Dog pictures

I took some new pictures of my dogs the other day. The smaller Sheltie (Sky) and the Belgian Malinois (Daisy) fight. So, they are not allowed to be physically together. Ever. But I made an exception this past weekend because I wanted a new picture of the three of them and my azaleas were so pretty. So I put the two troublemakers on short leashes, put them in place with the other Sheltie (Shannon) between them, and took some pictures. Well, I took 35 pictures. Do you know how hard it is to get three dogs to look at you at the same time? And not blink... (them, not me...)

I took some pictures from right in front of them. But I moved my location because they kept looking across the street at a neighbor who was in his yard. I like this picture because they are all looking 'toward' me. But Sky's body is hidden by Shannon.

I like this picture that I took from head-on. Except Daisy is winking at me...

I think I need to take more pictures... But it will be another year before the azaleas are that pretty again... What do you think?

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!

Camellia and NX locations, Harrison Bay cam, Alcoa cam, Fort St Vrain cam, SW FL cam, Two Harbors cam, dog howling, Lake Ontario eagles, pics

New location for Camellia! He's staying local for the time being. NX checked in on the 24th. She is still in the same general area as her release.

I got some pictures today of various eagle cam nests:

Harrison Bay, feeding time. These two hatched on 3/19 and 3/21. Look at all those fish -- these two are great providers:

Alcoa, feeding time. These two hatched on 3/16 and 3/18. Both parents were there for feeding. I watched for about 10 minutes. The male was trying to feed but the female insisted on taking the morsel from the male and feeding the babies herself. They passed a tiny piece of food back and forth several time. It took about 5 minutes for the male to finally start passing her the pieces to feed to the babies... Look at the crop on that baby! Very well fed.

The Fort St Vrain eagles are still incubating 3 eggs:

The SW FL eaglets were home today. One was lounging and the other was eating. These two hatched 1/1 and 1/3 and they both fledged yesterday!

The Two Harbors nest had a hatch yesterday. K82 is the female. (K81 is the male...) Feeding time:

And I couldn't resist grabbing this screen capture of fluffy eagle butt:

Eaglets can't thermoregulate until they are a couple of weeks old. So they continue to be incubated. I love it when the babies poke their heads out. So curious already!

I found this video today of a dog howling at a siren. Too funny. When I was a kid, we had a Basset Hound in the neighborhood that would howl at the noon whistle every day. So this is a video of a dog howling at a siren. Then, in the comments, there are two video responses of people's dogs howling at this video. Too funny! I played them all for my dogs and got nothing... Oh well. Still a good video if you enjoy dogs howling!

Bald Eagles on Lake Ontario have successfully hatched two chicks -- the first in decades!

Check out this incredible picture of a Bald Eagle chasing a Great Blue Heron! Run, Forest! Run!

And check out these Bald Eagle pics! Very nice! 

Buddy's training, update on the lead poisoned Bald Eagle, Alcoa and Minnesota Bound Eagle cams, links to pictures

There is a new entry, dated March 13th, for Buddy's training. The note includes the reason you won't see Buddy on the Critter Cam for a little while.

Speaking of The Wildlife Center of Virginia, there is a March 15th update on the juvenile Bald Eagle from the Eastern Shore that is recovering from lead poisoning.

Big news. One of the eaglets at the Alcoa nest hatched this afternoon!



Alcoa nest 1st hatch 3/16


I've found another Bald Eagle cam to follow. The Minnesota Bound eagle cam is currently incubating. I saw two eggs, but don't know if there are more...


Minnesota Bound nest 3/16


Rhoda Gerig (RFG) added more pictures to her site of the Bald Eagle nest that she watches. Here's a link to those pics on her site. It's a sequence of one of the adults bringing some soft nesting material into the nest. The mate is laying down in the nest.

Sam Maggio (DegasGoneDigital) has added a couple of pictures of a Great Egret to his site. It is in breeding plumage and is beautiful!

Ron Dudley (Feathered Photography) has posted some pictures at a pond where he goes to photograph wildlife and where others go to fish. He says there is a lot of discarded fishing line and hooks that are causing problems for the birds there -- and his pictures tell the story. If you know someone who enjoys fishing, please share the story of these birds and encourage people to fish responsibly! Take a look at his other posts as well. His site is quickly becoming one of my favorites! He doesn't just post pictures. He relates the behavior of the birds, points out photography tips, points out the nuances of his different subjects... This is just a great site. And he has a new post just about every day. This is a great site to follow!

And in the news, here's a story about a really neat program in Arizona. People spend four months camped out (really, camped out) observing Bald Eagle nests. Read about it here. I would get involved with a program like this!

Buddy T-shirts!, leucistic black bird sighting, SW FL eagles, lions, tigers and bears (oh my!)

The Wildlife Center of Virginia is selling Buddy T-shirts to commemorate his 5th Birthday! Order your T-shirt here. They are only making the number of shirts that are paid for by March 31st, so don't delay!

I saw a leucistic black bird today on a cam. It had white on a wing. I was wondering what kind of black birds they have in that part of the country (Indiana) with white on the wing. Then it turned and faced the other direction and there was no white on the wing. Then it flew away without turning back around so I could get a screen capture. I missed it today! But, I'm going to be keeping an eye out for it to return! (Note to self -- take a screen capture, then wonder about the bird!)

The SW FL eaglets are branching.  

And they had a cattle egret for dinner tonight. Seems like it was 95% feathers...

Here's a short video about the friendship between a dog and a lion.

This is a great story about one person's tiger conservation efforts. It shows that one person can make a difference!

Boo the Grizzly Bear makes an appearance. And this pic of Maxi the Brown Bear is too cute!

Azalea's location, eagles and bears in the news

Azalea checked in around 11:00PM March 5th. She's still hanging around on the south-side.

Azalea's location 3/5 11:00PM

I found another photographer to follow. Ted Ellis has pictures of Bald Eagles, Hummingbirds and Cardinals on his photography site. He also has some backyard birds (don't we all!), large birds and silhouettes. I usually don't care for music on photography web pages -- I'd rather save the bandwidth. However, I can only complain so much about this site since I found myself singing along...

This article is from the Washington Post dated 2/26/13. It's about the Bald Eagle population in the Chesapeake Bay Tidal Region and Dr Watts (from the Center for Conservation Biology) is quoted. I find it interesting that Bald Eagles are starting to use man-made objects to nest upon, since most of the prime real estate is gone.

The Street Smart Naturalist blog has a great article about the different avian wildlife that is drawn to his yard because of the huge Douglas Firs in the yard. I am always dismayed when I see tracts of land cleared for a housing development, with landscapers coming in after the homes are built and planting puny little trees. I wish that the people that build housing developments would make the effort to leave some of the mature trees. It's not like they can be replaced. I know it adds a layer of complexity to the build, but you can't replace mature trees!

Who doesn't love baby bears!?!? Bearizona Wildlife Park has five black bear cubs. So cute! And a polar bear cub was born at the Buffalo Zoo. Even cuter!

I've got family coming into town tomorrow, so I'm not sure when my next post will be...

Eagle release announced and links to pictures and videos

I'm going to mention again the survey. It's on the left side of the page, below my bio. Please take the survey!

PABirder mentioned in the comments yesterday that the Wildlife Center of Virginia is going to do an eagle release Friday March 8th. It's at noon at the Rappahannock River Valley National Wildlife Refuge near Warsaw. You are supposed to meet at the Wilna Lodge at the Refuge. You can read about the release here. I am unable to attend, but I hope someone goes and takes lots of pictures!

Duane posted some new pictures of Dad Norfolk and DT. DT is all grown up -- not a single dark speck among the white! She is beautiful! You can see Duane's new pictures here.

I just got the address of Dana's current website where she posts her pics. (This is Eaglelover on the forum.) She has some great pictures and has posted to her page as recently as February. She doesn't post her pictures on the forum very often, but she has taken some really amazing pictures! Check out her page here.

And some Today Show videos:

• Two dogs, Honey and Badger, that have really overcome adversity. They are siblings, both born without front legs. But they really get around! They need to be adopted together and it's hoped that they can become therapy dogs. I want to become involved with therapy dogs after I've retired. Here's a link to the video about Honey and Badger.
• This is a story about a blind dog. My best friend adopted a blind dog. I've never seen anyone more devoted to a dog. Here's his story: He was ignored by the Mom dog and by the people where he was born. And he had no life, no interaction. He would just sit with his head hanging. Then he went to a rescue group who worked with him. This dog developed to the point where he could run on the beach by following the sound of someone running. He could jump and play. He learned the lay-out of the house and could walk around unassisted. He was a great dog. I hope these two stories make people realize that special needs dogs can be great pets! Here's a link.
• Tiger pool parties, where people get to swim with Tiger cubs. The Florida zoo claims that it helps the cubs acclimate to people so they will do better in a zoo environment. But there's controversy surrounding the practice. If I had the chance, I'd swim with a Tiger cub! Here's the video. 

Bald Eagle Buddy - Training Update

I just discovered that Buddy is back in training. There are three entries for his 2013 training: 2/21, 2/22, and 3/1. Dr Dave McRuer and Raina Krasner are training him using falconry techniques. Dr Dave is the Director of Veterinary Services at the Wildlife Center of Virginia and has been a falconry apprentice since last fall. Raina is the Outreach Coordinator for the Wildlife Center of Virginia. This is some pretty intensive training and I hope to see frequent updates. They have also posted current pictures of Buddy. He is looking so grown up with just a few dark feathers remaining on his head. His beak is mostly yellow. His tail feathers all look white now. Buddy's eyes are still pretty dark. I asked Ed Clark about his eyes last May at the Bald Eagle Symposium and Festival at the Norfolk Botanical Garden. He said that sometimes, birds in captivity don't get their full adult coloring. You can read about his training and see some current pictures here. Here are some pictures I took of Buddy at the Symposium/Festival in May 2012 so you can compare his plumage. In these pictures, he is 4 years old.



Bald Eagle Buddy hatched in 2008 at the Norfolk Botanical Garden. Buddy resides at the Wildlife Center of Virginia and is in training to become a traveling educational animal. 



Buddy with his handler/trainer Darcie Huntress in May 2012 at the Bald Eagle Symposium and Festival at the Norfolk Botanical Garden.



Darcie Huntress and Buddy.



Norfolk Botanical Garden pics from Transmitter Day, May 20, 2009

These are the pictures I took around the garden on the day that Azalea received her transmitter.



This was the first thing I saw on my way to the transmitter fitting. These 3 reminded me of our 3 eaglets -- all snuggled up together.



I like this pic because there are fish and a turtle and a little yellow flower growing under water.

I thought this was a dragonfly, but my brother-in-law called it something else because it's small. But I forget what he said. Since I was trying to take a pic when it landed on my hand, I will call it picture-interruptus.

Yes, there really are snakes in the garden. I was hoping all those other snake pics that have been posted were something the other photographers were making up.

What the flock?!?!?! Get out of the way so I can look at the roses...



These are garden beasties, a female and male. Commonly found around the eagle nest.
Dana and Henry just after catching what I'm sure are great shots of one of our resident BIF.

Azalea's Transmitter Placement May 20, 2009

I posted pictures and links to two videos from the day that Azalea was fitted with her transmitter. I am copying my forum post to my blog so it's not lost.



Azalea was hooded to keep her calm during the transmitter fitting. She is being passed from Libby Mojica to Dr Bryan Watts. Libby is responsible for fitting the transmitters on Bald Eagles.



She was surprisingly calm without the hood



Azalea's transmitter. She is being held by Dr Bryan Watts.



Another view of Azalea's transmitter.



Transmitter and look at those wings!!



The transmitter strap is fitted like a backpack.



Eaglet gives an exclusive interview



Azalea's profile

 It was during the transmitter fitting that I realized that my little point-and-shoot could take video. So I tried it out and posted the following videos. The first part, I actually was holding my camera sideways (rookie mistake) and posted sideways video. Since then, I've gotten software that can rotate video, so it's not sideways any more... Here are the links:

Azalea Video part 1 (0:19)

Azalea Video part 2 (0:39)

Banding of HH (Azalea), HK, and HE April 22, 2009

This was my first post on the Norfolk Eagles Forum, and I'm copying it here because I want to preserve it. This was my first time seeing a Bald Eagle up close and I couldn't get over how big these "babies" were. I even referred to one as a monster -- a reference to size. These pictures were all taken with my little point-and-shoot. Here's the post:



The table was far away and my zoom was not up to snuff





And the crowd goes wild




One of the monsters (this is actually Azalea - and she was by far the biggest of the three)





The baby (this is HE -- the little sister)



Big size difference (Azalea on the left, HE on the right)

This band is HH (later named Azalea when she was fitted with a transmitter)



The solar powered transmitter will be fitted on one of the eaglets in May and will track its movements for a few years



The youngest, HE. You can just see her band.



The money shot: L-R Dr Bryan Watts with Sunday (HH -- Azalea), Reese Lukei with Saturday (HK), and Stephen Living with Wednesday (HE) -- up until this point, the eaglets were referred to by their hatch days.



Mom and Dad Norfolk as I was leaving

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. 

My first post! An explanation and some links...

I created this blog because the Norfolk Eagles Forum is closing down. There are links and information there that I don't want to lose. And I want to be able to continue to post about the interesting things I find on the internet.

This first post is going to be mostly links that I've found in the past and had posted on the Forum. Here's what I've found that still works.

Pictorial guide to figuring the age of Bald Eagles

Pages of bird pictures I haven't been through all of these pages of pictures. But there are some real beauties in here. I did find one inappropriate pic, so you are forewarned.

Training for nest monitors in Iowa There is some really great info here for anyone that wants to observe or photograph Bald Eagles.

Someones idea of the 3 best national parks for seeing Bald Eagles.

Lawrence Lewis Jr Park on the James River

The SW FL eagle cam (Ozzie and Harriet)

Longevity Records of North American Birds This is a great web site! It gives the oldest ages that have been determined for North American birds. Very interesting. It covers how the age was determined, where the bird was, and if it was dead or alive.

Carolina Bird Club Eagle pics

Articles to read There are two articles here, so scroll down for the second article. Here's a quote, "If I see an eagle, and I've got a gun, I'm taking a shot at it."

Osprey fishing video This video is incredible!

Bald Eagle costume It looks fairly easy to make this costume.

Article of Bald Eagles using a man-made nest

Video (documentary) about restoring Bald Eagles to the Channel Islands

VIMS Osprey Cam They are putting in a new cam for 2013. The cam was taken out by lightening.

The Beauty of Pollination I don't know who Ted is, but this video is awesome!

Video of an owl flying at a camera I like the outstretched feet and talons at the end.

Collective nouns for birds How to refer to a bunch of birds: A mob of Emus. A scold of Jays. A clamor of Rooks.

Three Bald Eagles fight over a fish A story with 2 pictures.

Events at the James River National Wildlife Refuge There is a lot of wildlife at the refuge.

 That's it for now. Thanks for looking!