Africam Black Eagle Day 60, Dyfi Osprey Day 56,68&59, Harrison Bay Eagles Day 120&122, Loch of the Lowes Osprey Day 64,66&67, Soddy Daisy Bluebird Hatch Watch!, Bob Anderson's Passing, Removal Of Bald Eagle Nest Tree For Virginia Beach Development

At some point during my morning preps to go to work, the Africam Black Eagle cam looks dark and it's hard to see details.

Then a half hour later, the picture comes alive! Unfortunately, I can't always hit it right...

It was a blustery day at the Dyfi Osprey nest this morning (afternoon for them). The three babies were huddled together in the nest and Mom stood guard over them.

I looked back on the Harrison Bay Eagle nest as far back as the DVR would allow and this is the first day I haven't seen any eagles in the nest or nest tree. I could look back to about 8:00AM, so they may have visited earlier in the day and I just missed them. Still, it's an indicator of what's to come once they leave the area. For now, they were in the tree across the way. Here, one was already perched and the other flew in.

Zoomer got us in close.

Bald Eagles are pretty good at disappearing. The Eaglet on the left in the s'cap above moved to a different perch and disappeared.

Then the other Eaglet moved behind some branches.

Here they are without the circles. You can see one a little better than the other. This is why I have a hard time spotting Eagles in the wild...

As night falls, one can be spotted fairly easily.

I found the three Fledglings at the nest today at the Scottish Wildlife Trust's Loch of the Lowes Osprey nest. The one in front is eating a fish while the other two feign indifference.

We are in full-on hatch watch at the Soddy Daisy Bluebird nest. Mom was sitting high for a bit today, making me think that maybe something was happening.

But then she settled back down.

I don't see anything happening yet.

She's checking us out!

Two sad news items from the Eagle world today:

• Bob Anderson passed away this morning. He was the Director of the Raptor Resource Project and was a pioneer of nest cams, making the Decorah Eagles famous on the internet. 
• The city of Virginia Beach got permission to remove the Kemps Lake tree that housed a Bald Eagle nest to make room for a $30M development. Shame on them!

Berry College Fledgling Day 91, Nest Cam Round-up: Hays, Two Harbors, White Rock, and Loch of the Lowes

Today is day 91 for the Berry College Fledgling. I brought up the approach cam first and was happy to find someone home!

It was not the fledgling, but was one of the adults, eating a fish.

This is about 45 minutes later -- probably the other parent, eating another fish. (I know this is a different fish since I saw the entire tail end of the fish go down as one last big bite!) They are trying to feed their youngster, but she needs to come to the nest! I will post another collage when I can get a new s'cap of the fledgling (hopefully while she's in flight!)

Edit - I brought up the cam one last time and there she was! Picking at some nestovers of the bird variety. I'm still going to wait and do the next collage using a s'cap of her in flight. If anyone has a s'cap or picture that I can use, please let me know!

You can see a bird leg/foot sticking up to our left...

I finally found all of the eaglets awake at the Hays nest!

The Two Harbors Eaglet loves this one spot!

The rain of yesterday is gone at the White Rock nest. The adult feathers are starting to come in on the babies. And they are side by side... Again!

I got some pretty good s'caps at the Scottish Wildlife Trust's Loch of the Lowes Osprey nest today. Not much happening at first.

Of course, I missed a position change...

But then the adult stood up and I got one quick capture before it settled back down on the eggs.

There must have been another raptor in the area, because the adult stood up again and took off.

And then, such a wonderful thing (even though it's Saturday) zoomer gave us a close-up of the eggs. I don't see any pip hole or cracks yet...

The adult returned rather quickly. See how the talons are curled in, so as to not damage the eggs.

The other adult came to the nest...

...giving another view of the eggs during the shift change.

Another close-up view of the eggs. This shows a slightly different side of the eggs since the adult had done an egg roll before laying down after the previous close-up. Still no pips or cracks...

I'm guessing this is Dad. I'll just say that he wasn't as delicate getting into position on the eggs...

And then, while I was watching, camera viewing disaster struck! The adult had been futzing with this big clump of moss. I guess it wasn't in the right place because it stood, took the clump of moss and turned to the right with it...

...and placed it directly in the way of the camera!!! NOOOOO!!!!!

Sure, the Osprey has a better view now. But what about me?!?! Hopefully, the other parent will think it belongs somewhere else and will move it...

Berry College Fledgling Day 90, Nest Cam Round-up: Hays, White Rock, and Loch of the Lowes

This if for Friday May 24th...

Today (May 24th) is day 90 for the Berry College Bald Eagle. I didn't get to see the fledgling. One of the parents had brought a fish to the nest and was guarding in, waiting on the fledgling to return to the nest. I had to move on, so I'm not sure if or when she returned...

I found one of the parents at home at the Hays nest. The eaglet standing in front of it must have been hungry, with a constant "Squeeeeing" for food. What a racket!

It was raining at the White Rock nest, with the babies trying their best to shelter under Mom. They are getting too big to fit!

Still no hatch at the Scottish Wildlife Trust's Loch of the Lowes Osprey nest. We are still well within the hatch window, so no worries...

Berry College Bald Eagle Chick Day 9, More About Dad Berry Burying The Egg, Screen Captures of The Northeast Florida and Southwest Florida Bald Eagle Chicks, Center for Conservation Biology Bald Eagle Stories

The Berry College Bald Eagle chick day 9 is being fed some pretty yucky looking nestovers. Mom stretches her left leg:

Then the feeding commences. I know you are thinking, "I thought Dad buried that egg yesterday." Yes he did. I hear that Mom dug it back out.

People asked Berry College to post the archive video of Dad burying the egg yesterday. Here's some s'caps from him burying it. It started out only partly visible.

Dad stayed hunkered like this for a while. I'm not sure what he was doing.

Without allowing a look at the nest bowl, he then came at it from a different direction. (Mom was in the nest at the 10 o'clock position removing feathers from a Coot.)

Dad has really fluffed up the grasses lining the nest bowl. The chick is right in front of Dad.

You can see how fluffy the nest bowl is as Mom moves in to feed some of the Coot to the chick.

I think Dad was freshening the nest bowl. He kept digging around and coming up with a bunch of grass in his beak:

And he would spit it out. He kept doing this over and over:

Bald Eagle chicks are preening 95% of the time. It's almost impossible to catch both of the Northeast Florida chicks in a photogenic moment. But, I got them!

And here's an action shot. The one in front is shaking and the one in back is stretching.

And this is pretty close to the same pose as last night for the Southwest Florida Bald Eagle chick. This bird really knows how to relax...

The Center for Conservation Biology (CCB) is one of my favorite organizations. They published a story on January 24th about Bald Eagles and Great Blue Herons nesting in the same trees. It's pretty interesting to read. This report references a story from last year about Bald Eagles. Here's a link to that story.

I am thinking about finding another nest to follow, in addition to this one. Maybe one that has 2 or 3 eggs. One with sound. Any suggestions?