Screen Captures of the Berry College Bald Eagle nest/hatchling from 2/26 day 4:
Mom resting with her butt in the wind:
Eagle chicks have a lot of growing to do, so they spend a lot of time eating:
Mom offers a bite:
Dad is getting some shut-eye:
And later, eating again. This is Mom:
Mom using her wing as a crutch to get back onto the nest bowl:
These are from 2/27 day 5:
This is a new one for me -- being fed and brooded at the same time:
Home alone, but only briefly:
These are from today, 2/28 day 6:
Dad landed in the nest, bringing a big fish:
There is starting to be a large accumulation of "nestovers" in the nest. This is a good sign that there is ample food. Once the chick gets bigger, the regular food deliveries will be needed. You can just see the chick peeking out:
Bald Eagle Camellia has checked in.
Reese posted today about the Urbanized Bald Eagle. I referred to Bald Eagle HK the other day as an urban Bald Eagle. I think it's amazing that they are able to adapt so well.
The Alcoa Bald Eagle nest was buzzed by a juvenile today. At least the youngster didn't land in the nest, like what happened the other day at the Turtle Bay nest. The juvie at the Alcoa nest might have been hungry for the fish laying in the nest, who knows... The Alcoa nest has two eggs.
Here's a link to a scary Mom Berry video. It's only a minute and a half video. A very scary situation was created due to her bad foot/leg and the high winds yesterday.
Drama last night at the Hays Bald Eagle nest. A raccoon came into the nest and startled Mom Hays off of the eggs. The story says that they don't think that any of the eggs were broken -- she had just laid the 3rd egg that day. (In 2008, both of the eggs at the NBG nest were broken when Mom Norfolk was startled during the night.) I'm surprised the raccoon in this video didn't steal one of the eggs -- it certainly looked like it could have... Read the story and watch the video of the encounter at this link.
There was also a pretty incredible encounter at the Turtle Bay nest today. You might recall that last year was a sad year at this nest. You can read my previous posts if you aren't familiar with the events of last year. This video that was taken today shows the new male "Spirit" on the nest incubating 3 eggs when a very large female juvenile lands on the nest. The standoff is pretty wild. He confronts her. Then he looks submissive. I think it's interesting at about the 6 minute mark that he goes back to incubating the eggs while she's still there. His instinct tells him he needs to keep those eggs warm. But the angle of his head while he's snuggling back down onto the eggs shows that he's keeping an eye on the intruder. I don't know what the intruder was doing. She appears to be three years old. This is not the first time a juvie has joined an adult on a nest. Maybe it was hungry, but I have a hard time believing that an eagle makes it to three years old without knowing how to find food for itself... Strange occurrence, not sure what was happening here. This video is almost 13 minutes long.
There's a lot of drama happening at these nests. I think the more nest cams that are available, the more we will see that there are a lot of life and death struggles in nature.
The Northeast Florida Eaglets are both pretty good at sleeping standing up. Most nights when I check in on them, at least one is sleeping while standing up. The one on the left was doing some sleepy looking preening. The one on the right was totally zonked out.
I've seen E4 at the Southwest Florida Bald Eagle nest in a variety of poses while sleeping. And this one looks the most uncomfortable.
An owl attacked Mom Decorah Bald Eagle last night. What's with these owls? Mom was sleeping with her head tucked when suddenly she jerked awake. Then shortly after, an owl does a touch-and-go off of her back. The owl stayed close, made me jump when it called. Great Horned Owls are a threat to nesting Bald Eagles. Eagles can only see about as well as humans do in the dark. Owls have a big advantage. After the attack, I'm not sure if Mom is adopting a subservient posture or if she is trying to protect the egg while being at the ready. I just wanted her to lay down and keep that egg warm! I guess Dad Decorah wasn't around or he would have joined her in the nest. Here's a link to the video. Pretty wild! Here's some stills, but definitely check out the video... How do you sleep after that?
It's day 3 for the little one at the Berry College Bald Eagle nest. First thing this morning, Mom looks wet and I think that's sleet on her, the way it rolled off of her back.
Here's Dad getting into position to incubate. He steps oh-so-carefully, straddling the egg and chick. Notice that he's got his toes curled in so his talons don't cause any damage:
These are my favorite pictures from today. This is Dad on duty:
This is still Dad, doing a pretty good job of taking care of his young. And look how wide that mouth is open!
I'm not sure what's going on with Mom when she's incubating. She kind of falls forward. I'm not sure if this has something to do with her leg. I'm scared that she is going to sustain another injury by laying improperly. This position has become the norm. If she's not able to incubate properly, this could be the reason the other egg hasn't hatched. She's got to be able to get her brood patch all the way down onto the egg:
Here's why Mom scares me. She can't put hardly any weight on her left foot. While trying to get into position, she had to catch herself with her wing:
Then a moment later she is using her wing as a crutch. She will put her left foot down, then lurch her right foot forward to try to get into position... I'm scared she is going to step on (and injure) that baby. Poor thing. She is trying so hard and doing the best that she can.
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Day 2 for the little hatchling at the Berry College Bald Eagle nest. (Tomorrow is day 39 for the other egg if it's the one that was laid second. If it's going to hatch, it will be tomorrow. If it's the one that was laid first, then it's not viable...) Feeding time for junior:
This is Mom's feet. See how the left foot (her bad leg) has no weight on it? Right before I took this s'cap, she was stretching out that leg. I wonder if it is starting to heal...
Bald Eagle Camellia is back on the southside after taking in the sights in Hampton. I went looking for him on Saturday after I left Honey Bee, but he'd already moved on. That's why he's known as "the stinker"...
I took a quick look at the Florida nests. At the Northeast nest, one baby was awake and preening while the other was laying down in the background:
It also looks to be a restless night at the Southwest Florida nest. That's a nice big crop. I love how well the talons show up under IR light:
I spent some time yesterday with some of the photographers down at Honey Bee Golf Course. That is Bald Eagle HK's territory. I got some video. Nothing awesome, but I'll process it and get it posted later this week. Right before I got there I missed HK gathering grass for the nest. (He swooped in and grabbed it just like they do when catching fish.) He mated with someone (there were two other eagles there and they weren't sure if it was the banded female.) And then after I left there was an altercation at the nest between HK and a sub-adult. That's everything I missed seeing. I also missed getting video of HK landing at the nest because I was just driving up. I saw it, but I was driving... He made a great approach, it would have been great video! Oh well. On the bright side: Here's a picture that Shelly Fowler took, it is posted here with her permission. This is after HK arrived at his nest and found this sub-adult there. This picture was taken right after HK knocked the youngster out of his nest. Neither one looks too happy. It was going on dark when this picture was taken. Yesterday was the first time I'd been to his nest. Let me tell you, this is an urban Bald Eagle! And that's a huge nest!
With the hatch yesterday at Berry College Bald Eagle nest on day 39, I reviewed the stats on the NBG nest from 2007 to 2012. During these years, the exact dates for egg laying, hatching and fledge dates are known because of the eagle cam on that nest during those years. During that time, 13 eggs hatched. In 2008, Buddy's year, his was the only egg. He hatched on day 36. This would indicate that there was no delay in incubating his egg. The other 12 eggs were from 4 different years, with 3-egg clutches each year:
- The four first-laid eggs had 2 hatch at 38 days and 2 hatch at 39 days. There was a big delay in incubation.
- The four second-laid eggs had 2 hatch in 37 days and 2 hatch in 38 days. There was some delay in incubation.
- The four third-laid eggs all hatched in 36 days -- no delay in incubating the last egg laid.
- Each year, there was at least 6 days between the first and last laid egg. And each year, all chicks had hatched in at least 2 fewer days.
Maybe 36 days should be the standard, not 35 as I've read... I'm going to stop holding my breath on day 35...
Here's a video of the Berry College egg when it is partly cracked.
I also found another video showing a little difference of opinion about who was going to incubate and who was going to go catch some dinner. This video starts w/Dad Berry in the nest and then Mom Berry joins him, almost knocking him over when she lands behind him. (I think they normally land on a branch then drop down into the nest. Maybe she can't do that with her leg. It looks like she just landed in the nest and into Dad.) Dad starts incubating, but Mom's typically want to do all of the incubating right after hatch. So when she returned from taking a break, Dad wouldn't move out of the way so she could resume incubating. There's no audio with this cam, but you can see that she is giving him an earful. At one point she beaks at his tail. Here's a s'cap I took yesterday of her giving him the evil eye:
She can't walk very well because of her injured left leg, so she stands and waits for him to move. He finally leaves and she resumes incubating the egg and hatchling. At the end of the video you can see her using her left wing as a crutch when she's getting situated over the nest bowl. This video is a little over a half-hour. That's how long the stand-off lasted... It's got some good video of the cute little bobble-head! And it's interesting seeing the adult's interactions. He was mostly ignoring her, but at one point, he did look back at her:
Shortly thereafter, Dad left. (I included the counter in this s'cap. See in the bottom bar toward the left-hand corner? When I took this s'cap, there were 13,537 people watching the cam at that moment):
Mom quickly settled in to incubate. I've noticed that she has a brown feather in the middle of the white tail feathers high up. (Do I need to circle it, or do you see what I'm referring to?)
I love this picture: "Hi Momma! What's up?"
I don't know what this is in her mouth. Food of some sort... Looks pretty gross. I was thinking, "Spit it out!" Any ideas what that is?
That's all my s'caps from yesterday (hatch day). I took a few today, day 1. So happy to see a feeding. I'm not sure when the first feeding was. I can't sit in front of the cam 24/7. I wish I could, but I know that there is a lot that I miss. Like yesterday, I didn't know there was a hatch until 5:00PM or so when I got home from Honey Bee... Anyway, I finally saw a feeding today by Dad. Dad's always give the biggest pieces, but the little one handled it just fine:
This is Mom on the nest. This is why she scares me, the way she lurches around on her bad leg. In this s'cap, she is chewing at her left leg (maybe it's healing and it itches...) One of the talons on her right foot is on the baby. The baby was moving around and didn't appear to be injured. But she worries me...
So excited! Berry College Bald Eagle nest has a hatchling! I'm not sure if this is the first egg laid or the second. I guess we'll just have to wait and see what the other egg does. Baby and egg:
I think that's Dad settling back down to incubate while Mom looks on. You can just see the baby in front of Dad:
Mom checks out the egg shell:
Still waiting on a hatch at the Berry College Bald Eagle nest. It's 9:30PM and there are currently 6,400 people looking at the cam. Looking at this:
We are all waiting on that too brief glimpse of eggs, straining to see anything that might be a pip or a crack... And we wait... Something interesting being reported: Berry College personnel have found a 2nd Bald Eagle nest on campus, about 7 miles away from the nest that's on camera. I'm not sure if it's a second nest for this pair or if there is another Bald Eagle pair. Click this link to see a picture.
Finally, an update on Bald Eagle Buddy!!! He's had his annual physical exam and everything looks good. They comment that he is truly an adult Bald Eagle now. With this being mating season, it's possible for him to exhibit some behaviors due to hormones. See the video included at this link... And read about his latest exam at the same link.
Bald Eagle Camellia checked in on 2/18. He actually came to my neck of the woods. He also checked in again on 2/20. And he's still here. I'm hoping he sticks around! I plan to look for him this weekend!
Pam Monahan has put up some posts regarding her observations of Bald Eagle HK. Her post about her 2/8 visit made me laugh, between HK's bad landing and all the pictures that made me think, "Boing!" Her 2/10 visit shows HK bringing soft grass to his nest while some snow falls. I love seeing him bringing in soft grass, the finishing touch (dare I say it?) when preparing for eggs! On 2/11, Pam caught HK doing some nest work and some nice interactions between him and his lady friend. He's proving to be a good provider. On Valentine's Day, Pam got some great pictures of HK doing some more nest work. And once again one of her pictures made me laugh! Then on 2/18, HK was a little less cooperative. But Pam persevered and got some pictures. Thanks Pam!
Waiting and waiting for a hatch at the Berry College Bald Eagle nest. Tomorrow is day 35 for the second egg that was laid. I am surprised we haven't seen a hatch yet at this nest. There can be a delay in the hatching of the first egg if Mom delayed incubating the egg, to close the gap in hatch time. There is less sibling rivalry if the hatches occur closer together instead of one getting a 3 day head start (eggs are generally laid 3 days apart). I hold my breath and strain to see the eggs every time she stands up. And so do over 7,000 other people -- the number of people watching the cam at any one time these days. It's after 11:00PM and there's still almost 4,600 people watching a Bald Eagle sleep! Anyway, I could've sworn I saw a pip hole the other day. But I haven't seen anything like it again since then, so it must not have been. She's still gimpy on her left leg - something else to worry about. Here's our sleeping beauty:
There's more disheartening news for the Norfolk Bald Eagles. Eagle On Alliance reports that a 9th nest has been removed from the Norfolk Botanical Garden. Norfolk's Mayor Fraim is proving to be the most pig-headed, stubborn fool for continuing an effort that is obviously not working. There is now more eagle activity around NBG now that the Norfolk pair doesn't have a nest to defend. And there was a Bald Eagle struck and killed at the airport last month -- proving that his plan is not working. The Bald Eagle that was killed was not one of the Norfolk pair. By concentrating their wildlife mitigation efforts against one Bald Eagle pair at the neighboring property, they are leaving the flying public at the mercy of all the other wildlife that is free to come and go at the airport. Feel free to let Mayor Frain know what you think by sending him an email at mayor@norfolk.gov. And now Mayor Fraim, I'm talking to you: You made a bad call. If your ego is too big, you don't even have to admit you made a mistake. Just institute a mitigation plan on airport property and leave the eagles alone. Here's why you should:
- It is cruel to keep removing the nests built by the Norfolk pair.
- Irreparable harm is being done to the trees at the Norfolk Botanical Garden.
- Revenue is down at the Norfolk Botanical Garden because people are allowing their membership to lapse and people have stopped going there over this issue.
- You are making yourself look worse the longer this continues.
- Most importantly, you are endangering the flying public by not taking appropriate steps on airport property to mitigate the threat of wildlife at the airport.
The Decorah Bald Eagles just faced a threat. This is what a Dad Bald Eagle is supposed to do when Mom calls for help. (The Berry College Dad could learn a thing or two from the Decorah Dad...) Check out this video of the Decorah Bald Eagle Nest. (So nice that they have sound!) I don't know if he's trying to protect her at 3:05 or if he's just trying to make himself look bigger to whatever is posing a threat. I like to think that he was trying to protect her... It's nice to see them side-by-side facing a threat together.
It was a year ago today that I wrote my first blog post. Thanks to all who have found my blog and have supported this endeavor! This post will be number 232. There have been over 11,300 page views. Woot!
Much excitement last night at the Berry College Bald Eagle nest. Mom looked up a couple of times and it made me think that she heard something. But I didn't really think anything of it... She was doing an egg roll when suddenly something swooped across the nest, toward the camera. Scared me! Here's a video of the attack. This is a really good video, it shows the time leading up to the attack and how she kept looking up. At time 22:42:50 the attack happened. I think it startled me even more because I was already holding my breath -- scared that she was going to roll right out of the nest! (You'll see what I mean if you watch the video.) I also found a slo-mo video of the attack. Since this happened at night, and since the Great Horned Owl is a predator of eggs and babies, my first thought was G'Ho. But the attack happened so fast! Then I saw this picture that the college posted. Looks like an owl to me! They have also opened up the archive of the approach cam. This is 3 hours of video. Just go to the 18 minute mark. You can see the attack at time 00:18:10. (If any videos stop and start a lot, you can pause the video and let some of it buffer and then hit play again for smooth play-back.)
Mom ended up to the right of the egg bowl:
She made her way back to the egg bowl -- another harrowing event. I was worried she was going to step on the eggs (watch the videos above...) After she settled back down onto the eggs, she kept calling, but Dad Berry never showed up. If this had happened at the NBG nest, Dad Norfolk would have been in the nest in a flash. Not sure where Dad Berry was and I'm kind of disappointed that he didn't help defend the nest. Here's Mom Berry calling after the attack:
She was wide awake after the attack, this s'cap taken 20 minutes later. She is not relaxed at all:
And look at that scowl. She looks pretty angry.
OK. That's all I've got about the attack. Earlier in the evening, I had taken some other s'caps. First, Mom was passed out -- face plant mode:
Then she stood like this for a bit and I thought something might be tickling her belly!
This is what I saw when she finally backed off of the eggs. These two pictures were taken 2 minutes apart. I could have sworn that I was seeing a crack in the bottom egg and that it was changing. But, that could be a piece of the soft grass lining the bowl and it might have been moving with a breeze... And since there wasn't a hatchling in the nest this morning, it was probably grass, darn it!
So, that was yesterday after I had already done a blog post.
Today, I noticed that the view on the cam is different. It turns out that this is a PTZ cam. Well, at least it's a zoom cam. Here is a s'cap of the full frame. (You can compare this to the full frame s'cap I posted of sunrise on my 2/17 post - 4th pic on the page. See how much more of the tree and surrounding area you can see in the sunrise pic? They also have a new logo in the bottom left corner that I like.) It turns out that they have zoomed in so we can see the eggs better now that it's hatch time. I wish they'd tilt up a little so the adult's heads aren't cut off:
When Mom Berry is in the egg bowl, she uses her left wing as a crutch for her gimpy left leg. I'm a little worried about her and the youngsters that should be here any time now. She is coming close to stepping on eggs. What's going to happen when the babies start getting under foot? She is so unsteady these days...
Mom and Dad share a moment. She must not have needed a break because she didn't get up and Dad left.
Mom likes to pull the grasses in close after she gets situated. Sometimes, she ends up getting it on herself instead.
