Africam Black Eagle Day 33, Berry College Bluebirds Hatch Watch Continues, Dyfi Osprey Day 29,31&32, Loch of the Lowes Osprey Day 37,39&40, White-bellied Sea Eagles, White Rock Eagles Day 71&72, Necropsy Results For The Catalina West End Chick, Disaster At The Hog Island Osprey Nest, 38 Year Old Bald Eagle In The Wild

The Africam Black Eagle is growing. I'm just waiting to see some feathers start to come in...

Hatch watch continues at the Berry College Bluebird nest.

Mom Dyfi was doing her best to shade her chicks today. She was panting, trying to keep cool.

The Scottish Wildlife Trust's Loch of the Lowes Osprey got some new bling today. All three were ringed (banded) yesterday and two got transmitters. You can see the rectangular box of the transmitter on the left-hand chick. You can see the blue band on the left leg of the center chick. You can see the antenna coming off the back of the right-hand chick. Here's a link to their blog post about ringing and placing transmitters on the Osplets.

The White-bellied Sea Eagles let us view the eggs during a nest exchange.

They had a Squonk-A-Thon! These pretty birds have the funniest, harshest call...

I grabbed some video of the Squonk-A-Thon (1:09):

Here's a later nest exchange.

Are both of the White Rock Eaglets on branches here? I think maybe so...

I mentioned in a previous post that the Catalina West End chick died in the arms of the biologist while it was being banded. The necropsy results are in. Here's a link to Eagleholic's blog post about the necropsy results.

 

I keep forgetting about the Hog Island Osprey nest. It's a beautiful nest and I blogged about it once in 2014 and once in 2013. I keep meaning to follow and blog about this nest, but then forget after a year. They had tragedy strike this year. A Bald Eagle raided their nest and stole the two babies. They were about a month old -- about the size of the Dyfi babies. Sad for them. Maybe next year I'll remember to watch this nest. The host of the web cam explains what happened and includes a video of the Bald Eagle taking the babies. It's amazing how it scooped up a baby the same way it scoops a fish out of the water. Don't watch though if you are sensitive.

 

The oldest known Bald Eagle in the nation was banded 38 years ago and was recently found deceased -- likely hit by a car. Here's the story.

Africam Black Eagle Day 32, Dyfi Osprey Day 28,30&31 Synchronized Wing Stretches, Loch of the Lowes Day 36,38&39 Banding & Transmitters, White-bellied Sea Eagle Second Egg Laid! & Dad Has A Mishap, White Rock Eagles Day 70&71, Duane Noblicks Photography

The Africam Black Eagle was just a puddle of fluff this morning.

There was a funny moment at the Dyfi Osprey nest this morning. They were all laying in different areas of the nest.

And then I could see why when they did Synchronized Wing Stretches (0:48):

The Scottish Wildlife Trust's Loch of the Lowes Osprey cam was off air for a little while today while they were ringed (banded) and two got transmitters. (I'll need some good zooming so I can see the new bling...) Before:

After:

Today was a big day for the White-bellied Sea Eagles. Right on time, Mom laid her second egg! (Keep in mind when you look at the camera date/time that they are 14 hours ahead of us.) She was resting with her eyes closed earlier in the night.

At one point, she even had her head tucked.

Then, she was wide awake!

 She labored for about 8 minutes.

Then she moved around and we can just see two eggs through the sticks of the nest.

 Here's a video of her Laying the Second Egg (5:07):

Here's a close-up of the two eggs taken later in the day:

Shortly after that, Dad has a mishap at the nest. He went to take-off from the nest, but it looks like a talon got caught on the nest. He recovered, but I'll be looking for a limp... Here's the Failure To Launch video (1:02):

The White Rock Eaglets were just hanging out on a windy day during the brief time I had to visit with them this morning.

Duane Noblick posted a couple of pictures of a fledgling on the Norfolk Eagles Forum. He takes such nice pictures! Feel free to poke around the forum while you are over there. You can also click the link at the bottom of his post and check out his photography website. I think you'll enjoy them both!

The Harrison Bay Eagle Cam was down tonight when I checked in...

Africam Black Eagle Day 31, Berry College Eagle Nest Visitor, Berry College Bluebird Hatch Watch, Dyfi Osprey Day 27,29&30, Harrison Bay Eagles Day 91&93, Loch of the Lowes Osprey Day 35,37&38, White-bellied Sea Eagle Egg Watch, White Rock Eagles Day 69&70

I slept in this morning. When I checked the cams, the Africam Black Eagle cam was already in infrared mode.

The Berry College Eagle nest had a visitor play Goldilocks today. (Thanks to Bebe1964 for letting me know about this!) This fourth year Eagle was making itself at home among the grass growing in the nest. It was laying down quite a bit, so I'm guessing the nest was just right!

It was checking out all of the perches -- and the camera. I think the perches were also just right!

We got some great close-ups of its pretty face.

It hung out for over two hours! The whitish head and dark eye stripe indicate that this is a fourth year sub-adult.

The Berry College Bluebirds are still incubating five eggs. I'm not sure exactly when they were laid since the camera wasn't on, but I'm thinking hatch watch must be soon... I'd start watching this nest regularly if you don't want to miss seeing them hatch.

At the Dyfi Osprey nest today, there were two faces down in front while one was positioned for bites of fish.

Both of the Fledglings spent a lot of time at the Harrison Bay Eagle nest today. We started off with a close-up of HB7.

Check out this video of HB7 sneezing during this close-up. I'm also wondering if HB7 has an injured beak. You can see it in the s'cap above. What I think of as the lip-line (although I'm sure that's not what it's called... But you know what I mean.) Here's the Sneeze... video (1:26). What do you think of that lip? Debris or injury?

At one point they both took a nap, while the parent perched on the back branch.

Then HB8 decided to pose for a close-up.

And look at this sight earlier tonight! It's been a long time since we've had one sleep in the nest. Then nest is empty now. But this was a nice moment.

I promised a video from yesterday of the two eaglets playing and rough-housing in the nest yesterday. Here's the Play Time video (11:37). It's kinda long, but fun to watch these two interact!

The Scottish Wildlife Trust's Loch of the Lowes Osprey are laying low in this s'cap. Can you imagine being a hungry predator circling overhead? They'd be hard to spot with their coloring.

The White-bellied Sea Eagles are on egg watch for egg number two. They typically lay two eggs at this nest.

What a beauty! I think this is Dad.

At the White Rock Eagle nest, one Eaglet got whacked in the head when its sibling jumped up onto the perch.

One of the White Rock Eaglets scared me today with its Precarious Perch (1:26).

Dyfi Osprey Day 26,28&29, Harrison Bay Eagles Day 90&92, Loch of the Lowes Osprey Day 34,36&37, White-bellied Sea Eagle, White Rock Eagles Day 68&69

The Dyfi Osprey chicks are so polite at feeding time. First this one gets some bites... 

...then this one gets some bites...

...then the third Osplet gets some bites.

Dad came along and showed off his one-legged standing skills.

Dad took off right as one of the babies pooped toward the cam.

Have you noticed the observation structure at the Dyfi nest? They are in the running for proceeds from their lottery, which they will us to put in a wheelchair lift. Please vote for them! It only took me a couple of minutes. Hit this link to read about it and watch the video at the end of the article. Then you can hit this link to vote.

Both of the Harrison Bay Fledglings were at the nest today. This is great! But one day they won't come... So, we need to enjoy them while we can! And speaking of that! The eaglets were playing together at the nest this evening. So cute and funny! I'm going to post a video - but it will have to wait until tomorrow since it's already past 2:00AM. For now, here's some s'caps from the day.

It was a rainy day at the Scottish Wildlife Trust's Loch of the Lowes Osprey nest.

The White-bellied Sea Eagle shows off some beautiful wings when it stands up. I'm not sure if this is Mom or Dad...

 

The egg is visible through the branches that make up the nest. It looks like the focus is on the branches though...

I believe this is Dad.

I captured a bit of video so you can hear these birds. They make a sound that is best called a squonk. Watch the Squonking video, you'll understand! (2:43)

And here's a link to a video of her laying the first egg. They capture and archive video of this nest every 3 hours! She lays the egg at nest time 11:38PM, which is only a few minutes into this video.

The White Rock Eaglets were in pancake mode today. They are filling up that nest! It's a good thing there's only two of them...

White-bellied Sea Eagle Egg!, Africam Black Eagle, Dyfi Osprey, Harrison Bay Eagles, Loch of the Lowes Osprey, White Rock Eagles

I have Verizon DSL which goes out when it rains. And it rained last night, so I couldn't do a blog post. So, I'm doubling down tonight!

We have the first egg at the White-bellied Sea Eagle nest! (Remember to take 14 hours off the cam date/time to get East Coast time. I usually refer to my time, not cam time.) This is from yesterday, what turned out to be the last of the preps before the egg comes.

I think these birds are beautiful. I like how this s'cap shows off the tail.

This is Mom laying the egg. Her back is arched a little here, you can see the feathers on her back are sticking up with the effort.

She was making little chirps as she worked to lay the egg.

She is really making an effort here. Shortly after this scap, she did an egg roll. She didn't let us see the egg though until a little while later.

We can just see the egg among her petticoats.

Today, we had plenty of opportunities to see the egg as Mom and Dad do a lot of egg rolls.

White-bellied Sea Eagles do delayed incubation in an attempt to have the eggs hatch closer together. It is common to see an egg not being incubated 24/7 until the clutch is complete.

 We got a close-up view of Dad's beautiful feathers!

The lighting at the Africam Black Eagle nest was not very good yesterday.

But it was much better today. I thought about something. I've compared this chick to the Osprey chicks. But that's not a fair comparison. Osprey fledge 49-56 days after hatching and Black Eagles fledge 90-97 days after hatching. So, this little one is not going to develop as fast...

It was a puddle of Osprey at the Dyfi nest yesterday.

They had rain today. Mom tried to keep her babies dry, but they are just too big! Dad has some interesting coloring. His eyes never lightened. You can see how dark his eyes are compared to Mom's. He's also got a lot of dark feathers in his collar. True, his collar is not as dark as Mom's (see above s'cap) but it's still quite a bit for a male.

One of the Harrison Bay Eaglets was playing with a stick in the nest this morning. Here, it's got the stick in its mouth, is standing on one foot, and grabbing the stick with its other foot.

Who is perched in the tree across the way? Two somebodies... 

It got super windy at one point. Here's Dad and one of the babies riding out the wind.

Pretty baby!

There was a food delivery and both babies went into full mantle. Pretty impressive!

I never noticed before that Dad has chicken legs!

I can't believe I caught all four in the nest together today! So awesome so long after fledge!

The feathers on the Scottish Wildlife Trust's Loch of the Lowes Osprey chicks are coming in great. They are starting to look like juvenile Osprey!

The two that were eating in the above s'cap shifted toward the camera and the third chick got to eat. It usually all works out in the Osprey nests.

The Osplets are starting to wingercize.

 
I'm always happy when I can get a s'cap with faces. Here, Mom is looking down. Drats!

This one has three baby faces and some of Mom's face is visible...

We got some nice close-ups of the babies today.

And Mom too!

The whole family.

I think only one of the White Rock Eaglets is getting up on the branch. I had an early morning yesterday, so I caught the nest before sunrise. I didn't realize how active these chicks are this early in the morning...

Both of them are flapping here.

That's a pretty s'cap!

Then today I was back to my normal time checking out this nest.

  They are both checking out the parent.

It looks like the other chick is thinking about going out on the branch. Maybe tomorrow!