Berry College Eaglet Day 76, Nest Cam Round-up: Hays, White Rock and Berry College Bluebird, Duke Farms Eaglets On Camera Banding Planned For Monday, Bald Eagle Camellia Checked In And Has Been Photographed

Today was day 76 for the Berry College Bald Eagle. I didn't have much time to watch cams today. So, not many s'caps... It looked like rain today...

The eaglets at the Hays nest were spread out -- warm enough that they didn't need to snuggle with each other.

The crew is all tucked in for the night at the White Rock nest.

Dad was taking good care of the Berry College Bluebird when I checked in today.

The three Duke Farms eaglets are going to be banded live on camera Monday morning at 10:00AM Eastern time.

Bald Eagle Camellia has checked in. He has been photographed twice recently -- the pictures are included in Reese's post!

Nest Cam Roundup: AEF, Two Harbors, Sooner Lake, Alcoa, Duke Farms, Alcoa Osprey, Fort St Vrain, Harrison Bay, NCTC, Blackwater

The AEF chicks are getting big under the watchful eyes of their parents. Here, the chicks are in full pancake mode while their parents watch something fly overhead:

The Two Harbors chick is full grown. All that's left now is to build up flight muscles over the next couple of weeks in preparation to fledge:

The Sooner Lake babies look great. I caught them up and about today:

The Alcoa nest presents a challenge when trying to get a screen capture. This is pretty much just a silhouette -- and I only got that after much time and effort...

The Duke Farms eagles are full grown too. Here, one is sleeping with its head tucked under its wing while the other is in pancake mode:

The Alcoa Osprey chicks are getting so big so fast. All three chicks are in this screen capture. One is harder to see because it is laying down at the 7 - 8 o'clock position...

The Fort St Vrain eaglet is also full grown, with at least a couple more weeks before it will fledge. The overhead cam still has a smudge on it. It's hard to see the eaglet with the side cam when it's in pancake mode...

I checked in on the Harrison Bay nest, but it was just an empty nest on the cam. Off-cam? Branching? Too early for fledge... Update: A late night check shows one of the eaglets is back in the nest. Not sure where the other one is tonight. It could be spending the night on a branch...

The NCTC nest is on fledge watch the end of this week. This is the earliest one might fledge. It could still be a few weeks. I caught them at dinner time today:

The Blackwater eaglets have fledged. After eaglets fledge, they still spend quite a bit of time at the nest. Their parents still bring food to the nest while the young learn how to forage from their parents. Here, I caught one hop-flying over to its sibling:

Nest Cam round-up: Blackwater, Alcoa, Duke Farms, Fort St Vrain, Sooner Lake, AEF, and NCTC Eagles and the Alcoa Osprey Nest, Harrison Mills Egg Tooth Video, Camellia and NX Locations, Find Momo

I made the rounds of the cameras today. I'm mentioning when each nest might fledge. I'm going with the soonest date we might see a fledge, keeping in mind that it could be a couple more weeks before they fledge. At the Norfolk nest in 2009, HK fledged early and HH (Azalea) took forever to fledge. HK was the second hatch and he fledged on 6/3. HH was the oldest and she fledged on 6/13. The youngest, HE, fledged on 6/8. (If you aren't familiar with that nesting season: HE was doing some hopping/wingercizing and fell out of the nest. When the tree climbers went to put her back into the nest, HK spooked and fledged early. I speculate that HE was next to fledge because she had lost her fear after falling from the nest. When she fell, an observer on the ground said that she dropped like a rock and at the last minute put out her wings and glided to the ground. So, she had kinda already fledged and didn't come to any harm...) So there can be a lot of variation for when they fledge -- I've seen 10 - 13 weeks as the estimate.

The Blackwater babies seem to be doing great. They hatched at the end of February, so they are on fledge watch now. But it could still be some time before they fledge:

The Alcoa eagle cam is presented from a different perspective than pics I've posted before. They had a problem with the camera and had to start using an alternate camera. They couldn't fix the other camera without disturbing the nest. But the eaglets are big enough that they can be easily seen with this camera, and could fledge before the end of May:

I had to be very patient, but I finally got this great picture of the Duke Farms eaglets posing with one of the adults. They will be old enough to fledge in early June:

This is the remaining chick in the Fort St Vrain nest. It could fledge around the first week of June. Here you see it learning how to be an eagle, watching one of the adults as it flew out of the nest. I was so glad I caught this moment. I always think it's neat to watch how closely eaglets observe their parents:

The Sooner Lake eaglets are going to be old enough to fledge by the end of the month. Some interesting things in the pic below. You can clearly see the transmitter on the back of the upright eaglet in the left-hand screen and you can see the antenna for the transmitter on the same eaglet in the right-hand screen. I also caught this one with the nictitating membrane covering its eye. You can see its sibling in pancake mode behind it, with its head visible past the crop of the one that's upright.

Here's the same view a few seconds later without the nictitating membrane (after the blink):

The AEF babies are being well-cared for. I think having this breeding program for captive Bald Eagles is wonderful! This picture shows the dark feathers on the back of the Mom's head. I mentioned in an earlier post about Bald Eagles in captivity not always getting their full adult plumage. I'm not sure how old she was when she was injured, so I'm not sure if that's the case with this eagle. But I think it's interesting that she has all those dark feathers despite being an adult at least since 2002 when she took a mate. Here, the two babies are in pancake mode:

The NCTC eagles played hard-to-get today. I did manage to get a pretty good picture of one of them. The earliest fledge for this nest would be a few days before the end of the month.

The camera round-up wouldn't be complete without the Alcoa Osprey nest. I was happy to get such a great picture of the two babies:

It has been a while since I looked in on this nest. So you can imagine my surprise when a third head popped up!

Hancock Wildlife got some amazing video of one of the Harrison Mills chicks hatching. In the video, the chick is still inside the egg and you can clearly see the egg tooth. (Great job Zoomer!) The egg tooth is a bump on the top of the beak. The first air that a chick breathes is when the egg tooth punctures the sac at the large end of the egg. After that, they need to break the shell to get outside air. (If you notice an adult listening to their eggs when hatch time is near, it's because the chick can now make peeping noises.) They have a special muscle in the neck, called a pipping muscle. As the chick moves around in the egg, it breaks the shell with the egg tooth. Within a few days of hatching, the egg tooth disappears. This video is way cool! Here's a link to the video and here's a picture I captured from it:

 Here's a pic of Mom incubating. I like how her wings are spread a bit so you can see how far up her back the white feathers reach.

Camellia has checked in. It's amazing how much these birds like landfills and golf courses!

NX checked in today. She is still exploring Aquia Creek!

The 5/9 "find Momo" made me laugh. And it took me FOREVER to find Momo in the 5/10 pic...

Nest Cam Screen Captures, NX location, Alaska Raptor Center, Fleecing the Llamas, Help Clean Up Hampton

Camera round-up:

Fort St Vrain has three bobble-heads. I know this isn't the best picture, but I think it really shows the size difference between the older two (both hatched on 3/29) and the youngest (hatched on 4/1):

Duke Farms has two bobble-heads. One is higher and a little bit to the right of the other.

Alcoa has two babies -- and look at the one that has already climbed out of the nest bowl! 

NCTC has two little ones. They are passed out!

It was a rainy day at Harrison Bay. You can see the Mom Eagle has her wings spread, trying to keep her babies warm and dry. We finally get to see the two bobble-heads for feeding time:

And some shots of the Great Horned Owls. The youngsters' plumage is starting to resemble the adult's.

NX has checked in. And for the second time, she has put on some miles! She is now exploring new territory after flying 29 miles from her last check-in!

This is interesting. Eagles that have been rehabilitated in Alaska get a tune-up before being released back into the wild. Check out what the Alaska Raptor Center does. The Wildlife Center of Virginia doesn't do this. I wonder if it's beneficial...

The city of Hampton is advertising two items that you may be interested in:

FLEECING THE LLAMAS
April 10, 17, 10:30-11:30 A.M.
Come to Bluebird Gap Farm, 60 Pine Chapel Road, and watch the llamas get their fleece sheared. Meet at the livestock barn. Free. For more information about all farm programs, including the hayride on Saturday, April 13 at noon, go to http://hampton.gov/bbgf/.

HELP CLEAN UP HAMPTON

Saturday April 13, 6 a.m.-noon

Invite family, friends, colleagues and acquaintances to spend just 30 minutes or more in a campaign to Walk Hampton Clean. Volunteers are encouraged to work with a partner using equipment – including litter sticks, safety vests and work gloves - provided by the Hampton Clean City Commission. The goal is to pick up litter across Hampton in the biggest cleanup ever. To register, fill out the online form. Information: 727-1130 or causink@hampton.gov

 

Camellia's location, Duke Farms and Sooner Lake nests, Sandhill Crane gets prosthetic leg

Camellia has checked in. He's still hanging out in Virginia Beach.

I wanted to check on the Duke Farms nest since the male Bald Eagle fought that Hawk in the nest. I was concerned about any eggs or chicks and how they fared. Boy was I surprised when two heads popped up at feeding time!

Sad news out of Sooner Lake. It's confirmed that the fourth hatch did not survive. And now one of the first three, the smallest, has died. I'm not sure what happened. The oldest chick is very aggressive -- and siblicide is not unheard of. That usually occurs where there is not enough food, which is not the case at this nest. But for some reason, the oldest chick is still really aggressive with its younger siblings. They are down to two now. The nest is really small, and I wasn't sure how three or four growing eaglets were going to have enough room for wingercizing. I hate to lose a chick, but I feel that the two that are left will have a better chance of making it to fledge now. I just hope the smaller of the two remaining chicks is able to grow and thrive amidst the attacks by the bigger chick.

Here's an amazing story of a Sandhill Crane getting a prosthetic leg.

SW FL Eaglets fledge, Rhoda and Duane post new pics, rant about Norfolk City Council, Feathered Photography, Duke Farms cam, Sooner Lake cam

The SW FL Eaglets had a big day. They both fledged this morning! They are doing fine -- they both returned to the nest later in the day for some food. One is sleeping in the nest right now. Congratulations to the SW FL Eagles!

Rhoda Gerig posted some new Bald Eagle pictures on her site. I don't see an explanation, so I'm not sure if this is one of the Eagles from the nest that she watches...


Duane has posted some new pictures on his site. Some backyard birds, Osprey and Bald Eagle pics. The Norfolk Eagles are still trying to build a nest. I appreciate Duane bringing us the pictures!

And since we are on the subject of the Norfolk Eagles, I'm going to proceed with a rant right now: I think that the city of Norfolk is subjecting these Eagles to cruel and inhumane treatment. Shame on them. They have continually allowed these Eagles to build a new nest, only to tear it down. I hope that they do not cause this pair to break up. Their bond has not been strengthened by raising a brood of eaglets. I am worried that this second year of failure will cause them to seek new mates. The people responsible for this are the Norfolk City Council and the Norfolk City Manager. If you live in Norfolk, please vote these people out:

• Norfolk City Manager Marcus D Jones
• Mayor Paul D Fraim
• Andrew A Protogyrou
• Theresa W Whibley
• Anthony L Burfoot
• Paul R Riddick
• Barclay Winn
• Angelia Williams

The person most responsible for this idiotic mis-treatment of the Norfolk Eagles is the Norfolk City Manager, Marcus D Jones. Please give him the boot. He decided single-handedly that the Eagles should be removed from the garden. The City Council backed him, but it was Jones' decision. The only voice of reason is Councilman Tomas R Smigiel, Jr. He asked repeatedly to take time to study the situation and come up with a plan that makes sense. Please support him! And give the rest the boot!

On Ron Dudley's blog, Feathered Photography, he has a post today about fighting Short-eared Owls. He's got some interesting pictures of two males fighting over a female. I love the second to last picture of the series!

A nest cam at Duke Farms has captured video of a Hawk attacking a Bald Eagle sitting on a nest, incubating eggs/babies (no way to tell which). The Bald Eagle jumped up and took down that hawk so fast. But the Hawk didn't die right away. In fact, I'm worried that the Eagle may have been injured. He stands on the Hawk for a long time, reaching down pulling with his beak. Hawks also have hooked beaks and sharp talons. I fear that the Hawk may have had a good hold on the Eagle. Eventually, the Hawk was served as dinner. But I think he had ahold of the Eagle for a while... At least for as long as the Eagle was reaching down with it's beak and pulling. I think he was trying to get the Hawk to let go. The first time I watched this video, I was wondering why it was going on and on. Then I realized that they were probably at a stalemate for a while. Then at some point, I think the Hawk finally died and he started plucking it. That's when he starts having feathers stuck to his beak. Hopefully, the Eagle is ok. I can't imagine what the Hawk was thinking, coming after a Bald Eagle... Anyway, there are 3 parts posted, with a 12 minute break between part 1 and part 2 where the eagle just lays and pants. In fact, you can skip the first 3 minutes of part 2… Then Part 3 is when Mom comes home and finds the mess that Dad made! All this happened with eggs/babies in the nest. So, there’s been some worry. The camera angle doesn’t allow you to see into the nest bowl. But this happened right when hatching was expected. And one of the adults resumed incubating after things settled down. Then it looked like feeding was happening later in the day. So, maybe it worked out ok…

The fourth Sooner Lake eaglet has hatched. It is a very long process, when the eaglet struggles to get out of the shell. It seems that the eaglet got out of the shell, but hasn't moved since hatching. I'm going to wait until we see what tomorrow brings before I agree that the fourth hatch didn't make it. Sometimes, they just need to rest for a while after hatching...