Berry College Eagles Day 35&37, Recovery Of Bald Eagle Camellia's Transmitter

A few s'caps from the Berry College nest today. (There were a lot of food deliveries to the nest today. I saw a coot, a squirrel, and two fish. It takes a lot of food to keep these growing chicks well fed!) This first s'cap looks like they are sharing secrets. The wing and tail feathers show the older chick to be on the left.

 

 

Older chick is still on the left in this s'cap. I'm starting to think the older is a male and the younger is a female. We'll have to wait to see how big they grow.

Dirty beak reminds me of a kid with chocolate smears around the mouth while denying getting into the candy. "I didn't eat any of that coot!"

Mom is standing on what's left of the coot. There's a fish at 12 o'clock and a squirrel at 7 o'clock with a fish on its face.

It started to rain and the chicks were trying to get under the Mom-brella. They don't quite fit any more... Mom was very patient as they jostled her and each other while trying to fit. Too cute! Older chick is on the left.

Bald Eagle Camellia's transmitter has been recovered. The straps were broken, either by Camellia or from age/wear. Here's Reese's blog entry about it with pictures.

Berry College Eagles Day 27&29, Camellia's 5th Birthday, Saving Nature, Growing Bird Seed, The Loneliest Whale, Nudibranchs

Here's a few s'caps from today at the Berry College nest. These two were all over each other today. Snuggle-buddies!

Reese made a blog entry for Camellia's 5th birthday yesterday. I wonder if he has found a mate or built a nest...

Here's an article about saving nature, one back-yard at a time.

And an article about growing your own bird seed.

Have you heard of 52: The Loneliest Whale in the World? I hope they find him...

Have you heard of nudibranchs? I think I'd heard of them before but was still glad to stumble upon them again. They are so pretty. And check out what you get when you do a Google images search for them. So pretty!

Berry College S'Cap Of The Day, Norfolk Airport Rant, Bald Eagle Camellia

Here's the Berry College babies today, before the weather got bad. Some kind of prey item to the left:

I have said for years that it is not safe to fly in or out of the Norfolk Airport due to their unwillingness to address their problems with wildlife on their property. The number of birds at the airport is increasing and the number of bird strikes is on the rise. Check out this article and watch the video. Steven Sterling, the airport's Operations Director, is interviewed for the article. Talk about deer in the headlights. This guy is tap-dancing about the issue, and not doing a very good job of it. The article points out that the airport has not implemented corrective measure as recommended by biologists and the FAA. Instead, they have spent $40,000 to harass the Bald Eagles (whose territory is the neighboring Botanical Garden) and tear down their nests. Sterling says they are doing what is reasonable. He states that complying with the necessary action on airport property is the airport's long term goal. What isn't stated is that what they really want is to put in a new runway. (This part is not from the news story, this is my opinion on the matter: I believe that wetlands rules have prevented them from making the changes necessary to put in another runway. But now they can sell these changes under the guise of mitigating a hazard to aviation by removing habitat that is friendly to wildlife. And what a surprise! That would give them room for their new runway. In the mean time, they do nothing about the hazard presented by wildlife on their property. I think this has been their plan all along. Let the problem at the airport fester until they can sell the idea that gets them their runway. They are holding the flying public's safety hostage to get their new runway. They have been trying for a decade to get this runway, and now they see their chance.) The airport is completely negligent. And Mayor Fraim must want another runway because he is complicit in the negligence. (See my previous posts.) I have said from the start of this mess that the airport needs to take action to keep wildlife off of airport property instead of chasing the Bald Eagles out of the Botanical Garden. From the article: 

Bird counts at the airport noted only a handful of bald eagles in the area, but more than a thousand heavy and dangerous birds like the Canada goose and the Double-crested cormorant.

I continue my recommendation to not use that airport! It's just not safe. The last bit of the news article says that Bald Eagles are becoming more abundant in the area. Ummm, when a wrote a letter years ago to the airport, Mayor Fraim, and Norfolk's City Council, I told them that's what would happen when you remove a territorial pair of Bald Eagles that chase other Bald Eagles away... What a bunch of idiots.

Good news! The reports of the demise of Camellia's transmitter are greatly exaggerated! He did report in. The hope is that when the clouds clear, his transmitter will get enough of a charge to start regularly sending his location again. Talons crossed!

Berry College Bald Eagle Nest: Pip In Second Egg!, An Update For Bald Eagle HK, and The Final Transmitter Report For Bald Eagle Camellia

The fun part of the adventure has started at Berry College. Look at that 1-day old cutie. This was during a feeding and its attention was on the parent. A pip is visible in the second egg. Last year, the second egg didn't hatch. So, I'm excited to see two chicks grow in this nest and pray that they don't have any problems. The egg shell from yesterday is gone, either removed or eaten by the parents. The pip in the second egg is toward the top of the egg:

This late at night, Mom is asleep... Sometimes she tucks her head under her wing and sometimes it's face-plant mode. I don't know what prompts the different positions or if it is random. It looks like there is a food item to the left. Once a chick has hatched, Dad is driven to provide food, food, food! Get ready to see a lot of nestovers laying around.

I'm happy to find that Pam Monahan is making regular visits to Honey Bee Golf Course to check on Bald Eagle HK and his lady Sterling. Here's a link to her latest post. She is doing a fantastic job of documenting this pair. I haven't seen HK's nest in a while -- it is pretty impressive!

Reese recently reported that Bald Eagle Camellia's transmitter has finally stopper reporting his location. Here is Reese's post with some interesting facts about Camellia.

Africam Black Eagle (Fledge!), Bald Eagle HK's Girlfriend Has Been Identified!, Bald Eagles Location Updates: Camellia, Grace, NX, C35, and C46, New Picture of Bald Eagle Dirty Tail

Here's the Africam Black Eagle s'caps to get up to date on that nest. I think this eaglet is shy sometimes... This is from 9/5.

It was almost dark before I thought to check in on 9/6.

On 9/8, the eaglet was checking out the area outside of the nest. We can always hear water rushing on this cam. They had adjusted the camera angle to include the front of the nest in anticipation of fledging, which also shows the water.

On 9/9, the eaglet was still in the nest.

And on 9/10, the nest is empty... According to chat, the fledge occurred during the time that the camera is off-line... I know it was a great disappointment to the people that have camped out watching this cam, hoping to see the moment. But they will be able to see the fledgling come and go in the coming days as it returns to the nest for food and possibly rest.

Bald Eagle HK's girlfriend has been identified. Meet Bald Eagle Sterling! I'm so excited by this wonderful post! And speaking of HK, check out these latest posts by Pam Monahan on her blog. In this first post I think HK's sunset picture is pretty and I love the duck picture. Then she got some great pictures of HK in this second post.

Bald Eagle Camellia has checked in here and here.

Bald Eagle Grace has checked in here and here.

Bald Eagle NX checked in on 9/5.

There are new location updates for Bald Eagles C35 and C46.

Duane has posted a new picture of Bald Eagle Dad Norfolk's girlfriend Bald Eagle Dirty Tail (DT).

Nest Cam Round-up: White-bellied Sea Eagle Day 21 and 22, Africam Black Eagle, Dyfi Osprey, Location Updates for Bald Eagles Camellia, Grace, and NX

Today is day 22 for the White-bellied Sea Eagle. The chick is growing like a weed. First is the week 3 collage from yesterday, day 21. You can tell how much it is growing by comparing its size to the egg. Week 1 and 2 s'caps were taken on rainy days, but the chick is nice and dry again for this week's scap.

Here are the other s'caps from yesterday, (9/2 our date, 9/3 their date.) Here's the other close-up of the chick that I was considering for the collage.

Mom brought a huge fish to the nest. We know it's Mom because she is dirty where she's been laying in wet leaves.

That's a big fish!

Zoomer gave us some nice close-ups of the feeding.

Mom fed the chick for a while. Then the baby did a 5-point-stance poop shot. (5 point: two feet, two wings and one head.)

 

Eventually, Mom left then nest. Then all of a sudden, Mom landed in the nest. (Dirty belly and legs.)

Then two seconds later, Dad landed. (Nice and clean.)

They were both looking around. I don't know if there was a threat that brought them to the nest together.

 I've just got these three s'caps from today, taken just now. The baby is watching one of the parents pluck a small bird. You can see feathers scattered nearby in the nest.

The Africam Black Eagle was tucked up in the back of the nest again yesterday.

Yesterday at the Montgomeryshire Wildlife Trust's Dyfi Osprey Project nest there was only one Osprey on the high perch behind the nest. And I can't tell if it's an adult or one of the fledglings.

Today's scene is almost the same as yesterday, except there's a big fish in the nest.

 

There is an update for Bald Eagle Camellia. He has been making the rounds!

Bald Eagle Grace has also checked in. She has found a good fishing spot!

And, not wanting to be left out, Bald Eagle NX checked in.

Nest Cam Round-up: White-bellied Sea Eagle, Africam Black Eagle, Berry College Bluebird, Dyfi Osprey, White Rock (Disintegrating Nest), Berry College (Still Growing Grass), Location Updates for Bald Eagles Camellia, Grace, NX, and HK

OK. I got caught up on the White-bellied Sea Eagle nest yesterday. But I missed posting a couple of the videos I had from 8/27 (or 8/28 their date). This first one is a wet Mom feeding something with legs to the baby. I think it's a bird. You can hear the rain gently falling. Then she settles back over the chick to brood. (1:00)

Dad showed up a few minutes later and cried for his chance to brood. But Mom wasn't budging because it was still raining! She raised up a few times, because the baby was acting like it was romper room under there. But she didn't get up. So, Dad left...

And I've just got a couple of s'caps from today, day 20. Yesterday was the first day of Spring at the nest in Australia. They get up so early!

This is Dad, blocking the view...

Dad finally moved out of the way and took off. He didn't go to the edge of the nest before leaping. He took off from just outside the nest bowl, giving this great view of his take-off.

The chick looks like a dumpling laying in the nest bowl.

The baby is hard to cover now while brooding.

 The chick is pretty stable now while sitting up.

Let me see if I can get the other nests caught up now! First up is the Africam Black Eagle cam. This baby is all grown up now. This first one is from 8/19:

Not much changed on 8/20:

The next time I got to look at the nest was on 8/23. The baby wasn't just laying there like a lump! I don't see it calling very often. 

But it was looking and calling. I love how its wing looks!

It was moving around the nest a lot.

I love the foot rest here.

I wonder if there's a perch above the nest where the parents hang out... The baby spends a lot of time looking up. Or, maybe there's something flying around.

At one point, it looked like it was trying to eat some nestovers.

Then the night cam came on.

The IR light shows the coloration of the tail feathers...

And the cap on the top of the head...

The chick was hanging out where we could see it on 8/26. This is looking like a completely grown up eagle.

 

On 8/28, the chick was hiding from the camera.

It was kinda hiding on 8/29. I think it was eating. Being watchful to make sure it wasn't going to be disturbed alternating with bending over to eat.

There wasn't much happening yesterday, 8/31.

Here's a couple of cute s'caps of the Berry College Bluebird from 8/12 that I never did post. It looks like a farmer with a piece of straw stuck in its beak:

 
 The Osprey at the Montgomeryshire Wildlife Trust's Dyfi Osprey Project nest have fledged, but you can still catch them at the nest eating a fish or on one of the perches behind the nest. That's what I found on 8/19. You can tell that this is one of the chicks because the dark feathers are tipped in white.

 

Other days you get nothing but rain. Such was the case on 8/20.

And on some days, there's activity. But no Osprey. On 8/22, I found these two crows pecking around for nestovers.

We were in for some fun on 8/23. I brought up the cam and found one of the fledglings in the nest eating a fish.

What is that, just off cam? The osprey is giving it the stink eye.

The intruder moves in, just over the edge of the nest.

It's a Magpie!

The Osprey was puffing up, defending its fish from the Magpie! What was the Magpie doing?

It was doing a fly-by.

It was a bold bird!

It looks like the Magpie is making its move.

I didn't get any more s'caps with the Magpie, but I did get this s'cap of the clouds rolling across the landscape.

I got these s'caps on 8/26. I can't tell if this is one of the adults or one of the fledglings...

All I could get on 8/28 was the circle of "wait" but I could still tell that one of the fledglings was in the nest eating a fish and two other Osprey were on the high perch.

Then on 8/29, nobody was home...

I've got one s'cap of the empty and disintegrating White Rock nest. The parents have their work cut out for them building it back up for the coming nesting season!

And there's still grass growing at the Berry College Bald Eagle nest! I assume it will die off when the weather turns... I still find it amusing.

Of course, the transmittered Bald Eagles have checked in. Here are their most recent updates:

Bald Eagle Camellia 8/18.
Bald Eagle Grace 8/18.
Bald Eagle Camellia 8/21. You can tell where he's fishing!
Bald Eagle Grace 8/21.
Bald Eagle Camellia 8/25.
Bald Eagle Grace 8/25.
Bald Eagle Camellia 8/28.
Bald Eagle Grace 8/28.
Bald Eagle Camellia 8/30. He's exploring new territory.
Bald Eagle Grace 8/30. She has found a good fishing spot.

Bald Eagle NX has also checked in a few times. She has moved closer to her 2012 release site.

Great news! After no update since the end of March on Pam Monahan's blog about Bald Eagle HK, she has posted a few entries:
8/18.
8/19.
8/23.

OK. That's it for tonight! I'm all caught up!