Berry College Eagles Pip! & Intruder, Southwest Florida Eagles Day 17&18 E8 Returns To Nest, Bald Eagles HK And Sterling, Africam Black Eagles

I got a really nice view of the pip in the egg at the Berry College Eagle nest this evening. There is a possible crack too! Here's some s'caps:

The view gets better as Mom rolls it.

Is that a crack or grass!?

It moved like it was grass... But that's still a nice pip!

I'm going to record overnight, even though it's hard to see any details under the IR light...

Here's a video of the egg roll that showed A Better View Of The Pip (2:47).

There was other excitement at the Berry College nest today. An intruder did a fly-by of the nest and I got the video as Mom Defends Nest Against Intruder! (4:39)

At the Southwest Florida Eagle nest, E8 was returned to the nest! When I brought up the cam, both chicks were clearly visible in the nest. But I just sat watching instead of getting a s'cap. Then I thought about it after Mom began hovering over them. But you can still see one at 11 o'clock and one at 7 o'clock.

The wildlife rehabilitators at CROW posted some pictures of E8 having breakfast. Click on the pictures to see the full picture. The rehabbers are wearing a veil so the chick doesn't get habituated to humans. Here are their pictures of E8 being returned to the nest. And they posted GoPro video of the renesting. Unfortunately, it was chest mounted instead of head mounted, so we get to see a lot of the controls for the lift. But they did show E7 giving E8 and welcoming bonk!

Pam Monahan has a new post of Bald Eagles HK and Sterling. I love the last picture!

There are some new pictures of the Africam Black Eagles. It seems they stay in their territory year round. They need to do some major nestorations after that storm, so it's good that they are still there.

Berry College Eagles Still On Hatch Watch, Southwest Florida Eagles Day 16&17 E8 Update And Video

Berry College is still on hatch watch. I don't even see a pip... Today was day 36. Hatch usually occurs between day 33 and 38. The first egg usually takes more days to hatch as a result due to delayed incubation. Hopefully, we will see a pip tomorrow! They do have the ability to zoom in, but they don't. So, this is as good as it got today...

Golden light at sunset.

Here's a gif of a late day egg roll. The eggs look to be in perfect shape, no sign of a pip.

Eaglet E8 from the Southwest Florida Eagle nest continues to receive care at CROW. Here's an update and video of physical exam.

Southwest Florida Eagles Day 13&14 E8 Removed From Nest For Treatment, Berry College Eagles Hatch Watch!, Africam Black Eagles Update, Great Backyard Bird Count

At the Southwest Florida Eagle nest, E8 was removed from the nest and taken to CROW, the same place that treated Bald Eagle Ozzie. They did find that he was tangled in fishing line. I do understand that sometimes fishing line breaks. If an Eagle then catches that fish and takes it to the nest, it brings the fishing line with it. Unfortunately, as long as people fish, that's a danger. But I do want to urge people to discard of fishing line properly. A lot of fishing spots have receptacles just for fishing line. If so, please use them. If not, please collect fishing line and place it in the trash. Here's a link to a video showing the removal of E8 from the nest. Here's a link to a news story with an interview of Heather Barron, CROW Hospital Director. She did the actual removal of E8 from the nest. She also removed the fishing line and a couple of fish that might have been the source of the fishing line. Hopefully, E8 will have a full recovery and be returned soon to the nest. Here's a link to CROW's initial assessment of E8 and some pictures. Here's my last s'cap of the two babies before E8 was removed:

The Berry College Eagles are on hatch watch! I think we should see a pip by tomorrow night. I got some video today of some Back-up Singers (1:37). Here's some s'caps from today. There was a dusting of snow this morning: 

No pips so far:

There is an update for the Africam Black Eagles. There are 3 pictures included. There is a side-by-side comparison of the nest before the big storm and after the big storm. Wow!

The Great Backyard Bird Count is the weekend, Friday through Monday. You can observe for as few as 15 minutes, or longer if you like.

Bald Eagle Ozzie Released!, Africam Black Eagle Day 20, Dyfi Osprey Day 16,18&19, Harrison Bay Eagles Day 80&82, Loch of the Lowes Osprey Day 24,26&27, White Rock Eagles Day 58&59

Bald Eagle Ozzie of the Southwest Florida nest was released back into the wild today! There's tons of news stories, I like this one. There are two nice videos embedding into the story. CROW also put a video of Ozzie's Release on YouTube.

Mom was being stingy with the baby at the Africam Black Eagle nest this morning.

Dad Dyfi Osprey brought a nice size piece of lumber to the nest. Time to build up those guard rails!

This is not what I consider "wings up" at the Harrison Bay Eagle nest...

You know these babies are getting plenty to eat when this big fish can lay in the nest and both Eaglets, who were in the branches, leave it alone.

Bald eagles relax and/or spread their wings and pant to cool off.

One of the parents came to the nest and polished off some nestovers.

This is not "wings up" either, just wingercizing.

Finally got a s'cap with both babies in it!

Hot baby! Pretty s'cap!

Both babies are perched on the same branch. The cam can only look so far up before the housing cuts off the view. This is about as good as it gets when they perch in the higher branches... This is the branch they were on when it got dark.

The Dad at the Scottish Wildlife Trust's Loch of the Lowes Osprey nest demonstrates just how easy it is for Osprey to take-off. Bald Eagles have to bend at the knees and launch themselves into the air. The Osprey just put their wings up...

...and with a downward flap, they are airborne.

Dad is crowding Mom a bit. But she didn't even bother to put down her other foot, just ducking as he took off.

Then straightening back up while still standing on one foot.

You can tell by the feathers coming in that the youngest is farthest from the cam, while the oldest is closest to the cam. The lighter tips on the youngsters is how you can continue to tell the parents from the kids after they reach full size. Those lighter tips will eventually wear off and they will have the same uniform brown as the parents. But that won't happen for a while.

Look at the tail feathers coming in on the oldest Osplet.

The babies make a puddle in the middle of the nest. You can see how their coloring provides them protection from predators. They just blend into their surroundings. (An all-brown Bald Eagle juvenile is pretty well camouflaged too! I can't tell you now many times I've gone to an area where Bald Eagles hang out and someone will point out where an Eagle is perched. And I'll still have a hard time finding it!)

The chicks got dinner before being tucked in for the night.

Last call for potty break!

Everyone must be full. Mom was ready to feed some more, but one-by-one they all laid back down.

Mom does some feaking on the crib rails to clean her beak off.

This is Dad leaving with the nestovers. There was a lot of fish left-over!

Mom settles in for the night, making herself as big as possible in an attempt to cover her babies. Her wings are out from her body and her head is bent protectively over one of the chicks.

It was a pretty day at the White Rock Eagle nest.

Harrison Bay Eagles Day 52&54 Branch Watch, White Rock Eagles Day 30&31, Loch of the Lowes Osprey Hatch Watch Day 2, Ozzie Moved to Large Flight Pen!, Bald Eagle HK Updates

The Harrison Bay Eaglets are flirting with branching. I expect to see them out on the branches soon. Here's one enjoying the morning light on its face.

Here's a good comparison of their sizes, since they are I a similar post and equidistant from the camera. Does one look bigger than the other?

Both eaglets look to be sizing up the branches.

 So close to being up on the branch!

I guess they are talking about it...


Thinking about that branch again... The eaglets were in and out of this area several times today.

It was a pretty evening at the White Rock nest. The babies are getting bigger.

They both are starting to do a little flapping.

The Scottish Wildlife Trust's Loch of the Lowes Osprey are still incubating three eggs here at the start of hatch watch for them. The eggs are visible here:

Coming back from a quick break.

Dad brought in a huge clump of moss.

Just a pretty scene. I love the look of this nest!

Here's a video of the Moss Delivery, with Dad bringing in a big clump of moss and doing a shift change with Mom (1:51).

The male resident of the Southwest Florida Eagle Cam nest, Ozzie, was moved into a large flight pen yesterday. He will have 2-3 weeks in the pen to strengthen his flight muscles before being released back into the wild. You can see a video of him taking his first flight on their CROW's Facebook page.

Pam Monahan is back to blogging about HK and his nest at Honey Bee Golf Course.
HK still building 3/18 -- great pictures!
HK in nest tree 4/10 -- he's all alone...
A four eagle day 4/11 -- HK & Sterling are two of them!
HK and Sterling reappear 4/13 -- the time for eggs is past though.
HK in the nest tree 4/24 -- but he's alone again.
HK reappears (with a different companion) 5/7 -- is it a female?
HK to the rescue 5/8 -- wonder who he's with this time...
As the nest turns: Sterling makes an appearance with HK! 5/10
I think that we will see this revolving door of females until HK has a successful nesting season with one of them. I think raising offspring will form the pair bond and his days of sowing wild oats will be over. Like father, like son...