Upper Mississippi River Eagles Possibly A Second Egg!, New Pictures Of Africam Black Eagles, Loch of the Lowes Osprey Tracking Update, Washington Post Article About Lead Poisoning In Bald Eagles

We might have a second egg at the Upper Mississippi River Eagle nest! Will there be a third egg? If so, it will be laid on Sunday, 2/7.

Here's a link to some new Africam Black Eagle pictures.

There's a tracking update for the Loch of the Lowes Osprey.

Check out this recent Washington Post article about lead poisoning in Bald Eagles.

Trouble at the Southwest Florida Bald Eagle Nest, Northwest Florida Nest is on Hatch Watch, Nestoration at Berry College, Charitable Giving

One of the Southwest Florida Bald Eagle parents is having problems balancing. I've seen videos of Bald Eagles suffering from lead poisoning that act like this. Here is a link to a video from today of the nest. It is very hard to see a Bald Eagle struggling like this. The eagle will die if it doesn't receive chelation therapy to remove the lead. (Chelation therapy is where a chemical binds to the lead so it can be eliminated from the body. The Wildlife Center of Virginia has had to treat a lot of birds with chelation therapy. Sometimes it's successful, and sometimes the damage is too great to allow recovery...) The eggs are also in jeopardy due to the unsteady parent. A fall or mis-step can result in a broken egg. Plus, it takes two parents to keep the eggs and young safe while the other hunts and chases off intruders. The odds of this nest having a good outcome if this is lead poisoning is very low. Even if the parent gets treatment, it will leave only one adult to do everything. I've only heard of one nest that succeeded after the loss of one parent. This nest is on hatch watch toward the end of this week. Here's a link to the Southwest Florida cam. You can read my previous posts about lead poisoning in Bald Eagles. Please read these posts and help to educate any hunters among your friends and family!

The Northwest Bald Eagle nest is also on hatch watch. Their eggs were laid three days before the Southwest Florida nest. So, we should see a hatch there this week. Here is a link to the Northwest Florida cam.

There has been a lot of activity at the Berry College Bald Eagle nest, as the parents prepare for eggs. Now is a good time to start watching this nest since the parents are making several stops at the nest every day. They are bringing sticks, soft grasses, and Dad is wooing Mom with food. It's fun to watch them take turns moving the same stick until they are both satisfied with its location. here's a link to the Berry College cam.

I have just made my end of year donations. Please consider these organizations. Donations help them and provide a tax deduction for you. For wildlife, I donate to these organizations and specify that my donation is for the treatment/conservation of Bald Eagles:

• the Center for Conservation Biology
• the Wildlife Center of Virginia
• the non-game program of the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries

I also give every year to Heifer. (Chickens, Honey Bees, and shares of Heifers, Pigs, and Water Buffalos are my favorites.) If you are not familiar with them, check out the link above. I love the pay-it-forward aspect!

Danger of Lead Ammo to Wildlife, Bald Eagle Picture, Berry College Bald Eagle Cam, Wind Farms Are Killing Bald Eagles

Some hunters refuse to stop using lead ammo despite the fact that so many birds die from lead poisoning. Scavengers (including Bald Eagles) will ingest lead shot when scavenging off of gutpiles left by hunters or from game that has been shot and dies but not found by the hunter. You'd think the reporter could include in the article some information about effectiveness, availability, and cost of non-lead ammo. I did a quick google search and found this information about non-lead ammo along with this other page of availability and cost. The reporter should have included this information. I also don't know why there was no mention to bury gutpiles or at least cover it with brush if the ground is frozen, to try to mitigate the risk to wildlife.

Check out this awesome Bald Eagle picture!

There is a new eagle cam to watch this year. This one is at Berry College in Georgia.

I hate to say it, but wind farms are killing Bald Eagles. This is unfortunate. I like the idea of getting away from our dependence on foreign oil. I just wish they'd find a way to protect birds from wind farms.

NX's Location, View at Work, Wind Farms, Lead Poisoned Eastern Shore Bald Eagles, Bald Eagle Liberty, Bald Eagle Nesting Platform, Therapy Dogs at Airports, White-Nose Syndrome in Bats, Hong Kong Apartments, Liger Cubs in Taiwan, Wild Animals are not Pets

NX checked in today. She isn't done exploring Aquia Creek!

I'd love to have this view from my window at work... I'd never go home!

This is a pretty good article about the possible affects of wind farms on Bald Eagles.

Looks like there's a total reward of $7500 available for information about the Eastern Shore Bald Eagles that recently died of lead poisoning.

The Bald Eagle Liberty is going to appear this weekend at the Montezuma Audubon Center's 7th Annual Wildlife Festival.

Here's a story about a 17-year old that built and installed a nesting platform for Bald Eagles for his Eagle Scout badge. I'd like to know if any birds build a nest on this platform...

Here's a neat story about Therapy Dogs at airports. I'd love to do something like this one day... And I would have loved to have seen a Therapy Dog last week while I was traveling!

Many bat populations are in decline due to White-Nose Syndrome. Bats are very important because they help to control the insect population -- especially mosquitoes. This problem should concern everyone. If you have available land, think about putting up a bat house! Do your research first though, they are sensitive to location and the direction they face.

Here are some pictures of apartment buildings in Hong Kong. I can only imagine what so much over-crowding does to natural resources...

Liger cubs in Taiwan! So cute! The zoo is in trouble though. They didn't anticipate the Tiger and Lion mating since they had been in the same enclosure for six years.

You should not try to raise wild animals as pets! Here's an article about the dangers. Wild animals, even if raised in captivity from birth, are still wild animals. They aren't suddenly tame because they grew up in a house. It's in their nature to be wild. I know someone that "rescued" a baby raccoon and the thing is kept in the house. It has bitten everyone. All the people that live there or have visited there have been bitten. And the raccoon is no longer fit to be released in the wild. It doesn't know how to take care of itself and it doesn't have a natural fear of humans. It sees humans as a source of food. Can you imagine how freaked out someone would be if a raccoon came up to them because it was hungry? I'd be thinking, "rabies" and trying to get away or trying to physically keep it away from me. It often happens that people think a baby in the wild is an orphan. If you think that, you should leave it alone and contact wildlife officials. Here's an article on the subject from The Wildlife Center of Virginia. This article contains links for what to do for various animals that you suspect might be orphaned.

NX and Camellia's Locations, New Pictures Posted by Duane Noblick - Rhoda Gerig - Sam Maggio - Bob Mislan, Gloucester Bald Eagle, Lead Poisoning in Bald Eagles

NX has checked in. She hasn't traveled far since her last check-in.

Camellia has checked in as well. He is in Chesapeake.

Duane Noblick has posted 10 new pictures of Dad Norfolk (Bald Eagle) that he took on March 30th.

Rhoda Gerig has posted a series of pictures of an Osprey nest.

Sam Maggio (DegasGoneDigital) has been busy. He has recent posts of Great Blue Heron babies, an Egret in flight, and various other birds.

Bob Mislan (ShutterBugBob) has posted pictures of the Norfolk Bald Eagles. He has pictures of the male and female taken over the last week.

A Bald Eagle from Gloucester, VA was admitted to the Wildlife Center of Virginia. It is being treated for lead poisoning. It is Bald Eagle #13-0283 and was admitted March 31st. The initial report and a few updates are available.

A sad story out of Jackson Hole, Wyoming: A Bald Eagle that was being tracked was recently killed by lead poisoning. It was found dead next to an Elk carcass, with some nearby gut piles. There was an average of 145 visible lead fragments in each gut pile. Another dead Bald Eagle was found in the same area in March. It died of head trauma, but it also had high lead levels. (There is no telling if the lead caused unstable flight, resulting in the head trauma. Lead poisoning causes neurological symptoms in Bald Eagles, reducing muscle control and coordination. Which could have caused the Eagle to have a collision while in flight.) In the area where this occurred, during the 2012-13 hunting season, they asked hunters to voluntarily switch to non-lead ammo -- and 41% of successful Elk hunters there used non-lead ammo. For the next hunting season, lead ammo will not be allowed. If you are a hunter, or know a hunter, please stop using lead ammo and encourage others to do the same!

Nest cam roundup, Wildlife strikes at ORF and PHF, lead poisoning

Been checking out cams today:

Alcoa cam gave me a good look at two eggs:

Ft St Vrain gave me a look at part of an egg. There's just a little bit of white in front of the left wing:

I caught dinnertime at the SW FL eagle cam:

Here's both Great Horned Owl babies snuggled up to momma:

I did some research today at the FAA Wildlife Strike Database. I am going to Vegas in six weeks and refuse to use the Norfolk airport, both in protest over the treatment of the NBG eagles and because of safety concerns at that airport. Today I compiled the data for the number of wildlife strikes at each airport since Mom Norfolk was killed on 4/26/11. Here's the graphs (looks to me like PHF is much safer than ORF):



Sad news. On Virginia's Eastern Shore, several Bald Eagles were poisoned. Four Bald Eagles are dead and another is receiving treatment at The Wildlife Center of Virginia. The culprit is lead poisoning. They are investigating if they were poisoned on purpose or accidentally. A lot of raptors are accidentally poisoned by hunters. If a hunter shoots but can't find the animal, it can die and the lead shot is then consumed by scavengers. Or, if a hunter field dresses an animal and leaves the gut pile where scavengers can get to it, they can ingest lead that way. Lead in the digestive tract leaches a lot of lead into an animal's body, often causing debilitation and death. If you know a hunter, please send a link to this article by The Wildlife Center of Virginia. Voluntary effort by hunters can really make a difference!