Camellia's Location

Camellia has finally left the Pocaty River. He hasn't gone very far though -- still in Chesapeake. Reese says it's time for some of our local photographers to get some current pictures. I'll second that!

Bald Eagle Locations: NX, KE, and Camellia, Buddy's Appearance at Riverfest And His 5th Hatchday Celebration, Feathered Photography: Red-tailed Hawk, Osprey, Clark's Grebe, and Eastern Kingbird

On May 16, NX was on the banks of the Potomac. In today's post, she is still exploring the river. On my 5/25 post, I wondered how long she would stay there. Well, she must be having success foraging there, since she has been there for almost two weeks now!

KE's location has been updated with her travels up to 5/22. She's a dumpster (landfill) diver!

Camellia's location was updated on 5/27. He seems to be enjoying Pocaty River in Chesapeake, since he is still there... He was first reported there on 5/15.

There is an update for Buddy, detailing his appearance at Riverfest as part of the Birds of Prey Program. This link takes you to the description of how he did at the event along with an embedded video. A link is also provided to an entry about the fish celebration of Buddy's 5th Hatchday! There are pictures! Don't miss hitting the play button on the slide show at the bottom!

There are some great entries on Ron Dudley's Feathered Photography blog. A Red-tailed Hawk with a neat take-off, an Osprey landing in a nest, a Clark's Grebe having a bad hair day, and an Eastern Kingbird casting a pellet are all recent posts.

Swarmageddon: The 17-year Cicadas Are Here!

The 17 year cicadas are emerging, and boy are they making a racket! I spent Memorial Day Weekend camping in Fredericksburg, Virginia. During the day, there was a steady droning noise in the background. There were cicadas and exoskeletons everywhere. Here are some pictures and two short videos:

Cicadas first emerge when the ground temperature at about 8" deep reaches 63/64 degrees Fahrenheit. You can see all the holes in the ground where they have emerged. Yes, that's for real. And the holes went on and on...

Once they emerge, they molt and shed their exoskeletons. It seems that holly trees were a favorite of these critters. Many crawled up the tree into the leaves before molting:

Many exoskeletons dropped off and collected at the base of tree trunks. This picture was not set up. I didn't rake these together. This is how nature arranged them:

All of the trees had exoskeletons still clinging to them, with the live ones walking around them:

Cicadas look pretty freaky with their big eyes. But they actually have 3 more smaller eyes in between. Despite their size and look, they are harmless to people and other animals. This Cicada has molted out of its exoskeleton and is climbing up this tree to get away from ground predators:

I have two short videos to share. In both, you can hear the constant drone of Cicadas in the background. First is a 23 second video of a cicada climbing up a tree past exoskeletons. Once it feels it has climbed high enough, it will make noise to attract a mate. If it's a male, it will make a very loud noise with its abdomen. If it's a female, it will respond by making noise by flapping its wings. Here's a link to a 14 second video of the sound they make when they flap their wings.

These two must have fallen out of the tree while mating, because they were on the ground...

After they mate, the female deposits her eggs into slits that she cuts in a branch. She will lay several hundred eggs! After the eggs hatch, the nymphs will drop out of the tree, burrowing into the ground until it finds tree roots to suck on the sap. In 17 years, they will emerge, and the cycle starts all over again!

You can see Cicadas without waiting 17 years. Some stragglers will come out 1-2 years before and after the year they are supposed to come out. And there are also 13 year Cicadas and their stragglers. Those are the big hatches! There are also Cicadas that come out every year. If you aren't expected to have Swarmageddon in your corner of the world, it's a great time to take a trip and check it out! Google can point you to websites that track the emergence.

NX's Location, an Immature Red-tailed Hawk on Feathered Photography

The 5/23 update for NX is interesting. I've often wondered if Bald Eagles hang out much on big bodies of water or if they stick to smaller creeks. I wonder which presents better foraging conditions. NX has been hanging out on the Potomac River since her last check-in. I wonder how long she will stay on the Potomac...

Ron Dudley posted some great pictures of an immature Red-tailed Hawk on his Feathered Photography forum.

Langley Kennel Club All Breed Dog Show, Hampton Farmer's Market

Two announcements from the City of Hampton:

Langley Kennel Club All Breed Dog Show
Friday, May 24, 2 p.m. – 4 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday, 8 a.m. – 4 p.m.,
Hampton Roads Convention Center
Obedience trials and AKC Rally, and a Junior Showmanship clinic, 30 vendors offering unique pet merchandise. Langley Kennel Club

Farmer's Market - Peninsula Town Park
Sundays, 11 a.m. - 3 p.m., Peninsula Town Park, Peninsula Town Center
The market will feature vendors from throughout the region selling a variety of goods including jams, rubs, baked goods, soaps and much more.

Nest Cam Roundup: AEF, Two Harbors, Sooner Lake, Alcoa, Duke Farms, Alcoa Osprey, Fort St Vrain, Harrison Bay, NCTC, Blackwater

The AEF chicks are getting big under the watchful eyes of their parents. Here, the chicks are in full pancake mode while their parents watch something fly overhead:

The Two Harbors chick is full grown. All that's left now is to build up flight muscles over the next couple of weeks in preparation to fledge:

The Sooner Lake babies look great. I caught them up and about today:

The Alcoa nest presents a challenge when trying to get a screen capture. This is pretty much just a silhouette -- and I only got that after much time and effort...

The Duke Farms eagles are full grown too. Here, one is sleeping with its head tucked under its wing while the other is in pancake mode:

The Alcoa Osprey chicks are getting so big so fast. All three chicks are in this screen capture. One is harder to see because it is laying down at the 7 - 8 o'clock position...

The Fort St Vrain eaglet is also full grown, with at least a couple more weeks before it will fledge. The overhead cam still has a smudge on it. It's hard to see the eaglet with the side cam when it's in pancake mode...

I checked in on the Harrison Bay nest, but it was just an empty nest on the cam. Off-cam? Branching? Too early for fledge... Update: A late night check shows one of the eaglets is back in the nest. Not sure where the other one is tonight. It could be spending the night on a branch...

The NCTC nest is on fledge watch the end of this week. This is the earliest one might fledge. It could still be a few weeks. I caught them at dinner time today:

The Blackwater eaglets have fledged. After eaglets fledge, they still spend quite a bit of time at the nest. Their parents still bring food to the nest while the young learn how to forage from their parents. Here, I caught one hop-flying over to its sibling:

Find Momo, Moore OK Tornado & Dogs, Blackfooted Albatross' Goofy Mating Dance, Dog Eat Dog Short Film, Turtle Road Kill, Wildlife Photography Contest Winners

Today's 'find Momo' was such a surprise, I laughed when I found him! I was leaning forward, scrutinizing all of the shadowy places... Then, BAM! And I just laughed...

I saw a video today of this woman who was recounting how she survived the tornado in Moore, OK. She said that she had her dog with her, but then the house came apart. She is distracted during the entire interview, looking at the rubble that was her house. She says that she knows her dog is in there somewhere. And she just keeps looking. Suddenly, the newswoman spots movement among the rubble...

Dogs are helping out in Moore, OK. They are searching for people and providing comfort to the survivors. My prayers go out to all who have suffered a loss in this disaster.

Blackfooted Albatross have a really goofy mating dance. Make sure your speakers are turned on.

Dog Eat Dog is an amusing short film of one man's journey through the dog adoption process at an animal shelter. It's well worth the time it takes to watch it. (It's about 11 minutes plus a couple minutes of credits.) But it's really well made and fun to watch!

A chilling experiment finds that some drivers go out of their way to run over turtles in the road. Turtles don't reach maturity until they are 7 or 8 years old. Their population is in a slow decline -- being killed while crossing the road is a contributing factor.

Here is a slideshow of wildlife photography contest winners. One of the pictures presented is of a Bald Eagle catching a Red-winged Blackbird in flight.

Camellia's Location, Two Battling Bald Eagles, Osprey Rescue, Blog With Pictures of: Bald Eagles, Great Horned Owlets, Griffin Vultures

Camellia's location has been updated. He seems to have found a place he likes...

Here's a great picture of two battling Bald Eagles, right before their talons lock.

Check out this short video of an Osprey being rescued. It was hanging upside down high in a tree. The culprit: improperly discarded fishing line. Please fish responsibly! This bird was lucky. For many others, this situation is a death sentence...

I found a new blog. The entry Bald Eagle Salmon Strut features two Bald Eagles and one salmon. I especially like the first picture. It looks like one Bald Eagle is sneaking up (on tippy-toes) on the other Bald Eagle that has the salmon. I poked through some of this blogger's other posts and found one on Great Horned Owlets that I liked. There's also a post about Griffin Vultures -- hard to believe how pretty they are. They have beautiful brown heads and variegated wings. I'll be checking out more of this blog in the future!

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?

Tagging and Transmitter fitting of the Two Harbors Eaglet, Osprey on Feathered Photography, Crow Intelligence

The eaglet at the Two Harbors nest was tagged and fitted with a transmitter yesterday. While there, they got the cam working again. I was running errands and didn't get to see the tagging live. But there are several videos posted on YouTube. I like this one, posted by Cumbrian Wilson. These eaglets get patagial wing tags. The Two Harbors Eaglet is K38.

Ron Dudley has posted some more of his recent Osprey pics on his Feathered Photography blog. The pictures are fantastic! He also goes through some technical explanations due to the difficult lighting conditions he encountered while taking these pictures.

Here's a video about the intelligence of crows. This is Joshua Klein's talk at TED... Pretty neat!

Camellia Checked in Today, Brown Thrasher Picture, Osprey on Feathered Photography, Pictures and Videos From My Trip to Las Vegas, Geese Leave the Mission Nest

Camellia has checked in. He hasn't gone far since his last check in. He must be finding plenty to eat without having to go very far!

Every now and then, a Brown Thrasher checks out the patio table where I sprinkle bird seed. This picture was taken with my point-and-shoot through a window (screen and glass) on max zoom. Despite all of that, you can at least tell that it's a Brown Thrasher. They usually stay in thick under-growth, so it's always a surprise to see one hopping along my back deck or up on the table having a snack.

Ron Dudley posted a beautiful Osprey photo on his Feathered Photography blog. He goes into some detail regarding getting a good shot under difficult lighting conditions. He says he will post some more Osprey photos from his trip. Can't wait!

I went to Vegas last month. Here's some pictures:
These first three pictures are from the Mirage. I think this is a variety of bromeliad. Very pretty.

And I love orchids:

I thought this light was pretty (if you're wondering what to get me for Christmas, hint, hint...). Seriously though, this thing is huge!

We went to the Botanical Garden in the Bellagio. There were a lot of beautiful plants along with plenty of whimsy:

This is the glass ceiling in the Bellagio:

And this is just one of those pure "Vegas" pictures that you just have to take...

I also took video of two of the water shows at the Bellagio:

Star Spangled Banner

Time To Say Goodbye

The Geese at the Mission Nest have left the nest. The last two eggs never hatched. After all the goslings hatch, the parents jump out of the nest and the babies follow. The parents lead them to the water and they stay together as a family, with the goslings learning to forage from their parents. I was running errands today, so I missed it. But I found a video of the big jump that Mochamama22 posted on YouTube. I'm so glad someone got video!

NX and Camellia, Gloucester Bald Eagle Release, Duluth Bald Eagle, Animal Prosthetics, Geese, Ferruginous Hawk on Feathered Photography, Really Old Water, Photo Galleries: Underwater, Ugly Bugs, Small World

NX checked in yesterday. She is near Brent Marsh. It is one year since her release. Maps are provided that show her explorations over the past year. They have also posted again the video from her release a year ago. There a phrase that was coined regarding NX: "Fear The Feisty!" And it makes sense if you watch the video! Overall, the post for May 16th is a nice review!

I posted Camellia's location the other day. There is a post today covering the location data up to that point. Usually, Reese posts same day. But when he travels, there can be a delay in his posts. I can only assume he's been traveling again since this post is a couple of days after the fact...

Looks like I missed another Bald Eagle release. Last night was pool league, so I didn't check my email yesterday. And of course there was an email about the Gloucester Bald Eagle #13-0283 being released today. Here is WCV's entry regarding the eagle release. I am so bummed that I missed this release! I've traveled far to attend a release. Then I miss one in my backyard. I am so disappointed!

I posted the other day about the Bald Eagles that crashed to the ground at the Duluth airport in what was probably a fight over territory. This article contains pictures. The picture of their locked talons shows how much damage they do to their feet when they fight like this. I've seen Bald Eagles on nest cams that have been fighting. You can always tell because of the ugly feet...

Here's an article about prosthetics for animals. It's amazing what they can do these days.

A pair of geese have been guest-starring on the Mission Nest Eagle Cam. The Bald Eagles at that nest decided to use a different nest, and the geese moved in. Today is hatch day, with a few more eggs left to hatch:

Ron Dudley has a Ferruginous Hawk in flight on his Feathered Photography blog. What a beautiful bird!

Water has been found that is at least 1.5 billion years old. Wow, that's really old! It was found in a pocket deep underground. They are analyzing it for signs of life. This could give some insight into the possibility of finding underground water (and life) on Mars!

Here are some photo galleries I found that I enjoyed looking at:

• Underwater Photography Contest Winners
• Gallery of Ugly Bugs
• Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition Top 20

This great article contains pointers on how to safely observe wildlife. The word "safely" applies both ways: how to keep you safe how to keep wildlife safe. Please read and heed!

Camellia's Location, Wind Turbines: Replacing Bald Eagle Nests, How Wind Turbines Kill Birds, Placement of Wind Turbines to Minimize Impact on Bird Populations

Camellia checked in overnight. He is still hanging out on the south-side:

The next three entries are about wind turbines for production of electrical energy:

Nextera wind project removed a tree with a Bald Eagle nest so they could proceed with installing some wind turbines. There is a current article about Nextera putting in replacement platforms for the Bald Eagles. The displaced pair did select one of the platforms and another pair is checking out another platform. I am intrigued by the "if you build it, they will come" aspect of this story...

I found this article about how wind turbines kill birds. It covers how many birds are estimated to be killed by wind turbines per year. There is a picture of a technician working up near the blades that gives an idea of how massive these turbines are. I do like alternative energy. I just hope that they can find a way to make wind turbines less deadly to birds.

There is a video of the Environmental Commissioner of Ontario discussing the impact of wind turbines on birds and bats. Figures are presented regarding number of birds killed by buildings, power lines and domestic cats, as well as wind turbines. He recommends placing wind turbines away from 'important bird areas' and migration routes to minimize the impact on bird populations.

Bald Eagle Patriot of Turtle Bay Died Following Battle With An Intruder, Buffet for Bald Eagles, Pelican Harbor Bald Eagles, Cat/Cop Rescue, Bats, Roll and Shelf Clouds, Property Maintenance Workshop, Washington State, Amazing Birds, Bald Eagles at Duluth Airport

More sad news for the Turtle Bay nest, home of Bald Eagles Patriot and Liberty. If you remember, this is the nest where an intruder ran off the resident male (Patriot) and ate both hatchlings. The intruder would look roughed up (a couple of times) probably from doing battle with Patriot. But Patriot returned in early April. It is now being reported that Patriot died following a fight with another eagle. This may be the same intruder eagle that is trying to take over the nest. My heart goes out to the people that follow this nest. It has been a rough year... 

Here's a video of a bunch of Bald Eagles in a parking lot. I don't know what's in the back of that truck (I think it's fish), but it must be yummy! And this is in Alaska, so you know there are some Bald Eagles waiting to take advantage of a situation!

I found a video of the Pelican Harbor Bald Eagles wrestling with a stick. The video is from 2008, but it's so funny -- right from the crash landing at the start -- I thought it's worth posting now. I think this is cooperative nest building. But I'm not going to emphasize the word 'cooperative' when it comes to these two!

This sounds like I'm telling a joke. A cat goes up the tree and needs help getting down. So the nice police officer goes up the tree to rescue the cat and he needs help getting down. Here's the story.

I like bats. What can I say... When I move to Maryland, I'm going to put in some bat houses.

I've never heard of roll clouds or shelf clouds. I think I'd be a little freaked out if I saw either of these coming at me if I didn't know what was going on. But having seen these pictures and read the explanations, I'll be ok if I ever see roll clouds or shelf clouds in the future. This reminds me of a time I was on ship (in the Navy). We were underway and we went into a line of... I don't know what it was. It was like a line of clouds that stretched all the way from the sky to the water and as far as the eye could see in either direction. It was just a wall of cloud and we went right into it. It just looked like a heavy fog while we were in it. The ship had to set the 'low visibility detail' and after a little while we steamed right out of it. And it looked like a wall of clouds on the other side. Very bizarre.

An interesting workshop is being offered by the City of Hampton:

HAMPTON 101-PROPERTY MAINTENANCE

Learn about the right of inspection, paint, gutters, grass and zoning codes as part of a property maintenance workshop presented by Hampton 101 and the Hampton Community Development Department. Thursday, May 16 from 6-8 p.m. at the Ruppert Sargent Building, 1 Franklin St. To register or for more information go to www.hampton.gov/learn or call 727-8311.

The recovering Bald Eagle population is wreaking havoc on Great Blue Herons in Washington State.

Massachusetts has conducted its first Bald Eagle nesting survey.

Here's a slideshow, set to music, of 'Amazing Birds You Probably Didn't Know Exist'.

A pair of Bald Eagles locked in battle fell onto an airport's runway in Duluth, Minn. The eagles were removed from the runway before aircraft could strike them. If you remember, the Norfolk Bald Eagles were on the runway at the Norfolk airport. Instead of getting them off of the runway, they had a plane land on the runway, which struck and killed Mom Norfolk. The Norfolk airport was completely negligent in having a plane come in, knowing that there were Bald Eagles on the runway. But I digress... Good job to the folks at the Duluth airport!

Some People Don't Love Dogs, New Species of Lion, Bald Eagle Ground Nest Discovered, NX and Camellia Checked In, Pied-billed Grebe and Raven On Feathered Photography

Not everyone loves dogs... I am a dog person and I tend to gravitate toward dog people. But there are people in the world that just don't get it...

There is a new species of lion!

Dr Brayn Watts of the Center for Conservation Biology found the first documented Bald Eagle ground nest in Virginia. The post includes pictures. Very cool!

NX checked in today. Three guesses where she's been since the last check-in... You got it! Aquia Creek.

There is also an update on Camellia's location. He is still exploring on the south-side.

Ron Dudley posted an interesting series of pictures on his Feathered Photography blog. He witnessed an interaction between a Pied-billed Grebe and a Raven. He's not sure what was going on and I have no idea... Any ideas?

Happy Mother's Day!

I want to wish all of the Mothers out there a Happy Mother's Day! Today's post is all about mothers.

Here's a slideshow "Moms of the Animal Kingdom (and their babies)" which I thought was appropriate today. And here's another collection along the same theme.

Here's another slideshow: Natures Meanest Mommies. It's all about survival of the fittest! There is a slide on Black Eagles, which I'm not very familiar with... I'm going to have to do some research on this one. But the behavior attributed to this eagle applies to Bald Eagles too...

And on the human side, this slideshow is The Most Awkward Pregnancy Photos Ever! Only go to this link if you want some weirdness added to your day!

Happy Mother's Day!

Nest Cam round-up: Blackwater, Alcoa, Duke Farms, Fort St Vrain, Sooner Lake, AEF, and NCTC Eagles and the Alcoa Osprey Nest, Harrison Mills Egg Tooth Video, Camellia and NX Locations, Find Momo

I made the rounds of the cameras today. I'm mentioning when each nest might fledge. I'm going with the soonest date we might see a fledge, keeping in mind that it could be a couple more weeks before they fledge. At the Norfolk nest in 2009, HK fledged early and HH (Azalea) took forever to fledge. HK was the second hatch and he fledged on 6/3. HH was the oldest and she fledged on 6/13. The youngest, HE, fledged on 6/8. (If you aren't familiar with that nesting season: HE was doing some hopping/wingercizing and fell out of the nest. When the tree climbers went to put her back into the nest, HK spooked and fledged early. I speculate that HE was next to fledge because she had lost her fear after falling from the nest. When she fell, an observer on the ground said that she dropped like a rock and at the last minute put out her wings and glided to the ground. So, she had kinda already fledged and didn't come to any harm...) So there can be a lot of variation for when they fledge -- I've seen 10 - 13 weeks as the estimate.

The Blackwater babies seem to be doing great. They hatched at the end of February, so they are on fledge watch now. But it could still be some time before they fledge:

The Alcoa eagle cam is presented from a different perspective than pics I've posted before. They had a problem with the camera and had to start using an alternate camera. They couldn't fix the other camera without disturbing the nest. But the eaglets are big enough that they can be easily seen with this camera, and could fledge before the end of May:

I had to be very patient, but I finally got this great picture of the Duke Farms eaglets posing with one of the adults. They will be old enough to fledge in early June:

This is the remaining chick in the Fort St Vrain nest. It could fledge around the first week of June. Here you see it learning how to be an eagle, watching one of the adults as it flew out of the nest. I was so glad I caught this moment. I always think it's neat to watch how closely eaglets observe their parents:

The Sooner Lake eaglets are going to be old enough to fledge by the end of the month. Some interesting things in the pic below. You can clearly see the transmitter on the back of the upright eaglet in the left-hand screen and you can see the antenna for the transmitter on the same eaglet in the right-hand screen. I also caught this one with the nictitating membrane covering its eye. You can see its sibling in pancake mode behind it, with its head visible past the crop of the one that's upright.

Here's the same view a few seconds later without the nictitating membrane (after the blink):

The AEF babies are being well-cared for. I think having this breeding program for captive Bald Eagles is wonderful! This picture shows the dark feathers on the back of the Mom's head. I mentioned in an earlier post about Bald Eagles in captivity not always getting their full adult plumage. I'm not sure how old she was when she was injured, so I'm not sure if that's the case with this eagle. But I think it's interesting that she has all those dark feathers despite being an adult at least since 2002 when she took a mate. Here, the two babies are in pancake mode:

The NCTC eagles played hard-to-get today. I did manage to get a pretty good picture of one of them. The earliest fledge for this nest would be a few days before the end of the month.

The camera round-up wouldn't be complete without the Alcoa Osprey nest. I was happy to get such a great picture of the two babies:

It has been a while since I looked in on this nest. So you can imagine my surprise when a third head popped up!

Hancock Wildlife got some amazing video of one of the Harrison Mills chicks hatching. In the video, the chick is still inside the egg and you can clearly see the egg tooth. (Great job Zoomer!) The egg tooth is a bump on the top of the beak. The first air that a chick breathes is when the egg tooth punctures the sac at the large end of the egg. After that, they need to break the shell to get outside air. (If you notice an adult listening to their eggs when hatch time is near, it's because the chick can now make peeping noises.) They have a special muscle in the neck, called a pipping muscle. As the chick moves around in the egg, it breaks the shell with the egg tooth. Within a few days of hatching, the egg tooth disappears. This video is way cool! Here's a link to the video and here's a picture I captured from it:

 Here's a pic of Mom incubating. I like how her wings are spread a bit so you can see how far up her back the white feathers reach.

Camellia has checked in. It's amazing how much these birds like landfills and golf courses!

NX checked in today. She is still exploring Aquia Creek!

The 5/9 "find Momo" made me laugh. And it took me FOREVER to find Momo in the 5/10 pic...

AEF Eagle Nest, Ecuador's Yasuni National Park, Harpy (Jungle) Eagle PBS Special, Upcoming Southeast Raptor Center Eagle Release, Bald Eagle Bird Bath, KE's Location, Feathered Photography Blog

I have posted some pictures recently from the AEF eagle cam. I was curious about the Bald Eagles at that nest. They are non-releasable Bald Eagles that are allowed to fulfill their biological imperative to find a mate and reproduce. Here is their story.

I found a slideshow of Ecuador's Yasuni National Park. Slide 3 is a Harpy Eagle (Jungle Eagle). This is one serious Eagle. If you've never seen the PBS special on these eagles, you should check it out. Here's a link to the full video. The special is beautifully done and interesting to watch!

The Southeast Raptor Center at Auburn University is going to release a rehabilitated Bald Eagle on Saturday May 11th.

Here's a neat set of bird bath pictures. Bald Eagle bird baths!

KE's location has been updated.

I like Ron Dudley's picture today on his Feathered Photography blog. I got a picture of a bird like this once before. Not sure where to find it now though. I know I posted it on the forum...

Camellia's Location, Buddy is coming to Va Beach, Sooner Lake Eaglets Get Transmitters, Find Momo, Walk Hampton Clean Results, Gloucester and Chesapeake Bald Eagle Updates

Camellia checked in yesterday. He's at the Naval Amphibious Base at Little Creek. Where in particular? The golf course of course! Something about golf courses that eagles just love...

Buddy is going to be in Virginia Beach at Wild Birds Unlimited on Sunday June 2nd. Don't delay in making your reservation if you want to go! Space is limited... It's only $10, so it will probably fill up quicklyThere are two times to choose from: 1:00PM and 3:00PM. I plan to be there at 1:00PM.

The Sooner Lake eaglets got transmitters today. They are seven weeks old now and are full grown now. That's important since the transmitter fits onto the eaglet like a backpack -- so being full grown ensures a proper fit for the lifetime of the transmitter.

Growing is hard work. Frequent naps are needed. A lot of times when you check a camera, all you see is eaglet pancakes:

Great "Find Momo" pics for 5/6 and 5/7. The 5/6 picture is a beautiful landscape. And I like how Momo is hiding in the 5/7 picture.

I participated in the "Walk Hampton Clean" event last month. Here is the statement about the event from the city:

Cleaning up Hampton

Walk Hampton Clean last month saw 258 people walk a total of 72.61 miles in six hour and resulted in 6,585 gallons of litter kept out of storm drains, 75,362 cigarette butts removed from the streets, and 571 volunteer hours donated to make the city that much cleaner. Walk Hampton Clean was sponsored by the Hampton Clean City Commission.

The Gloucester Bald Eagle (#13-0283) got a good report today. I hope we see this one released soon!

The Chesapeake Bald Eagle (#12-0001) had an update today as well. (This is the eagle that 'fell from the sky.') It developed bumblefoot, a condition more common among birds that spend a lot of time perched. The toe never healed and needed to have surgery to remove the tip of the toe. Once that has healed, it can be transferred to its new home, the Massachusetts Birds of Prey Center.

Camellia's location, AEF Hack Towers and Eagle Cam, Bald Eagle Windex, Aberdeen Proving Ground Bald Eagle Survey, Shetzers Photography

Camellia checked in around midnight last night. He is hanging out near the Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge:

I was watching the AEF nest cams on Friday. One of their cameras was directed toward their hack towers. This shot gives some perspective on the towers. The one with the open door allows three of the older youngsters a way to come outside and hang out --  the hack tower version of branching:

And one of them did come outside for a bit and did some wingercizing:

Then it went back inside. At this point they are free to fledge, just like a Bald Eagle being raised in the wild:

And I got some great shots of the AEF babies. Here they are, just 1 day old at feeding time:

And we got a really nice close-up of them, while they look up Mom hoping for more food:

 I found an interesting story about a Bald Eagle named Windex who last made headlines in 1995.

They have completed a survey of Bald Eagles at the Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland.

This looks like a neat site to explore: Shetzers Photography. Bald Eagles, Hummingbirds, and Grizzly Bears! There are some interesting photography tours/workshops being offered.