Southwest Florida Eagles On Hatch Watch!, Upper Mississippi River Trio At The Nest, Berry College Eagles Incubating, Northeast Florida Eagles One Month Old

The Southwest Florida Eagles are on hatch watch this week. Today is day 33 for the first egg that was laid. That's the earliest that we might see a hatch. Although, with delayed incubation, I would expect the first laid egg to not hatch until around day 35 and the second laid egg to hatch on day 33 or 34. So, even though we are technically in the window for hatch, I would be surprised if we saw a hatch before Monday... Before hatching, the parent can often hear peeps from the egg. The parent seems to be listening here:

Two of the Upper Mississippi River trio arrived at the nest at 5:13 this evening. I then lost the signal (this happens when there are a lot of viewers because of bandwidth issues.) The third arrived at 5:14 - 5:15. So it seems that they all hang out together during the day. They didn't stay at the nest for long, since it was getting dark.

The Berry College Eagles are still incubating two eggs. I just found this picture from a couple of months ago, of Mom Berry bringing a huge piece of lumber to the nest. Keep in mind that her wingspan is 6 - 7 feet wide and that gives you an idea of the size of this limb. She didn't make it to the nest with the limb. It dropped near the photographer who took the picture. The limb weighs 12 pounds! Notice that she is carrying it with one foot. The other leg is the one that was injured and caused her to limp for the past two years. She's not limping any more, but you can tell by the way she stands that it didn't heal perfectly... Here's a s'cap from today, almost half-way through the incubation period:

Then Northeast Florida Eaglets are about a month old now and are standing already:

I caught An Eventful Two Minutes at the nest (2:05).

Here's a gif of part of the video "Bulls-eye!":

Dyfi Osprey Day 8,10&11, Harrison Bay Eagles Day 72&74, Loch of the Lowes Osprey Day 16,18&19 Double Shot Video

The Dyfi Osplets were lined up for some fresh fish:

The Harrison Bay Eaglets have found this new branch to hang out on. It is almost behind the camera. They have named this the bouncy branch...

Dreaming of flying... Soon...

The Scottish Wildlife Trust's Loch of the Lowes Osplets are escaping the nest bowl regularly now. They are such good little climbers at this age. It's not easy for them to get out. But they work at it!

Look at all of those feathers coming in!

The odd man out from the above picture figured out which parent was going to feed them and moved up just in time to get the next bite.

It's a puddle of fluffy babies. I saw aggression at this nest today. But it didn't last long...

Look at how protective Mom is of her babies as it starts to get dark.

Here's a quick Double Shot video (0:09)

Loch of the Lowes Osprey Day 12,14&15 Pretty Day, Dyfi Osprey Day 4,6&7 Another Creepy Crawly Nest, White Rock Eagles Day 44&45, Harrison Bay Eagles Day 67&68 Great Leap!

The Scottish Wildlife Trust's Loch of the Lowes Osprey have really picked a beautiful place to nest.

Dad brought a fish to the nest and Mom was quick to jump up and take it from him.

The fish was still alive. I wish they would kill them with their talons while carrying them instead of still being alive when they start to eat them...

Later on, Dad came and got the nestovers.

When it started getting dark, Mom put her head down to sleep.

I finally got to see all three Dyfi Osplets today.

All three babies still have their egg tooth. That's the bright white spot on the top of each beak that helps them score and break through the egg shell during hatching.

Mom was careful to make sure all of the babies got pieces of fish.

She even stepped around several times to make sure the baby in the back got pieces.

Then she curled her talons in so she could safely get back into the nest bowl.

While she was feeding her babies some fresh fish, some bugs started swarming all over it. It looks like maybe ants are also living in the nest. I put together a Creepy Crawly video for this nest. (4:04)

I checked on the White Rock Eagles nest right before sunset.

One second we had color and one of the eaglets was getting up.

The next second, the cam shifted to black and white when the IR cam came on.

The bigger the bird, the bigger the poop!

These babies are growing so fast!

Both babies got up briefly before settling back down.

They had a beak-to-beak moment. Is this a kiss goodnight?

The Harrison Bay Eaglets were crying up a storm when they saw a food delivery on the way.

This fish still had its head. But the Eaglet knew to start on that end and began tearing pieces off.

To the winner, goes the spoils. For the loser, nothing but tears...

This was an interesting situation. The older eaglet was blocking the younger eaglet from getting back into the nest.

You could tell that the eaglet was trying to figure things out and was getting antsy, first flapping, then turning this way and that...

...then a leap and some flapping!

And the eaglet hopped over and made a fine landing in the nest.

Berry College Eagles Day 20&22 - A Rainy Day

It was a rainy day today at the Berry College nest. Mom is having a really bad hair day...

Here's a link to a video of Mom drying off. (4:13)

Here's are links to a couple of funny videos of the Berry College Eaglets that other people have posted:
Dad forgot B5 (1:48)
Mom gets christened (4:02)

Berry College Day 11 & 13 Video

I put together some video highlights from a half hour today at the Berry College Bald Eagle nest. There are some stretches and baby flapping, poop shoots and bonking, and Mom flies in and eats some bony nestovers and then feeds the chicks. Check it out at this link. (9:32)
Here's a s'cap from the video during the wind-up to a bonking:

White-bellied Sea Eagle Video

Just a quick post to share the link to the video of the White-bellied Sea Eagle chick from the other day. This cracks me up every time I watch it! And, it's something that I've never seen (or should I say 'heard') before! And I've spent a lot of hours watching cams! Here's the link.

Berry College Eaglet Day 78, Nest Cam Round-up: Hays, Two Harbors, White Rock, Loch of the Lowes, and Berry College Bluebird

Today is day 78 for the Berry College Bald Eagle. When I brought up the camera this morning, I could barely see the eaglet on its favorite perch.

So I brought up the approach cam.

 
I checked back later and found the eaglet in the nest.

It must have been partly cloudy at the nest because there were moments when the harsh shadows were gone. Here the eaglet has a mouthful of the soft nesting material.

I like this view of the eaglet's white armpit. The eaglet was stretching.

The eaglet found a new toy. It's at the eaglet's feet here.

The eaglet kept picking it up and dropping it. I think this is metal banding tape. I was surprised to see this in the nest. Osprey will bring all sorts of odd things to a nest, but Eagles don't typically do this... Either way, I'd rather not see litter in nests!

This eaglet does more of a hop onto the branch than a little hop/flight that I usually associate with branching.

And once again out of sight...

So I go back tot he approach cam...

...and the eaglet hops back down into the nest. But it gave me a chance to take these silhouettes.

Tonight, the eaglet is perched on its branch.

I spent a lot of time in front of the computer today. You know what that means! Lots of screen captures!

The Hays Eaglets are growing like weeds.

It's so hard to get a s'cap where all three are facing the cam. And of course there's a stick in the way!

Two babies are doing wing stretches here.

 

I also like profile shots...

Look out below!

Not pooping here... Just investigating something in the nest.

I checked in at the Two Harbors nest earlier in the day today and the lighting is much nicer.

There's still splotches on the camera though.

The tail feathers are coming in nicely.

This is universal for keeping cool... Spreading the wings.

The parent was watching over the sleeping babies from above this morning at the White Rock nest.

I checked in later and found Mom was shielding the babies from the hot sun.

Much later: Where are the babies!!!

There they are! They won't be able to hide behind a parent for too much longer.

The adult is fussing about something, I don't know what...

The babies seem to be sleeping through it. Look at that little wing sticking out! So cute!

 It's a pretty day at the Scottish Wildlife Trust's Loch of the Lowes Osprey nest. They are reporting that the male today left the eggs unguarded for over a half hour. Fortunately, the crow (or other predators) did not harm the remaining two eggs.

I did get to see the eggs today when the adult repositioned.

Today was a milestone for the Berry College Bluebird. It's day 9 and its eyes are open now. Hello baby!

 It's starting to look like a bird now.

 

It's still all mouth! 

If you don't watch this nest, you may be wondering why there's never any poop in the nest. Each time an adult feeds the chick, they stay and watch it, sometimes even nudging it. They are trying to prompt it to poop. A baby bird's poop is contained in a packet. The adult will take this poop-packet and discard it away from the nest. And I finally got a s'cap!