Berry College Bald Eagle Chick Has Pin Feathers, Bald Eagle Camellia Checks In, Bald Eagles Camellia and NX Checked In, Pam Monahan's Blog About Bald Eagle HK, The Osprey Have Returned, Center for Conservation Biology's Osprey Watch Program

Yesterday, I thought I observed pin feathers on the Berry College Bald Eagle chick. But I wondered if the chick was too young to have pin feathers... So, I did some research and found that you can see and eaglet's pin feathers at 2-3 weeks. So, yes! The Berry College chick is starting to show pin feathers! I looked back through my screen captures and found this one from 3/16. You can clearly see the pin feathers here. This was day 22 for the eaglet. It's funny, I posted this picture on 3/16 and noted that Dad Berry was pretty dry compared to Mom Berry. And I didn't even notice how visible the pin feathers are in this picture! In looking back through my screen captures, I discovered that you don't get to see much of the chick's wing tip up to this point since it has been down in the soft grasses or under Mom... 

I'll post my "Berry" pictures from today on tomorrow's post. I have a couple of other Bald Eagle things for today...

Bald Eagle Camellia has checked in. Bald Eagles love golf courses...

Bald Eagle NX also checked in on 3/12. I'm not sure why it took them so long to post an update... They note in the update that she just turned 3 years old on 3/15. Happy Hatch Day NX!

I touched base with Pam Monahan recently to see why she hadn't posted on her blog for a while. (I was starting to worry, but she's doing fine. She explains on her blog that she is out of town for a while.) She did have two new entries though. The first is from February 25th, Bald Eagle HK taking care of his nest. The more recent entry has pictures of a new young lady that is hanging out around Honey Bee Golf Course. The assumption of it being a female is because she's a "big girl" and the young part because she still has some dark feathers. In fact, this bird has the wildest looking eye stripe I've ever seen on a (my guess) 4 year old... I'm guessing it's a 4 year old since the beak is mostly yellow and the eye is very light. If I only had the eye stripe to go by, I'd guess that she's a 3 year old. I can't see the tail very well... Sometimes, it's a puzzle that you can't really solve... Anyway, this post is dated February 26th.

Today, I saw both Osprey at nest #307! This nest is about a mile from my house. If you have a local Osprey nest, become a citizen-scientist and report your observations at CCB's Osprey Watch web site. In a related story: Bald Eagle HK has appropriated most of the sticks from the Osprey nest at Honey Bee. I'm sure the Osprey will not be happy upon their return...

Photography forum, rabid racoon in Hampton, Osprey are back, Panda Bear and baby bears, injured & orphaned wildlife

I found another photography forum. I was looking through the "avian" posts when I came across this picture of a kingfisher up-chucking a pellet. The photographer had great timing getting this picture. This is one of those "critique" forums, so I don't think I'll participate. But it looks like a good forum to poke through. Come back and comment if you find something to share!

A rabid raccoon was found in Hampton, VA. Make sure your pets get the rabies vaccine. Here's the announcement from the city:

RABIES CASE CONFIRMED

The Hampton Health Department has confirmed a positive case of rabies. A family dog came in contact with a wild raccoon earlier this month - on March 9, 2013 - in the Buckroe area of the city near Fire Station 4 on Richard Avenue. The raccoon was submitted to the State Laboratory in Richmond for testing, where it was found to be positive.

A friend told me tonight that he's spotted Osprey at a couple of nests. I've been keeping an eye on the two nests that I watch as part of The Center for Conservation Biology's Osprey Watch program, and so far, no Osprey.

I ran across this story about Panda Bears... It was about how you get captive bears in the mood, for... well... you know... Here's the link.

Here's an article about a bear cub that was wandering around by itself. It's an interesting read, but there's a lesson to be learned here. Check out this article by The Wildlife Center of Virginia on the topic of what to do if you see what you think is injured or orphaned wildlife.

Bald Eagle sighting at 'Osprey Watch nest 307'

I am trying to get as much important information off of the Norfolk Eagles Forum before it goes away. So that will be the majority of my early posts. But I wanted to mention something that falls under ‘original content’ because it’s topical. The Center for Conservation Biology has a program called Osprey Watch. It’s a citizen scientist type program where people record their observations of local Osprey nests. There is a nest close to my house, nest 307. Someone else (Golf Tango) reported it before I did, so it’s not one of ‘my’ nests. But I can still record observations and post pictures for that nest. This evening shortly before 6:00PM I saw an adult Bald Eagle standing on the nest. When I drove by on my way back home 45 minutes later, it was gone. I wonder if this Bald Eagle is looking to take over this Osprey nest...

If you have an Osprey nest that you can observe, I encourage you to go to Osprey Watch and become a citizen scientist!

These are pictures that I took last year at nest 307. It is located on an old wooden pier that runs parallel to the bridge onto Langley Air Force Base at the N. King Street gate.