White-bellied Sea Eagle Day 72 Branching!, Big Sur Condor Feathers In The Nest, Northeast Florida Eagles

The White-bellied Sea Eaglet SE16 branched for the first time today! The thumbnail for the video is SE16 jumping up onto the branch. Check out the SE16 Branching video (6:51):

And here's some s'caps from today. While SE16 was on the branch, SE15 was doing some wingercizing. It seemed like the eaglets were looking at each other. But SE15 was actually flapping and hopping all over the nest, making good use of having the nest to himself!

After a few minutes, SE16 jumped back down into the nest. She did a good job her first time branching. For her first jump up, she needed to flap a little to get her body over the branch. She just was a little short getting up there. The jump down into the nest was a lot easier -- and she stuck the landing just fine!

Then she did a quick victory lap, spinning and flapping in a circle.

It looks like the Big Sur Condor cam has been knocked even further out of position. I hope they will apply lessons learned and move it out of reach of the large wingspan for the nest nesting season. Look at all of the feathers in the nest. Are they the babies? Knocked off while flapping in such a confined space? Is it molting already? I see a lot of feathers!

I caught one of the Northeast Florida adults visiting the nest for a few minutes today:

Big Sur Condor Day 141, White-bellied Sea Eagle Day 59, Center for Conservation Biology: High Latitude Tracking of Migratory Plovers

They are saying on the Big Sur Condor site that the chick could fledge any day. But I didn't think that they fledged until after day 165. So, I think it's early still to look for a fledge here.

It looked like a dark day at the White-bellied Sea Eagle nest today. I wonder if they are in for storms...

Wheeee! Getting some air.

This shows their size difference pretty clearly.

Headless parent...

The Center for Conservation Biology put out a new newsletter. Check out this article about High Latitude Tracking of Migratory Plovers.

Big Sur Condor Day 139, Harrison Bay Eagles, White-bellied Sea Eagles Day 57 & 58, Loch of the Lowes Osprey Migration Update, Southwest Florida Cam Is Up, Flooding/Verizon DSL Sucks!

I didn't get to do a blog entry yesterday. (See explanation at bottom.) So, here are the s'caps from yesterday. The Big Sur Condor chick is still hanging around the nest. I found out that the chick accidentally adjusted the camera angle while wingercizing. And they can't approach the nest to fix it because the chick is too old. 

This is the lead-free feeding area for the condor flock.

It was a wet day at the Harrison Bay Eagle nest yesterday. But we did get to see both adults. Here's one.

And then two.

Peeking through the branches in a different tree.

They are going to continue to do nestorations to prepare for the next nesting season.

Later in the day, they both visited the nest.

I think the branch being moved is covered in lichen.

They both briefly perched in the nest before flying away. This is the last s'cap I got yesterday before I lost my internet.

And this was yesterday at the White-bellied Sea Eagle nest.

Wingercizing:

SE15 is looking sideways at SE16, who is pooping. These two are funny...

Big stretch.

I also got some s'caps of the White-bellied Sea Eagles for today:

They really fan the heck out of each other when they wingercize. The other chick is in the process of standing up to get out of the way.

They are looking full grown.

SE16 does a couple of big stretches.

Zoomer gave us some close-ups of SE16:

Then it's back to nap time.

There is a new Loch of the Lowes Osprey blog entry about FR3 and FR4's migrations.

The Southwest Florida Eagle Cam is running now. I know people that love Ozzie are still upset, but it will be interesting seeing what happens now at this nest.

When there are super high tides, I lose my internet connection. Here's why... This is the junction box for my telephone line, without flooding:

And with flooding:

Whenever it floods or even rains real hard, I lose my telephone. Which meand that I lose my internet since I have DSL. It's been several hours now since high tide and the box has dried enough for me to get a decent connection. But, high tide is coming again, so my blog entries might be spotty... And this entry is rushed because I'm scared I'll lose my internet before I can hit the post button...

Big Sur Condor 132, Harrison Bay Eagles, White-bellied Sea Eagles Day 51 Simultaneous Wingercizing, Migration Update For Loch Of The Lowes Osprey FR3 and FR4

The Big Sur Condors are provided stillborn calves to feed on. This is a safe, lead-free, source of food. Preventing lead poisoning is helping to grow the population.

It may seem gross or uncaring to feed these calves to the Condors. But it is what nature intended. I know I feel differently when Bald Eagles bring prey items that have fur vs. something with scales to the nest. I just have to remind myself that predators help to control populations and scavengers have an important job to do too. We'd be hip-deep in carcasses without them!

The Condors are part of a flock.

I don't know if the spread wings is a display of dominance or if it's drying off or cooling off.

The chick is still in the nest. I like the date/time stamp at the top now. But today I noticed that I can't see the entrance to the nest. Bummer... I've seen a lot of feedings happen there, with the parent outside and the chick inside.

I think this is only one of the Harrison Bay Eagle parents perched in the tree. Look for the white head, right in the center of the s'cap...

The White-bellied Sea Eagle's SE15 on the left is so tiny compared to SE16.

I love this!

The female on the right has a more brownish chest than the male.

Here's a video of the Simultaneous Wingercizing that they were doing today (3:44):

Here's an update of the migration of the Loch of the Lowes Osprey FR3 and FR4. I think this is fascinating! I hope their transmitters continue to function for a long time.

Big Sur Condor Day 125 Big Stretch, Harrison Bay Eagles, Northeast Florida Eagles Three Camera Views, White-bellied Sea Eagles Day 44

The only thing I saw the Big Sur Condor chick do, besides lay around...

...was some of these big stretches. Look at those feet sticking out the back! Toes all stretched out! So cute! (They have added a clock to the cam.)

The Harrison Bay Eagles like to visit the nest in the evening, shortly before the IR camera turns on.

They often disagree on how to fluff the nest and do nestorations.

It's never anything serious.

And they always stick together.

There are three camera views at the Northeast Florida Eagle nest. This should be a good nest to follow!

The White-bellied Sea Eagle chicks look wet today.

Even the parent is trying to dry off.

We got a big zoom. Look at that foot!

I swear these two are like a couple of kids. There was some elbowing and shoving going on as they lay side-by-side.