Both Parents On The Nest At Berry College Bald Eagle Nest, Northeast Florida Bald Eagle Nest Looks Good, Southwest Florida Nest Has Big Size Disparity Between Hatchlings

It's been a while since I've seen both Mom and Dad in the nest at the same time at Berry College. Dad landed in the nest carrying a big stick.

Mom got up to take a break, giving a good view of the eggs, while Dad rearranged the stick. I was out this evening, so I don't know if she laid another egg today...

The babies at the Northeast Florida Bald Eagle nest look like they are doing pretty good. They are of similar size. They make the perfect Yin and Yang here:

Not so at the Southwest Florida Bald Eagle nest. The little one is fighting to get some food and has had some good meals. Which leaves some room for hope. But it looks like the size difference is increasing. The older chick is at least twice as big as the youngest. I'm not sure if the youngest will survive. At this point, it will depend upon how it is treated by its much larger sibling. It will have a chance if it can catch up on size a bit. They posted an update regarding this nest. And turned off the chat...

I went to Chincoteague today, looking for Snowy Owls. It was a bust!

Two Eggs at Berry College Bald Eagle Nest, New S'Caps of the Southwest and Northeast Florida Nests

Two eggs at the Berry College nest! I'm so excited. I first looked in on the nest and momma had her head tucked in while incubating:

I wanted to see if she had laid a second egg. It was going to be today if she was going to do it. She finally got up and ta-da! Two eggs! I'm so egg-cited!

She did an egg roll. I explained the egg roll yesterday. You can see the eggs are sitting differently now.

Here's a s'cap of the Southwest Florida nest. They are reporting that the little one got a good meal today. You can see one of the babies passed out around the 10:00 position. The temps are pretty moderate in Florida tonight.

And here's a s'cap of the Northeast Florida nest. Just babies passed out. No worries. After a couple of weeks, the babies are able to thermoregulate and if temps are moderate, the Eagle parents will often spend the night on a branch keeping watch.

Sibling Rivalry at the Southwest Florida Bald Eagle Nest, Berry College Bald Eagle Nest S'caps

The SW Florida Eagle Nest hatchlings are engaging in sibling rivalry. The folks at that nest have made a statement about this behavior. If you choose to watch a nature cam, please remember that nature can be harsh. Most times, they work it out. Sometimes, if there is a lack of food, the smaller eaglet dies. In this case, it is better for one to fledge strong than to have two weaklings fail to survive in the first year. It's survival of the fittest. In the case of this nest, food is plentiful. At this point, I think they will both survive.

Here's my daily s'caps of the Berry College nest. I just missed seeing the egg in this first picture. Mom has hooked her beak down into the grasses and is wiggling back and forth, settling in on the egg.

A half an hour later, she is up again. Here, she is fluffing the grass in the nest bowl, keeping it nice and soft and not packed down. She is also doing an egg roll. The egg has to be rolled periodically -- this keeps the temperature consistent throughout the egg and keeps the embryo from adhering to the egg wall.

Then she looks around before settling back down on the egg.

S'caps From The Northeast Florida and Southwest Florida Eagle Nests, Pam Monahan and Bald Eagle HK, New Location For Bald Eagle Camellia, Pictures of Bald Eagle KS

I kept forgetting to look in on the Florida nests in the daytime. I finally thought about it today and got the following screen captures (s'caps).

Northeast Florida nest (hatched 12/20 and 12/23)

 Southwest Florida (hatched 12/23 and 12/25)

Eating



Already venturing out of the nest bowl

Pam Monahan has a fantastic post for her observations on 1/9 of Bald Eagle HK. She has a great picture of his nest viewed from a distance so you can see how big it is in the tree. It's really getting big! Then, she refers to her post for her observations on 1/10 as a photographer's dream. She got some beautiful pictures of HK in flight and at his nest. I'm guessing Pam was at the nest again today since the weather was so beautiful here... Maybe we'll see a new post tomorrow!

There is a new location map for Bald Eagle Camellia. Jim Yanello commented that he got a picture, so hopefully, we will see that soon.

Reese has a new blog post about an extraordinary find! One of our best eagle spotters, Beverly Nettleton, found Bald Eagle KS at Honey Bee Golf Course. Check Reese's blog post for the details and pictures. You can click on the first picture and see the letters KS as plain as day. And yes, that is Bald Eagle HK in one of the pictures. So amazing! Two Bald Eagles without transmitters from two different nests hanging out together and Beverly got the picture!

Location for Bald Eagle KE, SW Florida, NE Florida, Berry College, and Eagles4kids Eagle Cams, Eagle Cam Behind the Scenes, Sink Holes, Bonobo Apes, Egg Agents, National Zoo's Baby Panda

Reese has posted a new location for Bald Eagle KE. She knows where she likes to hang out!

The Southwest Florida Eagle Cam has a 'hatch watch' clock showing 10 more days... The Southeast Florida Eagle Cam doesn't have the fancy clock, but the first egg arrived three days earlier, so... I'll let you do the math. I looked in on both of these nests tonight and it looked like business as usual. I couldn't look at the Berry College Eagle Cam tonight. Something wrong with the feed...

The Eagles4kids nest is full of snow. But I see footprints, so someone has been there. Their web page shows that it's a brisk -18 degrees there tonight...

I was looking in on the Sooner Lake Eagle Cam and saw a link for "Eagle Cam Behind the Scenes." I have a technical background and find stuff like this to be interesting. If you aren't interested in that sort of thing, at least check out the pictures!
 
A huge sinkhole opened up in Bosnia. It seems like I'd never heard of such a thing, but now it's a common occurrence. Is this a case of the world becoming smaller due to the internet, or are these happening now and they didn't used to? I looked at the accompanying slide-show and only one picture was from earlier than the year 2000.

Bonobo apes in a German zoo have gone high-tech. They can control which channel is played.

Egg agents recruit women to sell their eggs. This is interesting to me. Part of me feels these women are taking an incredible risk that they may not have any eggs left when they are ready to start their own family. Women only have as many eggs as they are born with, and once they are gone (normally at a rate of one per month) they are gone. Some can view this as incredibly generous and some can view this as putting money above all else. I'm conflicted about this one...

The National Zoo has selected a name for their baby Panda. There is also a video of her first steps at the end of the story. You can't help but cheer her on!

SW and NE Florida Bald Eagle Nests Have Two Eggs Each, Pam Monahan's Blog and Pictures, Recycling or Disposing of Used Deep Fryer Oil, Keeping Wildlife Wild

The SW Florida Eagle Nest has a second egg. Now we wait to see if the NE or SW Florida Nests with have a third egg... I checked in on the two nests this evening and find similar poses. SW pic is first.

 

 

And someone is home at the Berry College Eagle Nest. (And most of the plucked feathers are gone from the nest tonight.)

Pam Monahan has a blog entry about the pictures she took on 11/18 of Bald Eagle HK. This is so cool, being able to get the explanation about what's happening in the pictures... She has also posted two new pictures on HK taken today on her photography site.
 
If you like to deep fry your Thanksgiving turkey, don't pour the used oil down the drain! If you live in Hampton or Newport News, you can turn it in for recycling. Check this link for details and for other tips to keep the sewer system free of clogs. If you live elsewhere, check with your city about a recycling program. If a recycling program is not available, then go to the above link to find proper ways to dispose of used oil.

This is a sad story about an elk that had to be put down because it was too acclimated to humans. The elk no longer showed a proper fear of humans and was willing to engage people. Unfortunately, that poses a danger to people and the elk had to be put down. Please do your part to keep wildlife wild!

Links to Florida Eagle Cams, Bald Eagle Camellia Location, More New Pictures of Bald Eagle HK Taken By Pam Monahan -- And Her New Blog

The US Fish and Wildlife Service has issued the City of Norfolk a new permit to continue harassment and nest removal at NBG. These people are such idiots. I'm starting to think that they actually think they are accomplishing something. Either that or they are crazy (the definition of doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.)

I forgot to include links to the Florida Eagle Cams that I mentioned in my post last night. Here they are:

NE Florida with Mom sitting on the nest. Two eggs so far at this nest:

SW Florida with Mom showing off her egg. One egg so far at this nest:

These nests look like lights are shining on them. But that's not the case. There is an infrared light, which Bald Eagles can't see. But the camera can, which is why we can see the nest when viewed through the camera. We can't see infrared light either. If we viewed this nest in person, it would appear dark.

Location update for Bald Eagle Camellia. Can you call it an update if he hasn't gone anywhere?

Pam Monahan is so dedicated to Bald Eagle HK. She is doing a fantastic job of documenting his life at Honey Bee. She has posted six new pictures taken today. And... Exciting news! Pam has started a blog about HK. I have been wanting to know the story behind some of the pictures and am so excited to see this blog. Thanks Pam!

Eggs! NE Florida and SW Florida Bald Eagle Nests, Pam Monahan's New Pictures of Bald Eagle HK, Locations for Bald Eagles Camellia, KE, and NX, CCB's Osprey Tracking, Ferruginous Hawk Nests on Feathered Photography Blog

We have nests active! The NE Florida nest has two eggs already, laid exactly three days apart. I looked in just now and found Mom on the nest:

The SW Florida nest has an egg. I looked in just now in time to see an egg roll:

Pam Monahan has posted 37 new pictures of Bald Eagle HK taken on 11/14 and 11/16. You can see he still has a little bit of a dirty eye stripe. I wonder if he's old enough to reproduce this nesting season...

Bald Eagle Camellia is dumpster diving at his 11/15 check-in.
Bald Eagle KE isn't being very adventurous, with a check-in on 11/16.
Bald Eagle NX has been spending her time on the Upper Machadoc Creek. She's had some missing data points. I hope her transmitter isn't running down...

The Center for Conservation Biology (CCB) has tracked three Osprey this past year. It's amazing to see how far they migrate. Here's a link to the page where their migrations was tracked. Thanks to Ann for pointed out this page on the Norfolk Eagles Forum.

Ron Dudley has a post on his Feathered Photography blog about the different nests of the Ferruginous Hawk. Very neat to see the different examples. The bottom two nests look like pieces of art to me...

Camellia and NX locations, Harrison Bay cam, Alcoa cam, Fort St Vrain cam, SW FL cam, Two Harbors cam, dog howling, Lake Ontario eagles, pics

New location for Camellia! He's staying local for the time being. NX checked in on the 24th. She is still in the same general area as her release.

I got some pictures today of various eagle cam nests:

Harrison Bay, feeding time. These two hatched on 3/19 and 3/21. Look at all those fish -- these two are great providers:

Alcoa, feeding time. These two hatched on 3/16 and 3/18. Both parents were there for feeding. I watched for about 10 minutes. The male was trying to feed but the female insisted on taking the morsel from the male and feeding the babies herself. They passed a tiny piece of food back and forth several time. It took about 5 minutes for the male to finally start passing her the pieces to feed to the babies... Look at the crop on that baby! Very well fed.

The Fort St Vrain eagles are still incubating 3 eggs:

The SW FL eaglets were home today. One was lounging and the other was eating. These two hatched 1/1 and 1/3 and they both fledged yesterday!

The Two Harbors nest had a hatch yesterday. K82 is the female. (K81 is the male...) Feeding time:

And I couldn't resist grabbing this screen capture of fluffy eagle butt:

Eaglets can't thermoregulate until they are a couple of weeks old. So they continue to be incubated. I love it when the babies poke their heads out. So curious already!

I found this video today of a dog howling at a siren. Too funny. When I was a kid, we had a Basset Hound in the neighborhood that would howl at the noon whistle every day. So this is a video of a dog howling at a siren. Then, in the comments, there are two video responses of people's dogs howling at this video. Too funny! I played them all for my dogs and got nothing... Oh well. Still a good video if you enjoy dogs howling!

Bald Eagles on Lake Ontario have successfully hatched two chicks -- the first in decades!

Check out this incredible picture of a Bald Eagle chasing a Great Blue Heron! Run, Forest! Run!

And check out these Bald Eagle pics! Very nice! 

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...

Turtle Bay nest, new Eagle behavior, Camellia's location, Azalea out-of-touch, SW FL nest, Connecticut River Bald Eagles, another thought on the pesticide poisoned Bald Eagle, disabled Bald Eagle on cam, Bald Eagle scuffle, nests in North Dakota, Feathered Photography post

Lots of material today. Yesterday's post was short because I just wasn't feeling it after the bad day at Turtle Bay. They are trying to piece together what happened at that nest. Here is an article.  I disagree with the article. I think the intruder is male and most likely got into a fight with the resident male. The intruder's feet look damaged on the web cam. I think that the resident male is either dead, injured or just chased away by the intruder. I grabbed this screen capture of female #4's feet last year. No doubt she was scrapping with the other females that were seen at the Norfolk nest last year.

With the increase in the eagle population, we will see more fights over territory. Here is a timely article that discusses how we are learning new things as eagles are adapting to areas that have reached saturation.

We have a new location map for Camellia. He is still local, hanging out on the south-side. Reese has also made an entry for Azalea, that he has received his last transmission from her. I had thought that the battery on her transmitter would gradually die. I didn't expect it to work one day and then to kaput! I was hoping that it would last for another year so we could see where she builds her nest. Oh well. Maybe we'll still luck out with ground reports...

I took this screen capture the other night of the SW FL Eaglets. They both have their heads tucked in, asleep. I'd wonder what they were if it weren't for the feet...

They are branching now, so there's only one in the nest this evening:

Here's an article on Bald Eagles on the Connecticut River. I'm posting the link here because I love the first picture in this article! This 4 year old Bald Eagle has the most awesome eye stripe I've ever seen! So pretty!

I mentioned recently that there was a Bald Eagle that died from pesticide poisoning. It also had lead in its system. I should have mentioned that it's possible that the Eagle consumed fish that was poisoned when a toxic substance washed into a body of water. It's concerning since we eat fish too...

The Bald Eagle nest cam Eagles4Kids is also giving us something new to learn about. The resident female showed up for the 2012/2013 nesting season with serious injuries to both of her feet. As the season progressed, she lost her right foot and is now making do with a stump. This resident pair has stayed together despite her disability. You can read about her disability here. And she is defying the odds -- she laid an egg on March 9th!

Note to self: Do not release a rehabilitated Bald Eagle near another Bald Eagle's nest... Good video of two Bald Eagles interacting with each other -- at one point one Bald Eagle flips over so they can face each other, talon-to-talon. No surprise that their feet can get pretty ugly!

North Dakota's Game and Fish Department is asking for the public to report the locations of Bald Eagle nests.

I love Ron Dudley's blog, Feathered Photography. Here's a link to his posts for 3/22 and 3/23. An American Kestrel and a Short-eared Owl. Wonderful pictures and explanations!

Local birds, Eagle locations, Eagle cams, Sea Lion pups in trouble

The temps are getting warmer and a pair of my House Finches are back! I  also spied two Brown Thrashers hopping across my back deck. They are huge! I don't know what I've done with my little point and shoot, but I need to find it!

Reese has posted new updates for our eagles:
Azalea's location
Camellia's location

Here's a pic from the SW FL Eagle Cam this evening. Stretch those wings! And look at those talons!

I caught feeding time at the Alcoa nest this evening. Here's some screen captures:

Say hi to the world!

Then Dad showed up.

He was trying to help with feeding.

I did some research yesterday on the Minnesota Bound Eagle Cam. They have two eggs, just laid on March 9th and March 12th. I doubt that they will lay another since it's been 5 days since the last egg was laid. I'm really excited about watching this nest since I'm coming in right at egg laying. And the cam picture is really nice.
 
I got a lead on another Bald Eagle nest cam: the NCTC cam in Sheperdstown, WV. They had a hatch yesterday and a hatch today. Very nice, hatching just a day apart! Here's a link to the NCTC cam. Mom finally moved and I tried to get a pic just now. But it's starting to get dark there and the cam picture is very pixelated. The screen capture I took looks horrible. I did see two heads bobbing around. 

Sick and malnourished Sea Lion pups are washing ashore in record numbers in California. Here's a link to the story. I saw a spot on TV about it. Fishermen are reporting that bait fish have disappeared, which Seal Lions rely upon. I hope they can figure out what is going on in the waters off of California.

Buddy T-shirts!, leucistic black bird sighting, SW FL eagles, lions, tigers and bears (oh my!)

The Wildlife Center of Virginia is selling Buddy T-shirts to commemorate his 5th Birthday! Order your T-shirt here. They are only making the number of shirts that are paid for by March 31st, so don't delay!

I saw a leucistic black bird today on a cam. It had white on a wing. I was wondering what kind of black birds they have in that part of the country (Indiana) with white on the wing. Then it turned and faced the other direction and there was no white on the wing. Then it flew away without turning back around so I could get a screen capture. I missed it today! But, I'm going to be keeping an eye out for it to return! (Note to self -- take a screen capture, then wonder about the bird!)

The SW FL eaglets are branching.  

And they had a cattle egret for dinner tonight. Seems like it was 95% feathers...

Here's a short video about the friendship between a dog and a lion.

This is a great story about one person's tiger conservation efforts. It shows that one person can make a difference!

Boo the Grizzly Bear makes an appearance. And this pic of Maxi the Brown Bear is too cute!

Nest cam roundup, Wildlife strikes at ORF and PHF, lead poisoning

Been checking out cams today:

Alcoa cam gave me a good look at two eggs:

Ft St Vrain gave me a look at part of an egg. There's just a little bit of white in front of the left wing:

I caught dinnertime at the SW FL eagle cam:

Here's both Great Horned Owl babies snuggled up to momma:

I did some research today at the FAA Wildlife Strike Database. I am going to Vegas in six weeks and refuse to use the Norfolk airport, both in protest over the treatment of the NBG eagles and because of safety concerns at that airport. Today I compiled the data for the number of wildlife strikes at each airport since Mom Norfolk was killed on 4/26/11. Here's the graphs (looks to me like PHF is much safer than ORF):



Sad news. On Virginia's Eastern Shore, several Bald Eagles were poisoned. Four Bald Eagles are dead and another is receiving treatment at The Wildlife Center of Virginia. The culprit is lead poisoning. They are investigating if they were poisoned on purpose or accidentally. A lot of raptors are accidentally poisoned by hunters. If a hunter shoots but can't find the animal, it can die and the lead shot is then consumed by scavengers. Or, if a hunter field dresses an animal and leaves the gut pile where scavengers can get to it, they can ingest lead that way. Lead in the digestive tract leaches a lot of lead into an animal's body, often causing debilitation and death. If you know a hunter, please send a link to this article by The Wildlife Center of Virginia. Voluntary effort by hunters can really make a difference!

Eagle locations, video and cam links, Kingfisher sighting

Reese has returned and has posted some updates:

Camellia's update.

Azalea's update.

KE's update.

NX has also checked in recently, on 3/10. Here's a link to NX's update. Is it just me or does anyone else think it's strange that NX has stayed within a few miles of her release sight? I had asked where this brood would consider their natal territory, since Bald Eagles are supposed to return to their natal territory. I wondered if it was NBG, WCV or where they were released. I was told that their natal territory had been established as NBG before they were taken from the nest. So far, NX hasn't shown any inclination to explore beyond where she was released. She must be foraging without any problems. But Azalea has shown us that even catfish farms don't keep an eagle's interest forever. So, what's with NX?

I came across this story of a volunteer pilot transporting an injured Bald Eagle to a treatment center. It has embedded video at the top of the story. What's neat is that after the story finishes, you can click on another video. So, from here I went to a story about a Bald Eagle that was hit by a truck and stuck in the grill. From there, I watched a video about a puppy that got stuck in a cactus and the crowd of people that showed up to adopt him. Here's the start to watch these three videos.

Part of my property is wetlands, 3rd house down from the water. I had thought a few times that I'd heard a Kingfisher out back. This morning I saw a big bird on a post in the wetlands. I was inside looking out my back door window maybe 25 feet away. It was big. Then it turned and then took off and I realized it was a Kingfisher. I stepped outside and was able to hear it as it flew from branch to branch. I had no idea they were so big! I didn't get a picture... I just need to glue a camera onto my hand!

Some eagle cams to check out.
The SW Florida eaglets are full grown. They will fledge soon.
Fort St Vrain eagles are incubating.
Alcoa eagles -- Liberty and Justice -- in Davenport, Iowa are incubating

SW Florida nest 3/11 11:14PM