Berry College Eagles Day 4&5 Some Sibling Rivalry, Harrison Bay Eagles Incubation Continues, Northeast Florida Eagles Day 57&59 Getting Big, Southwest Florida Eagles Day 23&24 Bood-ends, Bald Eagle HK

I made the rounds of a few cams today. The Berry College pantry is well stocked!

Mom fed for a while, then finally offered some pieces to the chicks. But she was so far away, they couldn't reach. She eventually stepped closer with some bites for the chicks.

One of the chicks was trying so hard to climb out of the nest bowl to get some food. The other chick kept grabbing its butt! (A little sibling rivalry, but no harm done.) Check out I'm Trying To Climb Out & You're Not Helping! (2:32)

Technically, Harrison Bay Eagles will be in hatch watch in a week and a half. But I'm thinking we won't see a hatch for almost two weeks...

The Northeast Florida Eaglets are so big already! They are almost two months old. They must be getting plenty of food, neither seemed interested in feeding and the parent was left to eat in peace.

The Southwest Florida Eaglets were like book-ends in the nest.

There's a new post today for Bald Eagle HK. I am so hoping for an egg this year!

Berry College Eagles Incubating, Harrison Bay Eagles Incubating, Northeast Florida Eagles Day 45&47, Southwest Florida Eagles Day 11&12 Wingercizing, Upper Mississippi River Eagles Incubating and Mating Video

I did a tour of the nests that I follow. Here's what's happening:

Berry College Eagles continue to incubate their two eggs. Today is day 28 and 31 since the eggs were laid. Expect hatch watch to start when the first laid egg is at day 33, but with delayed incubation I wouldn't really expect to see a hatch until day 34 or 35...

The Harrison Bay Eagles have only been incubating their two eggs a little over a week. So, they still have a while to go... 

The Northeast Florida Eaglets are growing in their feathers.

They are wingercizing now.

I caught the family together at the Southwest Florida nest. Dad brought in some soft grass and placed it between him and Mom.

It rained later in the day, and Mom-brella kept the babies dry.

It is so hard to see any eggs at the Upper Mississippi River nest. I caught a nest exchange, but still couldn't see anything. I think they have 2 eggs. If they will lay a third, it will be tomorrow.

This is the best shot of any possible eggs after recording this nest for about 5 hours today. It looks like one egg is visible. There was a point today when no eagles were on the nest, and no eggs could be seen... It must be a deep nest bowl. Maybe they will position the camera better next year...

I did find a video that the Stewards posted of mating at this nest. I wondered if there was competition between the two males to father the babies and found out that there is. Check out this video.

Southwest Florida Eagles Day 5&6 Smack-down, Berry College Eagles Still Incubating, Harrison Bay Eagles Dangerous Moves, Northeast Florida Eagles Day 39&41, Upper Mississippi River Eagle Trio Sharing Food, Africam Black Eagles Storm Damage

The Southwest Florida Eaglets are growing like weeds, both having fat crops. This looks like piggy-back rides.

There is still some sibling rivalry happening. Here's a gif from today. I like how the one in front taps the mat three times to be let go!

The Berry College Eagles are still tending two eggs. We have about another week before hatch watch starts.

I put together a gif of Dad Harrison Bay Bald Eagle being dangerous! This is 38 stills. He arrived at the nest with a huge piece of lumber. Huge! And he was trying to lift it while standing on in and while straddling it. Which was funny. After that, he dragged it across Mom, who left in embarrassment. Which caused the limb to drop into the nest bowl. Dad then drops the limb several times across the nest bowl. He leaves it alone at one point and incubates for a bit. (This is when the camera angle changes.) Then he got back up to move it again, almost stepping on the eggs! It was a nail biter. I remember a nest where one of the parents dragged a frozen rabbit across the eggs and broke at least one of the eggs. So, what Dad is doing here is pretty dangerous!

And here's a s'cap of the Harrison Bay eggs, zoomed in on during all this commotion:

It looked like a peaceful day at the Northeast Florida Eagle nest:

I found the Upper Mississippi River Eagle trio at the nest today. I have 18 s'caps that I wanted to share, so I just turned them into a gif... First, one of them landed in the nest with a fish, ate some of it, then waited to see if anyone else was interested. Soon, a second Eagle landed and had some fish. After the fish was gone, two stayed around looking for crumbs. Eventually, they all departed. (Don't miss, you can see the third Eagle fly behind the nest as it approaches.)

One of the trio is sleeping in the nest again tonight. Maybe we will see an egg soon!

There's a bit of a disaster at the Africam Black Eagle nest. Remember the big storm on January 9th? Well, the nest did not escape unscathed. A lot of the nest is gone and what remains has slid down the cliff face. Here's a picture showing the comparison. Looking at the pictures, I can't even figure out what was holding the nest in place, so I guess it was just a matter of time... Hopefully, the Black Eagles will rebuild and we'll have a camera on the nest. They have been seen recently carrying sticks. But I don't know where they are going with them.

Harrison Bay Eagles, Northeast Florida Eagles Day 37&39, Southwest Florida Eagles Day 3&4 Fresh Fish & Sibling Rivalry, Upper Mississippi River Eagles, Loch of the Lowes Tracking Update

I made the rounds at a bunch of nests today. Here's some s'caps:

I caught a nest exchange at the Harrison Bay nest. This is Dad leaving.

The Northeast Florida Eaglets are growing by the day. Look at those feet!

Zoomer read my mind. Look at that foot!!

Dad brought a live fish to the nest today at the Southwest Florida nest.

As soon as the fish felt Dad hop away, it began to flop around, trying to escape. Mom got to the fish first. But look in the upper left hand corner of this s'cap. Dad was coming right back to get it.

I observed some sibling rivalry a the nest today too. Since the food is plentiful at this nest, it should subside soon. Here, one of the babies is putting the smack-down on the other, with a beakful of neck.

I put together a video from the Southwest Florida nest today. Fresh Fish & Sibling Rivalry (6:50).

One of the Upper Mississippi River trio was laying in the nest again today, forming the nest bowl. I think we may see an egg here soon... There is no information on their site regarding what date eggs were laid last year. So, we can only guess by their behavior...

There is a tracking update for the Loch of the Lowes Osprey.

Southwest Florida Eagles On Hatch Watch!, Upper Mississippi River Trio At The Nest, Berry College Eagles Incubating, Northeast Florida Eagles One Month Old

The Southwest Florida Eagles are on hatch watch this week. Today is day 33 for the first egg that was laid. That's the earliest that we might see a hatch. Although, with delayed incubation, I would expect the first laid egg to not hatch until around day 35 and the second laid egg to hatch on day 33 or 34. So, even though we are technically in the window for hatch, I would be surprised if we saw a hatch before Monday... Before hatching, the parent can often hear peeps from the egg. The parent seems to be listening here:

Two of the Upper Mississippi River trio arrived at the nest at 5:13 this evening. I then lost the signal (this happens when there are a lot of viewers because of bandwidth issues.) The third arrived at 5:14 - 5:15. So it seems that they all hang out together during the day. They didn't stay at the nest for long, since it was getting dark.

The Berry College Eagles are still incubating two eggs. I just found this picture from a couple of months ago, of Mom Berry bringing a huge piece of lumber to the nest. Keep in mind that her wingspan is 6 - 7 feet wide and that gives you an idea of the size of this limb. She didn't make it to the nest with the limb. It dropped near the photographer who took the picture. The limb weighs 12 pounds! Notice that she is carrying it with one foot. The other leg is the one that was injured and caused her to limp for the past two years. She's not limping any more, but you can tell by the way she stands that it didn't heal perfectly... Here's a s'cap from today, almost half-way through the incubation period:

Then Northeast Florida Eaglets are about a month old now and are standing already:

I caught An Eventful Two Minutes at the nest (2:05).

Here's a gif of part of the video "Bulls-eye!":

Northeast Florida Eagles Day 23&25, Upper Mississippi River Eagle Trio, Bald Eagle HK, Anderson Cooper Donates K-9 Vests

It was a wet day at the Northeast Florida Eagle nest. The babies were trying to hide under Mom...

...and Zoomer took the opportunity to give us a nice close-up of some pin feathers:

Mom took a little break:

One of the babies did a crop-drop:

Then Mom returned for a feeding:

The three adults were on the nest today at the Upper Mississippi River Eagle nest and they posed so nicely:

Pam Monahan has a new post about Bald Eagle HK. Pam got some great pictures, including his band.

There was a police K-9 in nearby Norfolk that was recently shot and killed while apprehending a man. He was a Belgian Malinois, which is what one of my dogs is. (She's my avatar...) Here's a story about Anderson Cooper donating the funds to outfit the department's K-9s with bullet-proof vests. I'm not familiar with Anderson Cooper. But that's a stand-up thing that he did. Bravo!

Northeast Florida Eagles Day 10&12, Bald Eagle HK (and Sterling, the Landstown Eagle Pair, and a Drone)

Here's some s'caps from the Northeast Florida Eagles today:

I made the below s'cap into a jigsaw puzzle on jigidi.com. Here's a link if you want to solve it. I completed the puzzle in 13:39 minutes. Can you beat my time?!

Here's a short video from today: A Snack For Mom (1:43):

Pam has several updates to her blog about Bald Eagle HK.

12/16/2015 HK

12/22/2015 HK and Sterling

12/23/2015 HK

12/26/2015 HK (looking awesome!)

1/2/2016 HK, Landstown pair, and a drone...

Northeast Florida Eagles Day 7&9, Black Eagle Makhaza and Update on Habitat Development

I'm back after spending time with my family for Christmas. I hope you all had a Merry Christmas!

The Northeast Florida chicks are looking good! They are already 7 and 9 days old!

The Southwest Florida Eagles continue to incubate their eggs.

Black Eagle Makhaza is still recovering from her injuries that she sustained while hunting. Here's a link to some pictures of Makhaza when she was in the nest in 2007. Included are the pictures from when she was banded (which is how she was identified) and after she fledged.

The Black Eagle Project is also reporting that a judgement has been reached in the case of a developer who was going to disturb the Black Eagle's range. Here's an excerpt of the judge's statement:

We are happy to inform you that Judge Victor has made an order in the Black Eagle Project Roodekrans favour and has ordered that the Developer be interdicted from commencing or continuing with the construction on the remainder of portion 2. She has also interdicted them from transferring or alienating the properties pending the outcome of the review application.