Berry College Fledgling Day 98, Nest Cam Round-up: White Rock, Loch of the Lowes Osprey, and Berry College Bluebird, and Bald Eagle Camellia Checked In

Today was day 98 for the Berry College Bald Eagle. I wasn't home all day, so no s'caps. Funny, the SWFL Bald Eagle spent many nights after fledge sleeping in the nest lying down. I haven't seen the Berry College Fledgling spend a single night in the nest since fledgling. She must be enjoying her freedom!

Look at these babies at the White Rock nest! So funny how they are laying alike. I think Mom is napping here. You can see that Dad is perched above the nest.

Mom rouses and looks around.

Then closes her eyes again. The babies did simultaneous wing stretches, but I missed getting the s'cap...

There is no hatch at the Scottish Wildlife Trust's Loch of the Lowes Osprey nest this year. It's sad that none of the eggs hatched. But it is also an opportunity to observe how the Osprey react to the situation. It occurred to me that it's light there now because there days get super long in the summer. I remember flying out of bed at 3:00AM once, thinking I had over-slept! Here it is, daylight again.

The Berry College Bluebird Mom has begun incubating 4 eggs. No pictures of the eggs since I wasn't home today. I only know that there are 4 eggs by reading the chat. I hope she has better luck this time!

Bald Eagle Camellia checked in.

Berry College Fledgling Day 97, Nest Cam Round-up: White Rock, Berry College Bluebird, and Loch of the Lowes, and Bald Eagle NX Checked In

It's day 97 for the Berry College Fledgling. I saw the fledgling at the nest, but was so intent on getting video of her leaving the nest that I forgot to get any s'caps. I did get video of her out on a branch that seems way too small... She only caught my attention when she landed on the branch. So I started recording while she was catching her balance. Then she folded her wings and disappeared! I'm always amazed at how well such a big bird can do that. Here's a link to the short video. I thought I'd blown my chance to get a s'cap of her, but then one of the parents landed in the nest with one of the ugliest fish I've ever seen.

Four minutes later I caught a commotion out of the corner of my eye as the little piglet lands in the nest, knocks the parent out of the way, and claims the fish. (Eagle parents are so patient!)

The parent hopped up onto the front branch while the fledgling remained mantled over the fish.

Even after the parent had flown away, she held this pose until she was sure there would be no challenge.

Then she relaxed and ate the whole thing!

I was all set up to try to get video of her leaving the nest. And that little bugger flew off of the back of the nest!

I caught the White Rock nest right after it switched over to IR. I much prefer the color picture! I can see tail feathers coming in pretty good.

At the Berry College Bluebird nest, egg number 3 -- right on time! During the day today, a hand suddenly appeared. (Not something I expected to see...) Then the camera angle was adjusted a few times. And now the nest bowl is more centered.

There aren't any updates posted on the Scottish Wildlife Trust's Loch of the Lowes Osprey cam. I don't know if they've had a hatch or not... But I was surprised to bring up the cam just now (after 1:00AM) to find it's daylight there. I need to figure out the time change...

Bald Eagle NX checked in.

Berry College Fledgling Day 96, Nest Cam Round-up: White Rock, Hays, Berry College Bluebird, and Loch of the Lowes Osprey, Bald Eagle Camellia Checked In, Bald Eagle ND is Photographed, Update for Bald Eagle Buddy

Today is day 96 for the Berry College Bald Eagle. She didn't spend much time at the nest, but at least I got to see her.

Ut oh, we've been spotted!

She's telling us a thing or two...

I got to check in at the White Rock nest. Look at these two cutie-pies snuggled together while the parent is perched above them, keeping watch.

Big wing stretch.

Usually, I caption poop shots, "Lookout below!" But this one is "Lookout parent!" Seriously... But, it's not the first time I've seen a parent victimized by an eaglet! It's not on purpose...

One of the Hays eaglets is awake tonight.

Turns out they are all awake -- I've seen wing stretches out of the other two.

Right on time, egg number two at the Berry College Bluebird nest.

You can always tell when one of the parents is getting ready to enter the nest because the light coming into the box is blocked when they are getting ready to enter the box. And sure enough, here comes Mom!

Why is she incubating the eggs? It's not a complete clutch yet. I didn't watch this nest as closely with the last clutch and don't know if she did this then. But once the eggs are warmed by incubation, it's important that they not be allowed to cool off. Once the embryo starts to develop, it needs to be kept warm. I wonder if this is the reason only 1 of the 5 eggs laid in the last clutch hatched.

Still no hatch at the Scottish Wildlife Trust's Loch of the Lowes Osprey nest. I believe that if there is no hatch by this time tomorrow, then we are out of the hatch window... While I was watching the cam this evening I heard an owl hooting, and so did Mom, opening her eyes each time. Owls are predators of eggs and young, so Mom is smart to pay attention.

Bald Eagle Camellia checked in today.

(Wonderful news, part one!) Bald Eagle ND has been sighted and photographed! He is a beautiful Bald Eagle! ND is Camellia's brother -- same nest, same year. (Camellia has leg band NC and the third eagle from the Norfolk Botanical Garden in 2010 is NE.) You can see one of my first blog posts for more details about ND and his siblings. Look at the entry for the year 2010. (And note that today is ND's 4th anniversary of fledging.)

(Wonderful news, part two!) There is an update for Bald Eagle Buddy! It's hard to believe he's 6 years old now. There are two new pictures of him and he looks great!

Berry College Fledgling Day 95, Nest Cam Round-up: Two Harbors, and Berry College Bluebird

This is my blog post for yesterday 5/28 when I was having connection problems.

Yesterday was day 95 for the Berry College Fledgling. When I first brought up the nest, it was to see one of the adults polishing off a fish -- here with the fish tail protruding from its mouth as the entire end of the fish was swallowed in one big last bite.

The eaglet came to the nest later on. I didn't see a parent arrive with a fish for her. It's ok. Bald Eagles don't eat every day in the wild.

A friend of mine asked me if the eaglet is like kids, coming home for food and laundry. It was a great question! Here's the answer I gave to her: Yep. Food and laundry. She is working on her flying and landing skills. She is spending time with her parents learning to forage. (Often, you will see the youngster fly into the nest with the parent, who has food. There’s a good chance that she was out with the parent, observing the catch.) Once she is confident in her skills, she will fly away. The parents will understand that she is gone when she stops coming to the nest for food, and they will stop bringing food to the nest. The parents will then go on and be eagles, (with or without each other) returning in the fall for nestorations for the next nesting season. It’s an awesome cycle to watch! Thanks for the question Diane!

The Two Harbors Eaglet is at that fun age! It's not all pancake-mode anymore (although there's still some of that.)

There's a lot of wingercizing now. There's sound at this nest and she is a talker, squeeing the whole time she's doing this.

Does it count as branching at this nest when she stands on the big stick that's lying across the nest? (Probably not...)

This was a bad hop-landing.

It was a big day at the Berry College Bluebird nest! Tada! We should continue to see an egg added each day until the clutch is complete. Then Mom should start incubating.

Verizon DSL Sucks!!!

I lose my DSL when it rains because my phone lines are buried. Tonight was the third time I’ve had to call them in two weeks. Tomorrow will be the third time the repairman comes to my house in two weeks. Maybe now they will figure out what I’ve been telling them: Replace my buried phone lines!!! No post tonight. I have to reset my router and then type as fast as I can before I lose the connection. Then repeat until I get the post done. So annoying! I'll try again tomorrow...

Berry College Fledgling Day 94 (Short Video), Nest Cam Round-up: Hays, White Rock, Berry College Bluebird, Rachel Carson's Birthday

The fledgling was back in the Berry College Bald Eagle nest today. And the Blue Jay was back to harassing her -- dive-bombing her over and over again. Each of these s'caps is from a different attack. What a cheeky little bird! The Eaglet was pretty oblivious... She was busy digging in the nest grasses, only looking up a couple of times.

This was actually a touch-and-go off of the eaglet. She looked up after this one...

Here's a couple of other s'caps from today -- these include her pretty face!

Here's a link to a video of the eaglet today. She does one of those big stretches that I love and then retrieved a piece of nestovers from over the side of the nest. It looked like a bone to me, but she was trying to eat it...

It's a wet evening at the Hays nest. Nobody looks happy tonight.

The White Rock nest was at the other end of the spectrum today, with all three enjoying the pretty view.

I got a s'cap of the poop flying. That's some high pressure there!

Big crops -- well fed babies here.

I caught the Berry College Bluebird fit testing the new nest bowl. She was turning this way and that, making sure it was right from all angles.

Today is Rachel Carson's birthday! The environmentalist that authored 'Silent Spring' was instrumental in the conservation of Bald Eagles and other birds. There's a nice article in the Washington Post about her.