Bald Eagle Camellia's Location, Become a Member of the Norfolk Eagles Forum, Rhoda Gerig's Video, Bats

Camellia is still hanging out on the south-side.

We have opened up the Norfolk Eagles Forum for new registrations. You can register on Saturday or Sunday 9:30PM - 10:30PM EST. We have to restrict the time that people can register because of the spammers and bots who try to get in.

Rhoda Gerig got some incredible footage at one of her local nests. There are two youngsters in the nest. An intruder fledgling followed Dad into the nest. Dad was bringing a fish and the fledgling was hungry. He did get a meal. And he was asked to leave. Here's a link to Rhoda's post on the Forum, where you can read her comments and click a link to see her video.

Here's a conservation story about Bald Eagles and Bats in Pennsylvania. Bald Eagles have seen such conservation success and Bats are in such jeopardy now due to White Nose Syndrome. Hopefully, scientists will find ways to help the bat populations recover.

Alcoa Osprey Nest, Red-tailed Hawk on Feathered Photography, Great Find Momo

I've been watching the Alcoa Osprey nest a lot lately. I'm starting to think that Osprey are pretty smart.

On Wednesday, Mom was feeding the two that haven't fledged yet. The fledgling wasn't in the nest at the time. I'm not sure if they ate it all or if she took some leftovers out of the nest with her since I missed seeing her depart the nest. Minutes later, she arrived back at the nest with some food. The two that haven't fledged seemed interested in it, even though they had just eaten -- They gathered around Mom and were crying to be fed. She ignored them. She was looking out and calling. The fledgling came in. Then she started feeding him. What a good mom!

I commented to someone the other day a difference I had observed between these Osprey chicks and Bald Eagles that are ready to fledge. At this Osprey nest, one has fledged and the other two are going to go any day now. But these Osprey chicks were not self-feeding. I had seen them get impatient and peck at the fish that Mom was standing on while she fed them. But that was it. Long before the time Bald Eagles are ready to fledge, they are rushing to grab the food when it's delivered to the nest and the winner mantles over it to keep the other chicks away. They start self-feeding pretty soon after they learn to stand. But I hadn't observed this behavior with the Osprey. Then, yesterday, Mom came into the nest with a fish. The two that have not yet fledged were in the nest. She deliberately tore the fish in half as she fed them. Then she stopped feeding them and left the pieces laying in the nest. One grabbed the tail end of the fish and dragged it toward the camera and started pecking at it. It made a few attempts at the tail before figuring out that it was easier to tear pieces off the same area Mom had been feeding from. The other sibling figured it out too. Here they both are, bent to the task:

Eventually, the fledgling returned to the nest and was also given the opportunity to self-feed. Even after fledging, the learning continues...

Some recent s'caps:
One of the two that haven't fledged contemplates the branch (Mom is on the right):

Both of these chicks (left and center) are standing on the part of the 'branches' that are inside the nest. But this does not count as branching:



This s'cap shows the fledgling flying above the trees and Mom is flying away from the nest, right below the logo. The chick standing in the nest still hasn't quite achieved 'branching' but is getting a feel for it:

Here's Mom flying in with a fish:

It was raining yesterday at the nest. It didn't stop the wingercizing. Sing it with me, "I'm winging in the rain, I'm winging in the rain..."

It was windy while it was raining. This youngster hop/flew pretty high, got blown sideways, and came down on the branch. Finally one of the remaining chicks has branched:

And two funny s'caps. A wasp must be building a nest on the camera. Because we've been seeing a lot of this:

Here's another. Does anyone remember the dead spider on the NBG camera? At least this wasp moves out of the way... But for now, "Hey guys! I'm ready for my close-up!"

Ron Dudley posted some great pictures of Red-tailed Hawks on his Feathered Photography blog.

Today's 'Find Momo' is pretty good. It's amazing how you can just overlook this dog!

Verizon Rant (AKA Verizon Sucks), Camellia's location, Find Momo, Funny Post on Feathered Photography Blog

I take screen captures of nests and mail them to myself so I can put them on my blog. But my Verizon webmail stopped working. I can't save my jpg attachments to my computer. I spent a while with their help desk and the guy can't help me. Said he can transfer me to their special help. Forget what he called it. Said there's a charge and they'd go over it with me. While waiting for the new helper, I forwarded the email to my gmail account. And then was able to save the pictures to my computer. Their paid help came on the line and tole me their services are available for $15 a month with a 10 month commitment. I told him that wasn't acceptable. He said they also offer 72 hours of help for $89. Crazy, right? Then he said they offer 30 minutes of help for $40. I let him know that I didn't appreciate them trying to screw me over after having been a customer of theirs for so long. Their DSL is horrible anyway. Most times, after having my computer in standby, my wireless stops working. I have to turn off my computer, reset the router, then boot up my computer. And even then, it's a 50/50 shot that it will work. Bottom line, Verizon sucks!

Camellia proving that he is an urban eagle! He's hanging out in people's yards... Here's his latest locations.

Love the 6/26 and 6/27 Find Momo! This is the luckiest dog. He goes on a new adventure every day!

Ron Dudley's post today his Feathered Photography blog made me laugh!

I do have some s'caps from the Alcoa Osprey nest. I'll post them tomorrow. It's late and I'm tired...

NX's Location, One Alcoa Osprey Fledged Today

NX has checked in. She is still exploring the Potomac River.

When I first checked in at the Alcoa Osprey nest today, surprise! Only two chicks in the nest. The oldest fledged earlier today. Here we see Mom with two chicks gathered around her because it's chow time:

At one point, a wing enters the frame from the left. The cam operator widens the view and we can see the fledgling perched on a 'branch' just outside the nest. The siblings that have not fledged thought it was fascinating:

The fledgling took advantage of having all that space to itself by doing some stretching:

Then it tried to get everyone's attention:

Did some heavy wingercizing:

And posed like this for a moment:

And I do mean moment. I had to look away for a moment and when I looked back I could see him in the background circling in a clockwise manner. I just had time to hit the s'cap and caught him in the upper right hand corner:

And then he was back in the nest. Yes, it would have been easy to just hop over into the nest, but the big circling flight is much more fun!

Then Mom and the fledgling took off together. The two that were left in the nest didn't seem to know what to make of this. It was kind of comical watching them:

But soon enough, they both came back together. The fledgling came in first and here Mom is just landing on the 'branch':

I think this is the fledgling getting some air:

And then getting some big air, with Mom craning around to watch. This is not a landing or a take-off. This is just wingercizing:

This is the biggest air during wingercizing that I've ever seen at this nest. Ospreys are great at hovering, and that's what he was doing. Look at how intently Mom is watching...

Remember the fledgling was on the 'branch' while Mom was feeding the two siblings? You can see Mom's got a pretty good crop and the chick on either side have pretty good crops. The middle chick is the fledgling, not much of a crop. And he was crying and crying because he was hungry. This is about the time I had to stop watching. But I'm sure he got fed...

I'll finish this post with this nice family picture. Osprey spend so much time preening, it's hard to get them all looking up. As you can see, I've got one of them looking down here, but I still like this s'cap. I took about 50 s'caps today just to try to get the 'moments' without someone's head buried under a wing preening... And trying to avoid having any faces at the smudgy spots on the cam...

Black Bears on Critter Cam, Brown Thrashers, Keeping Nests Clean

Last night I mentioned that Buddy is on the Wildlife Center's Critter Cam. They actually have two Critter Cams. They've got 8 Bear Cubs on their other cam! That's a lot of bears! I got a s'cap with at least a part of each cub...

I've had some Brown Thrashers settle in at my yard. I'm always surprised to see them eating the bird food that I put out. Then one really surprised me when it finished eating some bird food, then grabbed a peanut and flew away. I didn't know they liked peanuts. (In the shell...) I put out extra peanuts now!

Ron Dudley posted on his Feathered Photography blog about Ravens collecting chick feces at the nest. One of his blog readers left a link to this video, about why baby birds don't need diapers. Pretty gross. But it is necessary to keep the nest clean...

Bald Eagle Camellia's Location, Bald Eagle Buddy on the Wildlife Center of Virginia's Critter Cam, Maine Tries to Reduce the Number of Bald Eagles Struck by Vehicles, This is Post Number 100!

Camellia has finally left the Pocaty River. Check out his latest travels.

Don't forget that Buddy is starring on the Wildlife Center's Critter Cam!

The state of Maine is taking steps to try to reduce the number of Bald Eagles struck by vehicles. Good job! I'd be interested in hearing the results of their actions.

I've hit another milestone with my blog: this is post number 100. Thanks to all who follow my blog!

Bald Eagle HK is Growing Up, Bald Eagle That Crashed Into The Ground At The Duluth Airport Has Recovered, Web Cam Guidance From The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

Reese posted an entry today on the Eagle Nest blog about HK. There is a picture that Pam Monahan took. HK looks great! You can see the rest of Pam's pictures of HK. There are quite a few pictures of him keeping company with a Bald Eagle that looks huge compared to him...

I previously mentioned on May 14th and May 17th the Bald Eagles that crashed into the ground at the Duluth Airport. They were locked in battle and didn't separate before hitting the ground. One of the Bald Eagles had a puncture wound from a talon in the abdomen. It has recovered from its injuries and was released back into the wild.

The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service has release an article: Guidance for Use of Cameras at Bald Eagle Nests. This is about web cams.

Funny Momo Post Today, Swainson's Hawk on Feathered Photography, Bald Eagle Eating a Duck, Bald Eagle Covered in Vegetable Oil, Civet Coffee, Living Furniture

Today's 'find Momo' made me laugh!

Ron Dudley posted some pictures of a Swainson's Hawk on his Feathered Photography blog. This is such a pretty hawk! I really enjoy his blog!

I found this video of a Bald Eagle that has caught a duck for dinner. All I can say is, "Duck feet! Yum, yum!"

Here's a bizarre story about a Bald Eagle that was found covered in... vegetable oil. At least, that's what they think it is. They are investigating.

Have you ever heard of civet coffee? It's good to the last dropping! 

And have you ever heard of living furniture?

Bald Eagles Catching Starlings, Camellia's Location, Ferruginous Hawk Chick Update on Feathered Photography

Here's an article about Bald Eagles catching starlings in mid-air. There are three pictures, make sure you click on the picture to see them all.

Reese was right! Camellia has returned to Pocaty River.

Ron Dudley has posted updated pictures of the Ferruginous Hawk chicks on his Feathered Photography blog. It's amazing how much they have grown in 12 days!

NX's Location, Dancing Bluebird on Feathered Photography, Screen Captures of the Alcoa Osprey Nest

NX checked in today. She is about a mile south of her last check in.

Ron Dudley posted some great pictures of a dancing bluebird on his Feathered Photography blog.

Here's the rest of the Osprey s'caps from yesterday:

I think that growing requires a lot of stretching. This was a really big stretch:

Very often, they will stretch one wing, then fold it back in. These two were laying side by side, and they both did one of these stretches at different times. Just for fun, I combined the two s'caps into one picture:

This youngster did a big stretch that included its leg. After tucking its wing back in, it never did tuck its leg back in. Look at the size of that talon! I wonder if taking up this much room in the nest is like hogging the covers?

I took this s'cap to show the difference in the adult and chick's eye color. The chick's eye color is more orange (on the left) than the yellow of the adult's eye (on the right):

This is a good time to see a lot of wingercizing. This chick got some serious air:

The chicks are also careful to back up to the edge of the nest when they need to poop. This might look like a stretch, but you can tell it's going to be poop when they back up to the edge of the nest first. If you're still not sure which it is, wait to see if the poop flies:

Different chick, same activity. And yes, that's a lot of poop -- not part of the logo or spillway:

All this activity is hard on a nest. A lot of the sticks end up going over the side. The parents bring in new sticks every day:

Here's a s'cap from 5/10, for comparison:

NX and Camellia Locations, Piano Playing Singing Dog, Find Momo, Ferruginous Hawk Nest on Feathered Photography, Alcoa Osprey S'caps

NX has checked in. She hasn't gone far, still hanging out south of Quantico.

Camellia checked in. He's in Virginia Beach, but Reese speculates that he's heading back to the Pocaty River.

My friend Candy sent me a link to this piano playing and singing dog. I love it! So, I thought I'd share it.

I love the 6/14 find Momo. So cute! Check it out!

Ron Dudley posted some pictures from another Ferruginous Hawk nest with chicks. These pictures are amazing!

I spent some time today watching the Alcoa Osprey nest. I took way too many s'caps (screen captures) to put in one post. I'll put some here today and put some in tomorrow's post. It was an interesting day. I'm not sure what was happening off-camera, but the adult at the nest seemed agitated -- looking around, calling, ducking, and taking short flights.

In this picture, Mom is on full alert. She is hunkered down, calling, and her wings are a bit flared. She was neither landing nor taking off. I think she was trying to appear larger and more intimidating to scare off whatever threat she perceived:

Have you ever seen a group of cats who are all watching the same thing? Their heads and eyes all track simultaneously. That's what happened today as something flew around the nest:

And it happened more than once. Here all of the chicks are calling:

And here's Mom landing back in the nest after one of her short flights:

Dad brought in a fish at one point:

Dad never stays in the nest for long. Here, I caught him flying away:

After feeding her chicks, I was able to get a s'cap of Mom feaking. Notice the chicks watching her -- learning how to be Osprey. And sure enough, shortly after this s'cap was taken, one of the chicks did some vigorous feaking.

Mom kept a close watch as her chicks settled down for a nap:

It was an interesting day to watch this nest. I'll post the rest of the s'caps from today in tomorrow's post...

What Happens After Fledging? and Two Swainson's Hawks on Feathered Photography

Reese has a post on the Eagle Nest Blog about how long fledgling Bald Eagles stay around their natal area. Included are Shelly Fowler's pictures of the eagles at the Saw Pen Point nest. (This is KE's nest.)

Ron Dudley has posted pictures of two Swainson's Hawks on his Feathered Photography blog.

Training Update for Buddy, Urban Bald Eagle Fledglings, Camellia's Location, Recent Feathered Photography Posts

Raina has posted a training update on Buddy! She talks about her travels with Buddy at the beginning of the month. There is also a link to the critter cam, featuring Buddy!

Reese has posted an entry about this year's urban Bald Eagles fledging. There are several pictures included. Reese's post reminds us that fledglings might be found on the ground or on rooftops and they should be left alone. They usually just need time to regroup after an initial flight.

Camellia's location has been updated. He's still at Nanney's Creek.

I have fallen behind looking at Ron Dudley's Feathered Photography blog. Here are some interesting recent posts: Swainson's Hawk, Ferruginous Hawk with chicks, Northern Flicker, American Kestral with snake, Ferruginous Hawk in flight, Black-billed Magpies, Coyote, and a Golden Eagle.

AEF Eaglets Going to Hack Tower, S'Caps of Recent Fledges: Fort St Vrain, Alcoa, Two Harbors, and Sooner Lake

Tomorrow at 5:00PM, the AEF eaglets will be removed from the nest and taken to the hack towers. You can watch this on the AEF eagle cam. They will continue to grow, strengthen their flight muscles, and eventually fledge from the hack towers. I've talked about these towers in an earlier post. Here is a screen capture of the AEF eaglets this evening:

I caught up with some recent fledges. After Eaglets fledge, they will return to the nest, where the adults continue to bring food until the eaglet has learned to forage for itself. The Fort St Vrain eaglet finally looked toward the camera so I could get a s'cap (screen capture) without cutting off its head:

It looks like the two Alcoa eaglets are perched in a tree near the nest (one is only barely in the frame):

The afternoon sun is always harsh on the Two Harbors cam. But you can still make out the fledgling on the left side of the screen:

I found one of the Sooner Lake eaglets at home. It's hard to believe that two eaglets fledged from this nest. It looks too small!

I had included a bunch of s'caps from the Alcoa Osprey nest. But it was making this post take forever to open. So, here is a link to those pictures that I've put into a separate post. Just give it some time to open...

Alcoa Osprey Nest

I spent some time watching the Alcoa Osprey nest the other day and got these s'caps. (I was going to post these yesterday, but the storms knocked out my power and it didn't come back on until today while I was at work...)

First, we've got the family just hanging out. Mom and the three chicks:

It was a nice day to do some wingercizing:

Then Dad came in with a fish. That nest is super-crowded when all five Osprey are at home. Notice that everyone is paying attention to the food:

Osprey chicks learn how to be Osprey by watching their parents. Look at how closely they all watch as Dad flies away. This was the only time I was able to get them all to face the camera and say "cheese":

Shading the siblings? No, just more wingercizing:

Then Dad returns with another stick for the nest:

Now to find the perfect spot for this stick, even though the nest is crowded:

The chick on the right gets bonked in the head with the stick:

Eventually, the adult finds the perfect spot for the stick. Unfortunately, it's still laying on top of the chick on the right:

The chick decides to take matters into its own hands since the adult is satisfied with the stick placement and has moved on to other things:

"I've almost got it!"

"I give up. Maybe if I just lay here..."

"Nope. I don't like that. I'll just stand up and shake it off!" Great plan. You can see the stick hanging off the right side of the nest:

It was a hot day. This is the last view I saw of this nest that day -- The chicks all tried to get some relief from the sun by crowding into the shade created by Mom: