Berry College Fledgling Day 102 (Fish Disaster), Nest Cam Round-up: Hays, Two Harbors, and White Rock, Eagle On Alliance Sale Of Bald Eagle Dad Norfolk Logo Items, and Eagle On Alliance Press Release

Today is day 102 for the Berry College Bald Eagle. Today was an interesting day at the nest. It started off like any other day. I found B3 in the nest, looking around.

I was ready to start taking video when she stood up. Thinking something interesting might be about to happen, I started recording. Good thing! Dad landed in the nest. It looked like he had the fish in his mouth -- in this still from the video, you can see his foot is almost making contact with the nest but the fish is up high. B3 is already mantling.

Dad is still landing here, wings up, and the fish has been dropped.

The momentum of the landing when the fish was dropped carried it over the edge of the nest.

Going...

...going...

...gone. And Dad and B3 are left looking over the edge of the nest.

Here's a link to the video of the whole fish disaster... It's about 7 minutes. It was kinda sad to see Dad's efforts to feed his girl wasted and to see her miss out on a meal... He even brought her the entire fish, not just the tail!

At the Hays nest, one of the eaglets was eating while the other two pretended not to watch.

But they couldn't help but look...

The Two Harbors Eaglet was standing in the same spot… I don’t even know why I bother… (New meaning for SSDD: Same Spot, Different Day.)

I like high tide at the White Rock nest. The water is pretty...

Eagle On Alliance has extended their sale of Bald Eagle Dad Norfolk logo shirts and totes until June 15^th. Here’s a link to the site where you can purchase these items. I bought some stuff. The check-out process wasn't super-smooth. But I persevered (refreshed a few times) and managed to make my purchase.

Eagle On Alliance had a press release a couple of weeks ago. They have been monitoring the area around the Norfolk International Airport to see what steps the airport is taking on their property to mitigate the risk of wildlife at the airport. It turns out, they aren’t doing much. (And they've got the video to prove it!) Not a big surprise. Here’s a link to the press release.

Berry College Eaglet Day 68, Nest Cam Round-up: Hays, Two Harbors, and White Rock, Berry College Bluebird Nest is on Hatch Watch, RF Eaglet Tangled In Fishing Line, Bald Eagle Camellia Checked In, Eagle On Alliance Selling Dad Norfolk Logo Items

Today is day 68 for the Berry College Bald Eagle. Not too many s'caps from today...

I was watching the Hays nest trying to get a good s'cap of the three babies laying in the nest. Do you have any idea how hard it is to get all three with their heads up so you can tell where one baby ends and the next one starts? See, this s'cap -- not good. (Is this called a s'crap?)

Much better!

Then one of the parents arrived with some food. The youngest was closest, so I was curious to see if it would get some bites. It kept its head down while the two older siblings perked up.

Then the youngest did a maneuver I've seen other youngest chicks do. At first I was worried because it was moving away from the feeding end of things... I'm thinking, "Wrong way!"

It still seemed to be going the wrong way...

Next thing I knew, the chick made its way up to the food, using the adult as a shield against the bigger siblings.

The bigger chicks laid down and watched as the adult fed the youngest chick. And fed it, and fed it, and fed it!

At one point, one of the older chicks looked like it was going to make a move.

But then the other adult arrived.

The other adult was reaching in for the food...

...was it going to feed the other two chicks? Was it going to help feed the littlest? Was it going to eat all of the food itself? We will never know, since this is when an ad started playing! And after the ad finished, it locked up instead of returning to the nest. Ask me how happy I am about these invasive ads!

By the time I refreshed and sat through the ad again (thank you!), the IR light was on and the littlest was still being fed -- getting a pretty good look at a fat crop in this s'cap.

The other two are looking at each other wondering what went wrong...

The parent notices that the other two are back there and turns around with the food.

Offering a bite here to one of the bigger chicks that hadn't gotten much during this feeding. (The older chick that is farther away from the cam did get a few bites when the parent was facing away.) It was great watching the little one demonstrate a great coping technique!

And now, with full crops, it's time for food coma!

It looks like the Two Harbors cam is frozen again today, with this never-ending scene. It's almost the same as yesterday, except there's no parent...

 
It's another beautiful day at the White Rock nest. Mom is panting so we know it's warm. She is trying to shade her babies.

I thought the other shade was more effective...

These babies are getting pretty mobile! I'm always surprised at how little they are when they start making their way out of the nest bowl. Today reminded me of the expression about trying to herd cats. Check out the s'caps and you'll see what I mean...

So Mom tries shading them this way...

She didn't get a moment's rest...

Up and down. Up and down.

Another escapee!

Turning to shade the escapee.

"Hey now! Where are you going?" Good luck Momma! You've got your hands full!

Hatch watch is on at the Berry College Bluebird nest. And the cam is down! There is much gnashing of teeth over this! People have been glued to their computers all day and then the cam goes down before the big event! Are they hatching RIGHT NOW? And we are missing it! (That's a little tongue-in-cheek. But I know it's frustrating... Hopefully, the babies will wait until the cam is back!) I got these s'caps earlier today:

Here's another Mom that's up and down, up and down. I don't see any signs of hatching yet... This was around 7:00PM.

 I don't follow the RF Bald Eagle nest. But there was a bad situation there over the past couple of days. The chick in the nest was tangled up in fishing line. Today, someone got the chick from the nest, removed the fishing line (I understand it was tangled around its foot and wing) and then returned it to the nest. (Here is a link to a video of the chick being removed from the nest.) This story had a happy ending. But there are plenty of situations in nature where people aren't watching and the wildlife isn't so lucky. If you fish, please dispose of your fishing line in a responsible manner. And if you see improperly discarded fishing line, please pick it up. Dead Bald Eagles have been found hanging from trees by fishing line. There are plenty of sightings of ducks and herons with fish hooks stuck in them or tangled up in fishing line. Check out this link to Google images of the search 'wildlife fishing line hook' for some disturbing images of wildlife in distress...

Bald Eagle Camellia checked in.
 
I mentioned in my post yesterday about Eagle On Alliance (EOA) selling Dad Norfolk logo items. I sent an email to EOA asking what the colors 'Iris' and 'Azalea' were. I was surprised to find that Iris is light blue (was hoping for purple...) and not surprised to find that Azalea is pink. Just more info in case you are looking to place an order.

Berry College Bald Eagle Day 67 (Branching Milestone Today!), Nest Cam Round-up: Hays, Loch of the Lowes, Two Harbors, and White Rock, Bald Eagle NX Checked In, Norfolk Mayor and City Council Elections On May 6th, Eagle On Alliance Sale of Dad Norfolk Logo Items

Today is day 67 for the Berry College Bald Eagle and... It's Branch day!!! This is another step in the development of an eaglet. I didn't get s'caps of the first branching because I was away from my computer. But here's a link to a video of the big event. I did get s'caps of the eaglet branching later in the day. Here's my s'caps for the day. The eaglet spent the major part of the day off-cam...

 

...bending down here to self-feed.

The eaglet did finally make an appearance for me.

The eaglet did some feaking. (I saw it feaking for the first time yesterday. Nothing like a clean, sharp beak!)

Then there was some wingercizing. Such a fun time to watch a nest!

The eaglet then thought about the situation some.

 And then hopped onto the branch again. This was the first time I got to see the eaglet branching.

The eaglet didn't stay there long. When I finished saving this s'cap, the eaglet was back down in the nest.

There was a lot of stretching and flapping today.

And there was more standing around.

 And some more feaking.

I love this picture! It could be more clear, but I love how the wing is stretched out to the cam.

More standing around.

Then something caught the eaglet's attention. I don't know what it was, but the eaglet stayed like this for a while.

The eaglet has a habit of stretching first one side, and then the other.

That's when you know more wingercizing is coming!

I brought up the Hays nest to an interesting scene. The eaglets are spread out pretty equally, with one facing away from the parent with the food. I've seen eaglets that are old enough to self-feed turn away from the sibling that claimed the food. It's as if they don't even want to watch.

The two closest to the parent were being fed. Look at the crop on the eaglet on the left side.

Then the parent spotted something above the nest. After looking at it for a few seconds, it flew away. It was probably a raptor that needed to be chased out of the territory.

Much to my surprise, one of the eaglet stood up! I haven't been paying attention -- how old are these chicks? (I have since checked. They are 33, 31, and 28 days old. And how old was the Berry chick when it first stood up? The first day I saw it stand up was day 35.)

Then (pick my jaw up off of the ground) another of the chicks stood up. And then one just starts walking around like no big deal! I am going to guess that the two older chicks are males. Males develop faster than females because their full-grown size is smaller.

Look at those tail feathers coming in!

Here's a look at the baby with a fat crop. No worries, they are getting plenty to eat...

Later in the evening it's raining, with Mom trying to keep her babies dry.

I had a minute to bring up the Scottish Wildlife Trust's Loch of the Lowes Osprey cam. I was happy to see both on the nest, but can't say who is who...

I was hoping to see a shift change. Instead, the one standing flew away. But the incubating adult did raise up a little and I got to see two of the eggs.

The Two Harbors cam is frozen, showing the baby snuggled up in front of one of the adults.

One of the White Rock chicks has escaped from the nest bowl!

And gets sat on... Baby, "Hello. Did you forget that I'm back here?" Parent, "Didn't forget. Keeping you both warm!"

I checked on some other nests and when I came back, both chicks were in the nest bowl.

 And when I came back again later, Mom was just settling on the chick, facing the wrong direction. Still pretty from the wide angle cam and from close up...

 Bald Eagle NX checked in. She is sticking to familiar territory.

It's the event we have all been waiting for! Norfolk's Mayor Paul Fraim is up for reelection. This is the man who is responsible for the mistreatment of Bald Eagle Dad Norfolk and his girlfriend Dirty Tail. If you are a Norfolk resident, please vote on May 6th and get rid of Fraim! Please also support Tommy Smigiel (Ward 5), who is up for reelection. He is the only person on the Norfolk City Council that wanted to leave Dad Norfolk and Dirty Tail alone and take appropriate action at the airport to mitigate the risk of wildlife at the airport. The rest of the Norfolk City Council fell into line behind Fraim, who chose politics over safety. I could get behind cleaning house in Norfolk, with the exception of Tommy Smigiel. Too bad only one other incumbent is up for reelection: Paul Riddick (Ward 4). His seat is challenged by G.W. "Billy" Cook Jr. Please vote for Billy!

To summarize, here's who to vote for on May 6th if you want to increase safety at the Norfolk airport and have a hope of Bald Eagles Dad Norfolk and Dirty Tail being left alone:
Ward 4: Billy Cook
Ward 5: Tommy Smigiel
Mayor: Jane Bethel or Michael Muhammad

Eagle On Alliance (EAO) is doing some fund-raising by selling items with a logo of Dad Norfolk. Eagle On Alliance is doing great work, trying to get the city of Norfolk to take action at the airport and leave Dad Norfolk and Dirty Tail alone. Here's a link to the page that has the items for sale. (I am not affiliated with EAO and do not benefit from sales of these items.)