Berry College Eaglet Day 46, Nest Cam Round-Up: Hays, Two Harbors, and White Rock, Bald Eagles Camellia and NX Check In, Momo On YouTube

The Berry College Bald Eagle is 46 days old today. Another day of trying to keep up with the energy needs of a growing body:

The last bite was a little too big and had to be spit out...

There is very little down left on the top of the head:

Spread wings is one way to keep cool:

Panting is the other way to keep cool, giving me a funny picture tonight!

There is still a lot of down on the back. The white spots are where feathers are pushing the down out. We'll start to see spots of dark feathers among the lighter gray thermal down in the next few days.

Watching closely in case some food magically appears. I'm trying to get pictures that compare the body size of the chick to the adult:

I'd like to get a side by side standing view from behind. So far, this is as close as I got today. The Norfolk Botanical Garden Eagles got their transmitters after they were full-grown: 59 days for Azalea and 55 days for Camellia. At 46 days old, this chick is nearing being full-grown. At that point, seeing how its size compares to the two adults, we can maybe guess at the gender...

In this capture, the chick is watching Mom fly away. You can see the white tail, which I've circled:

Here's the same pic without the circle:

Nothing much happening at the Hays nest.

At one point, she whipped around and first looked up and then down. I don't know what she saw, but she eventually relaxed again.

The Two Harbors chick is getting plenty to eat. Look at that crop!

This chick is mobile! This is like "Where's Waldo?" Yes, that's the chick on the left side...

The White Rock nest has plenty of daylight when I get home from work.

Some odd behavior. The adult stood and looked to the right for a good bit. I wonder what's going on?

Something worth leaving the nest...

The wide angle cam (by the time the ad finished) showed that the adult was already back on the nest...

While the PTZ cam shows a departing eagle...

All is quiet once again as sunset approaches:

Bald Eagle Camellia has checked in.

Bald Eagle NX has also checked in.

There's a YouTube video about Momo! Momo is a Border Collie and his owner takes a picture of him every day. The challenge is to find Momo in the picture. I love Momo! Such a cute dog!

Bald Eagle Camellia's Location, New Pictures of Bald Eagle HK (Taken by Pam Monahan), Find Momo

Reese posted a new location for Bald Eagle Camellia today. Cammy has been sticking to more rural settings lately...

Pam Monahan has posted 49 new pictures of Bald Eagle HK that she took on 11/10, 11/11 and 11/12! All kinds of different pictures. HK carrying a fish, carrying sticks, in the nest he built, arranging sticks in the nest, in the Osprey nest, perched, eating, flying, taking off, and landing. Awesome job Pam!

Love the "Find Momo" for 11/9 and 11/11. I think the pictures on this site roll off the bottom as new pictures are added, so you need to see them before they disappear!

New Picture of Bald Eagle Dad Norfolk, Location Updates For Bald Eagles Camellia and KE, Find Momo, Northern Harrier Pictures on Feathered Photography, Meowza!

I had a friend in town for the past couple of days. We were going to go see the ponies at Chincoteague/Assateague. But we were rained out! We still had a nice visit...

It has been raining so much here, Mike got a picture of a soggy Bald Eagle Dad Norfolk.

We have a couple of location updates. Bald Eagle Camellia is still in Gloucester. And Bald Eagle KE took a little trip into Maryland, then back to Virginia.

Check out the Find Momo from October 10th. It took me a while to find him!

Ron Dudleys Feathered Photography blog has got a male Northern Harrier hunting. He gets some really great shots of a variety of birds.

I'm going to close today's post with something pretty gross and pretty funny at the same time. I really didn't think it was possible to laugh until I was crying while being totally grossed out. Meowza!

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Bald Eagle Camellia's Location, National Zoo's Giant Panda Cub, Stop Feeding Deer, Dead Dog Ad Campaign, Live Bald Eagle Mascot, Washing Meat, Find Momo

Bald Eagle Camellia has also been bitten by the wanderlust bug. (In my post yesterday, I remarked that Bald Eagle NX finally got in touch with her sense of wanderlust.) I wonder if there is some imperative that hit them at the same time? A change in weather or something that spurred them to take a trip...

The two-week old Giant Panda Cub at the National Zoo is a girl! And they know who's-your-daddy...

If you've been feeding deer in Virginia, you have to stop until the first Saturday in January. From what I understand, it is to prevent hunters from baiting deer. And according to a DGIF News Release it is also illegal to feed deer and elk in Buchanan, Dickenson, and Wise counties at any time.

Dead dogs don't sell shoes! Wonder if the bonehead that thought up this ad still has a job...

The largest volcano on Earth is under the Pacific Ocean.

Boston College brings back live Bald Eagle mascot.

Doesn't everyone wash chicken before cooking it? I wash chicken, beef, everything but hamburger. I don't know what's on it from when it was cut and packaged. But according to this article, I could be spreading yuckies by washing it... I'm on the fence here. I always use a gentle stream when washing meat, so I think I'm ok by doing so. I'm just not a big fan of leaving yuckies on something, killing it in the cooking process, and then eating dead/cooked yuckies.

Today's Find Momo is really good!

Bald Eagle Camellia's Location, Sex Lives of Birds, Momo, Thresher Sharks, Bald Eagle #13-0174 Did Not Survive, Well-preserved Woolly Mammoth, People Bond at a Connecticut Bald Eagle Nest, Bald Eagles in Southern Maryland

Camellia is back at Kemps Lake.

Here's an interesting article about the sex lives of birds. And FYI: If you answer the question, it really does show the rest of the article...

The Find Momo from 7/11 made me laugh out loud when I finally spotted Momo. He really does blend in!

New research has figured out that Thresher Sharks use their tails to slap a school of fish, killing their prey. There's video on the page, but I got more out of the series of stills further down the page... 

On 7/7, I wrote about Bald Eagle #13-1740 that was admitted to the Wildlife Center of Virginia. This eagle had been covered in a sticky substance and was emaciated. Sadly, WCV announced that the eagle did not survive. A necropsy revealed several problems, but couldn't say which caused its death.

A well-preserved Woolly Mammoth has been found.

Here's a story of a Bald Eagle nest in Connecticut. The article discusses how a variety of people, who would have never otherwise met, have come together while watching this nest. That's what happened with the nest at the Norfolk Botanical Garden. I became friends with so many people that I wouldn't have ever known if not for that nest. What a wonderful, life-changing experience!

I was happy to find an article: Bald Eagles Thriving in Southern Maryland. I am from Southern Maryland and plan to move back there soon. I hope I can find a nest or two to watch. This article gives me some ideas on where to look!

Alcoa Osprey Nest, Red-tailed Hawk on Feathered Photography, Great Find Momo

I've been watching the Alcoa Osprey nest a lot lately. I'm starting to think that Osprey are pretty smart.

On Wednesday, Mom was feeding the two that haven't fledged yet. The fledgling wasn't in the nest at the time. I'm not sure if they ate it all or if she took some leftovers out of the nest with her since I missed seeing her depart the nest. Minutes later, she arrived back at the nest with some food. The two that haven't fledged seemed interested in it, even though they had just eaten -- They gathered around Mom and were crying to be fed. She ignored them. She was looking out and calling. The fledgling came in. Then she started feeding him. What a good mom!

I commented to someone the other day a difference I had observed between these Osprey chicks and Bald Eagles that are ready to fledge. At this Osprey nest, one has fledged and the other two are going to go any day now. But these Osprey chicks were not self-feeding. I had seen them get impatient and peck at the fish that Mom was standing on while she fed them. But that was it. Long before the time Bald Eagles are ready to fledge, they are rushing to grab the food when it's delivered to the nest and the winner mantles over it to keep the other chicks away. They start self-feeding pretty soon after they learn to stand. But I hadn't observed this behavior with the Osprey. Then, yesterday, Mom came into the nest with a fish. The two that have not yet fledged were in the nest. She deliberately tore the fish in half as she fed them. Then she stopped feeding them and left the pieces laying in the nest. One grabbed the tail end of the fish and dragged it toward the camera and started pecking at it. It made a few attempts at the tail before figuring out that it was easier to tear pieces off the same area Mom had been feeding from. The other sibling figured it out too. Here they both are, bent to the task:

Eventually, the fledgling returned to the nest and was also given the opportunity to self-feed. Even after fledging, the learning continues...

Some recent s'caps:
One of the two that haven't fledged contemplates the branch (Mom is on the right):

Both of these chicks (left and center) are standing on the part of the 'branches' that are inside the nest. But this does not count as branching:



This s'cap shows the fledgling flying above the trees and Mom is flying away from the nest, right below the logo. The chick standing in the nest still hasn't quite achieved 'branching' but is getting a feel for it:

Here's Mom flying in with a fish:

It was raining yesterday at the nest. It didn't stop the wingercizing. Sing it with me, "I'm winging in the rain, I'm winging in the rain..."

It was windy while it was raining. This youngster hop/flew pretty high, got blown sideways, and came down on the branch. Finally one of the remaining chicks has branched:

And two funny s'caps. A wasp must be building a nest on the camera. Because we've been seeing a lot of this:

Here's another. Does anyone remember the dead spider on the NBG camera? At least this wasp moves out of the way... But for now, "Hey guys! I'm ready for my close-up!"

Ron Dudley posted some great pictures of Red-tailed Hawks on his Feathered Photography blog.

Today's 'Find Momo' is pretty good. It's amazing how you can just overlook this dog!

Verizon Rant (AKA Verizon Sucks), Camellia's location, Find Momo, Funny Post on Feathered Photography Blog

I take screen captures of nests and mail them to myself so I can put them on my blog. But my Verizon webmail stopped working. I can't save my jpg attachments to my computer. I spent a while with their help desk and the guy can't help me. Said he can transfer me to their special help. Forget what he called it. Said there's a charge and they'd go over it with me. While waiting for the new helper, I forwarded the email to my gmail account. And then was able to save the pictures to my computer. Their paid help came on the line and tole me their services are available for $15 a month with a 10 month commitment. I told him that wasn't acceptable. He said they also offer 72 hours of help for $89. Crazy, right? Then he said they offer 30 minutes of help for $40. I let him know that I didn't appreciate them trying to screw me over after having been a customer of theirs for so long. Their DSL is horrible anyway. Most times, after having my computer in standby, my wireless stops working. I have to turn off my computer, reset the router, then boot up my computer. And even then, it's a 50/50 shot that it will work. Bottom line, Verizon sucks!

Camellia proving that he is an urban eagle! He's hanging out in people's yards... Here's his latest locations.

Love the 6/26 and 6/27 Find Momo! This is the luckiest dog. He goes on a new adventure every day!

Ron Dudley's post today his Feathered Photography blog made me laugh!

I do have some s'caps from the Alcoa Osprey nest. I'll post them tomorrow. It's late and I'm tired...

Funny Momo Post Today, Swainson's Hawk on Feathered Photography, Bald Eagle Eating a Duck, Bald Eagle Covered in Vegetable Oil, Civet Coffee, Living Furniture

Today's 'find Momo' made me laugh!

Ron Dudley posted some pictures of a Swainson's Hawk on his Feathered Photography blog. This is such a pretty hawk! I really enjoy his blog!

I found this video of a Bald Eagle that has caught a duck for dinner. All I can say is, "Duck feet! Yum, yum!"

Here's a bizarre story about a Bald Eagle that was found covered in... vegetable oil. At least, that's what they think it is. They are investigating.

Have you ever heard of civet coffee? It's good to the last dropping! 

And have you ever heard of living furniture?

NX and Camellia Locations, Piano Playing Singing Dog, Find Momo, Ferruginous Hawk Nest on Feathered Photography, Alcoa Osprey S'caps

NX has checked in. She hasn't gone far, still hanging out south of Quantico.

Camellia checked in. He's in Virginia Beach, but Reese speculates that he's heading back to the Pocaty River.

My friend Candy sent me a link to this piano playing and singing dog. I love it! So, I thought I'd share it.

I love the 6/14 find Momo. So cute! Check it out!

Ron Dudley posted some pictures from another Ferruginous Hawk nest with chicks. These pictures are amazing!

I spent some time today watching the Alcoa Osprey nest. I took way too many s'caps (screen captures) to put in one post. I'll put some here today and put some in tomorrow's post. It was an interesting day. I'm not sure what was happening off-camera, but the adult at the nest seemed agitated -- looking around, calling, ducking, and taking short flights.

In this picture, Mom is on full alert. She is hunkered down, calling, and her wings are a bit flared. She was neither landing nor taking off. I think she was trying to appear larger and more intimidating to scare off whatever threat she perceived:

Have you ever seen a group of cats who are all watching the same thing? Their heads and eyes all track simultaneously. That's what happened today as something flew around the nest:

And it happened more than once. Here all of the chicks are calling:

And here's Mom landing back in the nest after one of her short flights:

Dad brought in a fish at one point:

Dad never stays in the nest for long. Here, I caught him flying away:

After feeding her chicks, I was able to get a s'cap of Mom feaking. Notice the chicks watching her -- learning how to be Osprey. And sure enough, shortly after this s'cap was taken, one of the chicks did some vigorous feaking.

Mom kept a close watch as her chicks settled down for a nap:

It was an interesting day to watch this nest. I'll post the rest of the s'caps from today in tomorrow's post...

Find Momo, Moore OK Tornado & Dogs, Blackfooted Albatross' Goofy Mating Dance, Dog Eat Dog Short Film, Turtle Road Kill, Wildlife Photography Contest Winners

Today's 'find Momo' was such a surprise, I laughed when I found him! I was leaning forward, scrutinizing all of the shadowy places... Then, BAM! And I just laughed...

I saw a video today of this woman who was recounting how she survived the tornado in Moore, OK. She said that she had her dog with her, but then the house came apart. She is distracted during the entire interview, looking at the rubble that was her house. She says that she knows her dog is in there somewhere. And she just keeps looking. Suddenly, the newswoman spots movement among the rubble...

Dogs are helping out in Moore, OK. They are searching for people and providing comfort to the survivors. My prayers go out to all who have suffered a loss in this disaster.

Blackfooted Albatross have a really goofy mating dance. Make sure your speakers are turned on.

Dog Eat Dog is an amusing short film of one man's journey through the dog adoption process at an animal shelter. It's well worth the time it takes to watch it. (It's about 11 minutes plus a couple minutes of credits.) But it's really well made and fun to watch!

A chilling experiment finds that some drivers go out of their way to run over turtles in the road. Turtles don't reach maturity until they are 7 or 8 years old. Their population is in a slow decline -- being killed while crossing the road is a contributing factor.

Here is a slideshow of wildlife photography contest winners. One of the pictures presented is of a Bald Eagle catching a Red-winged Blackbird in flight.

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...

Camellia's Location, Buddy is coming to Va Beach, Sooner Lake Eaglets Get Transmitters, Find Momo, Walk Hampton Clean Results, Gloucester and Chesapeake Bald Eagle Updates

Camellia checked in yesterday. He's at the Naval Amphibious Base at Little Creek. Where in particular? The golf course of course! Something about golf courses that eagles just love...

Buddy is going to be in Virginia Beach at Wild Birds Unlimited on Sunday June 2nd. Don't delay in making your reservation if you want to go! Space is limited... It's only $10, so it will probably fill up quicklyThere are two times to choose from: 1:00PM and 3:00PM. I plan to be there at 1:00PM.

The Sooner Lake eaglets got transmitters today. They are seven weeks old now and are full grown now. That's important since the transmitter fits onto the eaglet like a backpack -- so being full grown ensures a proper fit for the lifetime of the transmitter.

Growing is hard work. Frequent naps are needed. A lot of times when you check a camera, all you see is eaglet pancakes:

Great "Find Momo" pics for 5/6 and 5/7. The 5/6 picture is a beautiful landscape. And I like how Momo is hiding in the 5/7 picture.

I participated in the "Walk Hampton Clean" event last month. Here is the statement about the event from the city:

Cleaning up Hampton

Walk Hampton Clean last month saw 258 people walk a total of 72.61 miles in six hour and resulted in 6,585 gallons of litter kept out of storm drains, 75,362 cigarette butts removed from the streets, and 571 volunteer hours donated to make the city that much cleaner. Walk Hampton Clean was sponsored by the Hampton Clean City Commission.

The Gloucester Bald Eagle (#13-0283) got a good report today. I hope we see this one released soon!

The Chesapeake Bald Eagle (#12-0001) had an update today as well. (This is the eagle that 'fell from the sky.') It developed bumblefoot, a condition more common among birds that spend a lot of time perched. The toe never healed and needed to have surgery to remove the tip of the toe. Once that has healed, it can be transferred to its new home, the Massachusetts Birds of Prey Center.