully we will see it fledge. Here's a s'cap of the surviving eaglet from today:

A parent is preparing to feed the eaglet, who is "squeeeing" in anticipation:

I got some s'caps of the Berry College Bluebirds this morning. Good thing since the cam is down now... I see that their eyes are starting to open! And look at those feathers! They are starting to look like birds!

It looks like their eyes are more open when they think food is coming (above) then when they don't (below). Or maybe it's just that they present a different angle of their faces to the cam when they think there's food coming...