It's day 10 for the Berry College Bald Eagle chick. I'll be glad when the baby no longer requires constant brooding. I saw Mom Berry step on the baby's head twice today while she was trying to get into brooding position. Mom is stretching her injured leg in this screen capture. She usually does this after laying down for a while. She seems to be using her left leg more and I even saw her make a fist during this stretch today.
Feeding time and the chick is chilling with the egg.
Here's a short video of a funny interaction between the Humboldt Bay Bald Eagles yesterday. It seems they disagreed on where to place a stick. Don't have your speakers too loud as there is a lot of wind noise. And in this second video of the same couple, Dad makes an attempt at mating (and fails) and then gets it right later on. I do want to point out some interesting behaviors in this video. In the first attempt, Dad hops up next to Mom and puts his head down. She wants to mate so she puts her head down and Dad hops on. Very often, when I see this sequence, I know what's going to happen next... Anyway, if you don't laugh at these two videos, then we just have a very different sense of humor. I think I have found the other nest to watch this season! Fingers crossed they have 2 or 3 hatchlings...
I usually put my orchids outside during the summer. Watering them is always a pain after I bring them inside for the winter -- except this year I'm trying something new. (Do not water Moth Orchids this way. The leaves will rot off if water gets into the junction where the leaf meets the trunk of the plant.) Here are my 15 (non-moth) orchids in my spare tub. I adjust the water temperature, close the shower curtain, and then let it rain. Then I can leave them to drain before putting them back where they belong. Perfect!
Can you see the flower in the above picture? That is the flower spike that I first noticed on my Epidendrum on October 1st and posted about here. The flower is supposed to be a ball of little flowers, like a firework. So, this isn't the best example of an Epidendrum. But I'm still happy it is finally in bloom. Here's a close-up of the flowers:
My Betta died on January 25th, exactly 2 years from the day that I brought him home. I finally found a new Betta that I like. His name is Cinnamon. I put together this cool new house for him. My other Betta was just in a little Betta bowl. But this Betta seems so much happier in this nice house. That's a real plant in there, helping to oxygenate the water!
I blogged about my Orchids in previous posts. And I promised an update. Two of my Orchids are doing great! So, I'm doing pictures of them first:
This is my Cattleya:
Taken on 11/10 showing the buds just coming out of the sheath:
Taken on 11/17, using my finger to show the size of the flower buds:
Taken on 11/21 just to look pretty. This is the first time I've ever seen this orchid bloom:
Taken on 11/21 to show size of blooms:
Taken on 11/21 close-up to show detail -- pretty and fragrant. Looks like velvet:
This is my Dendrobium:
Taken on 11/10 showing flower spike with flower buds:
Taken on 11/17 with one bloom open:
Taken on 11/24 with two blooms open. Pretty, but not fragrant:
My Epidendrum taken on 11/10. Still looks the same today... Not sure what's happening here:
My Mini-Cattleya taken on 11/10. Seems like the sheath died. Not sure why. We had a hot patch of weather while it was still outside and it might have gotten too dry. The Cattleya above was in the same environment. But it might have been better able to handle it since it's a larger plant. Maybe I'll have better luck with this one next year:
And a couple of random pics that were on my camera when I downloaded it... This is one of my Camellias. I love Camellias. They bloom in the cold weather when just about nothing else is in bloom. This particular one has a fragrance too -- kinda spicy.
And this is a regular visitor on my back deck. I had a bag of bird food that was infested with moths. (So annoying.) I put the bag outside so they wouldn't infest my house... Picture is taken through window and screen. Talk about being in hog heaven:
And in Bald Eagle news, it looks like the Northeast and Southwest eagle cam nests will both have two eggs this year. If either nest was going to have a third egg, it would have been laid by now. I checked in on both cams this evening and Moms were on the nest, incubating/sleeping. Seemed really cold and windy at the Northeast nest... And I looked in on the Berry College nest -- no one was home. But that's ok, since there aren't any eggs yet...
Pam Monahan has posted some new pictures of Bald Eagle HK. She's got a really neat picture where I first thought he was coming in for a landing. But he's looking up and if he was landing, his wings would be stretched out to slow him down. And he would be looking down, concentrating on sticking the landing. But with his wings in this position, he's trying to get a big stroke for some big lift. My final answer: He was taking off. Neat picture.
Bald Eagle Camellia is 32 miles away from his check-in point of three days ago. I think he's enjoying this beautiful weather!
I mentioned in my September 24th post that I've got a couple of Cattleya Orchids in sheath. It occurred to me to take some pictures! (My Orchids spend the summer outside in dappled shade. Some get more sun than others, depending on the type.)
About the two that are in sheath: I bought both of these Orchids online (years ago) and have never seen either bloom. So, I'm really excited! The sheath is that rounded bit coming up from the junction of the leaf with the stem. You can tell by the size of the sheath that a big bloom is on its way:
The other one is a Mini-Cattleya. They typically had two leaves per stem and the sheath comes from that juncture. The leaves and sheath are considerably smaller on a Mini-Catt. The bloom will also be smaller. But the blooms on both are supposed to be very fragrant, which is why I bought them. Something else to note: Each year, the leaves should get bigger than the previous year's leaves. I definately succeeded with this one! Which is why it's happy and giving me a flower!
I've also got a couple of other varieties putting up flower spikes. This is a Dendrobium, one of the easiest Orchids to get to rebloom. I've had quite a few of these rebloom. Some of them have flower spikes and some of them put out blooms along the stem, at each leaf junction. This kind has a spike. There's only one spike, but it's still a success for me!
And this is my Epidendrum with a flower spike. This is the first time I've gotten it to rebloom!
I'll post pictures of them in bloom when they get there...
