Southwest Florida Eagles Day 5&6 Smack-down, Berry College Eagles Still Incubating, Harrison Bay Eagles Dangerous Moves, Northeast Florida Eagles Day 39&41, Upper Mississippi River Eagle Trio Sharing Food, Africam Black Eagles Storm Damage

The Southwest Florida Eaglets are growing like weeds, both having fat crops. This looks like piggy-back rides.

There is still some sibling rivalry happening. Here's a gif from today. I like how the one in front taps the mat three times to be let go!

The Berry College Eagles are still tending two eggs. We have about another week before hatch watch starts.

I put together a gif of Dad Harrison Bay Bald Eagle being dangerous! This is 38 stills. He arrived at the nest with a huge piece of lumber. Huge! And he was trying to lift it while standing on in and while straddling it. Which was funny. After that, he dragged it across Mom, who left in embarrassment. Which caused the limb to drop into the nest bowl. Dad then drops the limb several times across the nest bowl. He leaves it alone at one point and incubates for a bit. (This is when the camera angle changes.) Then he got back up to move it again, almost stepping on the eggs! It was a nail biter. I remember a nest where one of the parents dragged a frozen rabbit across the eggs and broke at least one of the eggs. So, what Dad is doing here is pretty dangerous!

And here's a s'cap of the Harrison Bay eggs, zoomed in on during all this commotion:

It looked like a peaceful day at the Northeast Florida Eagle nest:

I found the Upper Mississippi River Eagle trio at the nest today. I have 18 s'caps that I wanted to share, so I just turned them into a gif... First, one of them landed in the nest with a fish, ate some of it, then waited to see if anyone else was interested. Soon, a second Eagle landed and had some fish. After the fish was gone, two stayed around looking for crumbs. Eventually, they all departed. (Don't miss, you can see the third Eagle fly behind the nest as it approaches.)

One of the trio is sleeping in the nest again tonight. Maybe we will see an egg soon!

There's a bit of a disaster at the Africam Black Eagle nest. Remember the big storm on January 9th? Well, the nest did not escape unscathed. A lot of the nest is gone and what remains has slid down the cliff face. Here's a picture showing the comparison. Looking at the pictures, I can't even figure out what was holding the nest in place, so I guess it was just a matter of time... Hopefully, the Black Eagles will rebuild and we'll have a camera on the nest. They have been seen recently carrying sticks. But I don't know where they are going with them.

Harrison Bay Eagles Second Egg, Africam Black Eagles Picture

Congratulations to the Harrison Bay Eagles on the laying of their second egg. If they are going to lay a third egg, it will be on Tuesday, February 2nd. (By the way, she is two for two sneezing right before laying an egg...) Here's my s'caps from today:

You can tell that she is laying an egg here from her hunch-backed posture and her feathers are standing up on her back.

You can see how much her feathers are standing up, having just laid the egg.

We get a quick glimpse of the eggs here.


Then after resting for a few minutes, we get a better look. Beautiful! I wonder if we will see a third egg this year?

Here's a video of the big event. Second Egg (11:58).

Check out this picture one of the Africam Black Eagles carrying a tortoise. While you are there, click through the other pictures.

Harrison Bay Eagles, Northeast Florida Eagles Day 37&39, Southwest Florida Eagles Day 3&4 Fresh Fish & Sibling Rivalry, Upper Mississippi River Eagles, Loch of the Lowes Tracking Update

I made the rounds at a bunch of nests today. Here's some s'caps:

I caught a nest exchange at the Harrison Bay nest. This is Dad leaving.

The Northeast Florida Eaglets are growing by the day. Look at those feet!

Zoomer read my mind. Look at that foot!!

Dad brought a live fish to the nest today at the Southwest Florida nest.

As soon as the fish felt Dad hop away, it began to flop around, trying to escape. Mom got to the fish first. But look in the upper left hand corner of this s'cap. Dad was coming right back to get it.

I observed some sibling rivalry a the nest today too. Since the food is plentiful at this nest, it should subside soon. Here, one of the babies is putting the smack-down on the other, with a beakful of neck.

I put together a video from the Southwest Florida nest today. Fresh Fish & Sibling Rivalry (6:50).

One of the Upper Mississippi River trio was laying in the nest again today, forming the nest bowl. I think we may see an egg here soon... There is no information on their site regarding what date eggs were laid last year. So, we can only guess by their behavior...

There is a tracking update for the Loch of the Lowes Osprey.

Southwest Florida Eagles Day 2&3 Brood Wars

I've got a few s'caps from today from the Southwest Florida nest. It was such a rainy day. Here's Mom, during the overnight hours, trying to make herself as large as possible to shield her babies from the rain.

Mom did a feeding during a break in the rain.

Here's a gif of Mom shaking off the rain.

Dad came to the nest while it was still pretty dark. He wanted to take over brooding the babies. But Mom didn't want to give up the nest. There was a "conversation" and they settled the matter. Here's a link to the Brood Wars video (14:48).

Southwest Florida Eagles Day 1&2 Second Hatch!, Harrison Bay Eagles First Egg Laid!, Bald Eagle ND Photographed!!

Here's my s'caps from today at the Southwest Florida Eagle nest:

That bite is way too big for that baby!

We've had a lot of rain today. Mom is not inclined to get up and expose her hatchling to the rain... Which leaves the viewers to wonder how the hatch is going.

It's hard to tell if that's a crack or debris.

We finally got a little clearing and can see a nice pip.

Dad took a good look at the nest bowl when he got a chance.

So cute. The cam swivels around, sometimes presenting the occupants upside down.

A nice crack has formed in the egg. The fish that is being fed to the baby must be delicious! The parent is drooling all over the baby while trying to get the fish into the baby's mouth. That's a line of drool across the top of the baby's head and there's more drool on its body.

This is the last frame that was in focus when zoomer took us in a little too close. That's the baby's beak showing at the pip hole.

Here's a link to E7's Lunch & E8 Moves Inside Egg (2:57) video.

And E8 did hatch at the Southwest Florida nest tonight. Check out this video E8 Hatches (3:43).

And there's much eggcitement at the Harrison Bay Bald Eagle nest! Their first egg arrived this evening! Last year, they didn't lay the first egg until 2/18. So, this was a surprise! Here's a video First Egg Laid (8:58). If they lay a second egg, it will be on Saturday.

Exciting news! Reese Lukei photographed Bald Eagle ND! He is almost 6 years old and is very handsome! ND hatched from the Norfolk Botanical Garden nest in early February of 2010, from the last brood that Mom Norfolk saw fledge. (She did see three chicks hatch in 2011, but was killed before they fledged.) I believe Reese found him in Virginia Beach -- maybe ND has come home to establish a territory and take a mate! ND's siblings are NC (Camellia - tracked with a transmitter) and NE (infamous for being rescued from the canal). More info is available regarding these eagles, so Google away! Include "Center for Conservation Biology" or "Norfolk Botanical Garden" in your search. And here's one more link, to the last time ND was spotted, a couple of years ago...

Southwest Florida Eagles Hatch and Pip!, Upper Mississippi River Eagles Sleeping On Nest (Egg Watch?)

I've got a ton of s'caps from the hatch at the Southwest Florida nest! I couldn't see anything during the night because Mom was blocking the view whenever she moved about. But starting at midnight, I could hear cheaps, so I knew the baby had made some good progress. It's hard to see here, but the hatch has progressed well at this point.

We got a look at the eggs shortly after the infrared light switched off. It's very pixelated, but you can see the shell is almost cracked in half.

The focus came in a little when Mom moved away. Here's the date/time stamp for the below s'cap.

I can see some body and a wing sticking out here. The picture shifted on the web page and I didn't realize the date/time stamp had been cut off. But this was at 7:22AM.

These next two were from 7:31AM. The baby is still wet from being in the shell.

Then the fish deliveries started. A good way to tell if a hatch has happened yet is to see if there's any food in the pantry...

I think this was Dad that removed some of the shell from the bowl.

Looks pretty yucky in there...

The second egg is starting to hatch.

Another view of the second egg starting to hatch.

This is at noon and the baby is dry.

At 12:25PM I saw the baby beg for food for the first time.

The first attempted feeding was at 12:33PM. I don't know if the baby got any bites.

What a cutie!

I saw several feeding attempts during the day and I think the baby might have gotten some bites.

I think Dad and Mom were both trying to feed the baby at the same time...

Here's a short video Hatchling Goes Belly Up (1:43) while reaching for a bite. It's neat because you can see the place on its abdomen where it absorbed the yolk while hatching. Keep an eye on the nest for the second hatch!

Here's an interesting development at the Upper Mississippi River Eagle nest. It seems that Moms will spend the night at the nest if they are starting to feel like an egg is coming... So maybe we will see something at this nest soon!