Berry College Eagles Day 80&82 Fledge Watch Continues, White Rock Eagles Day 14&15 Murder of Crows

The Berry College Eagles are ready to fledge! Look at this eaglet jumping around on the branches! Wow video (1:01). Fledge watch can really drag out. But I'm starting to think that it will be soon!

I have one other Berry College video from today. If you followed my blog last year, you know that there was a fish disaster last year. Here's a link to the Fish Disaster video. (7:04). Well, today, there was almost another fish disaster. Here's a link to the Almost Fish Disaster (1:29), or you can watch it below.

Here's my s'caps for the day.

These eaglets are losing their fear. This leap started way out on the branch behind the eaglet and it leaped all the way to the nest.

Hot eaglet...

I just think these are funny...

This is right before the "Wow" video above.

The eaglet on the left is complaining to the parent that the eaglet on the right isn't sharing their food... It looks like the parent is listening attentively.

 

The eaglet was given some time to try to self-feed. Still not very good at it. The parent ended up helping out. Both eaglets got pieces.

Must be something interesting up there.

Look at that mantle!

It was an interesting night at the White Rock nest. The nest was buzzed by a murder of crows. (A group of crows is called a murder.) I think that's why Dad came to the nest. Mom is going to break her neck watching Dad fly in!

I didn't know why Dad left so soon. Mom went on and fed the babies.

Dad came back only a few minutes later. And then it was obvious that they both saw something.

 

Upon a second review, I found I had missed this frame!



 

And then Dad ducked as a large bird flew by again. (This is right after two s'caps up.)

Another fly-by...

And another.

Pesky birds.

I guess the threat is over. Dad shakes to put his feathers right. Neither parent seemed overly concerned or gave chase. I think it was just a murder of crows buzzing the nest?

You can watch the video at this link to the Murder of Crows (2:20) video or watch it below.

 

That's all I've got time for tonight. It's 2:00AM...

White Rock Eagles Day 1&2 Second Hatch!, Berry College Eagles Day 67&69, Harrison Bay Eagles Day 23&25, Loch of the Lowes Osprey Had A Crow Intruder, Bald Eagle HALi

We have a second hatch at the White Rock Nest! I've got a ton of s'caps... As the baby squirms around in a circle inside the egg, the egg tooth on top of the beak scores a crack all the way around and the shell breaks open. It looks like the crack is at least halfway around the egg.

Twenty-three minutes later and it looks like the egg has broken in half.

Both halves of the shell are visible in this s'cap. It looks like the baby is out.

Mom notices part of the shell on her foot.

She moved it out of the bowl, but it fell right back in.

Dad landed in the nest and immediately started eating the nestovers.

Mom

Mom takes off for a break now that Dad has arrived, giving the first good view of the new hatchling. It's so weak all it can do is lay in a pile.

The dark spot is its beak. you can see the face of the older chick closer to the adult's leg.

The older one is looking up and the younger one is crumpled at its feet.

Look at the size difference that just one day makes.

The baby is too weak to do much more than wiggle around.

The first hatch is getting some pretty good bites.

Woah! Belly up!

Mom just took the shell out of the nest bowl.

The family.

I can finally see two faces!

The face is the youngest chick.

This is the older one getting lots of bites.

It looks like they are hugging.

The youngest is starting to get some strength back after the hard work of hatching.

The Berry College eaglets are catching some pretty good air now when they wingercize. The other eaglet has the squirrel that was delivered to the nest for breakfast.

A little later, they are all trying to get a piece of that squirrel.

The Harrison Bay eaglets look like fluff balls. Mom is in the nest with her babies. 

Dad is nearby keeping watch over his family. They have some really good zoomers at this nest!

I recorded the Scottish Wildlife Trust's Loch of the Lowes Osprey nest overnight (for me but daytime for them) to try to get a look at the three eggs. These are the s'caps that I got.

The best look that I got of the three eggs was when a crow intruder caused Mom to suddenly come up off of the eggs. Crows are a real threat. A crow stole an egg from this nest last year... You can see the crow at the top of this s'cap. Here's a link to a video of the encounter with the Crow Intruder. (1:14) Osprey eggs are so pretty!

Mom took a couple of steps while flapping to scare away the crow and stepped right onto one of the eggs. She kept her talons curled in, so hopefully she didn't do any damage.

 

A few other s'caps. The female has a better defined collar than the male: 

The Osprey are very fussy about their nest, constantly moving clumps of nesting material around. That's a mouthful!

A family s'cap with the cam pulled back a bit.

 

This looks like a beautiful area. I like how it looks in this light.

 

Check out this Bald Eagle I found on YouTube. Her name is HALi. She has a crooked beak like Buddy, although for a different reason. (They determined that HALi's deformity was genetic while Buddy's was due to Avian Pox.)

 

Buddy:

HALi: