Bald Eagle Camellia's Location, Become a Member of the Norfolk Eagles Forum, Rhoda Gerig's Video, Bats

Camellia is still hanging out on the south-side.

We have opened up the Norfolk Eagles Forum for new registrations. You can register on Saturday or Sunday 9:30PM - 10:30PM EST. We have to restrict the time that people can register because of the spammers and bots who try to get in.

Rhoda Gerig got some incredible footage at one of her local nests. There are two youngsters in the nest. An intruder fledgling followed Dad into the nest. Dad was bringing a fish and the fledgling was hungry. He did get a meal. And he was asked to leave. Here's a link to Rhoda's post on the Forum, where you can read her comments and click a link to see her video.

Here's a conservation story about Bald Eagles and Bats in Pennsylvania. Bald Eagles have seen such conservation success and Bats are in such jeopardy now due to White Nose Syndrome. Hopefully, scientists will find ways to help the bat populations recover.

Bald Eagle Patriot of Turtle Bay Died Following Battle With An Intruder, Buffet for Bald Eagles, Pelican Harbor Bald Eagles, Cat/Cop Rescue, Bats, Roll and Shelf Clouds, Property Maintenance Workshop, Washington State, Amazing Birds, Bald Eagles at Duluth Airport

More sad news for the Turtle Bay nest, home of Bald Eagles Patriot and Liberty. If you remember, this is the nest where an intruder ran off the resident male (Patriot) and ate both hatchlings. The intruder would look roughed up (a couple of times) probably from doing battle with Patriot. But Patriot returned in early April. It is now being reported that Patriot died following a fight with another eagle. This may be the same intruder eagle that is trying to take over the nest. My heart goes out to the people that follow this nest. It has been a rough year... 

Here's a video of a bunch of Bald Eagles in a parking lot. I don't know what's in the back of that truck (I think it's fish), but it must be yummy! And this is in Alaska, so you know there are some Bald Eagles waiting to take advantage of a situation!

I found a video of the Pelican Harbor Bald Eagles wrestling with a stick. The video is from 2008, but it's so funny -- right from the crash landing at the start -- I thought it's worth posting now. I think this is cooperative nest building. But I'm not going to emphasize the word 'cooperative' when it comes to these two!

This sounds like I'm telling a joke. A cat goes up the tree and needs help getting down. So the nice police officer goes up the tree to rescue the cat and he needs help getting down. Here's the story.

I like bats. What can I say... When I move to Maryland, I'm going to put in some bat houses.

I've never heard of roll clouds or shelf clouds. I think I'd be a little freaked out if I saw either of these coming at me if I didn't know what was going on. But having seen these pictures and read the explanations, I'll be ok if I ever see roll clouds or shelf clouds in the future. This reminds me of a time I was on ship (in the Navy). We were underway and we went into a line of... I don't know what it was. It was like a line of clouds that stretched all the way from the sky to the water and as far as the eye could see in either direction. It was just a wall of cloud and we went right into it. It just looked like a heavy fog while we were in it. The ship had to set the 'low visibility detail' and after a little while we steamed right out of it. And it looked like a wall of clouds on the other side. Very bizarre.

An interesting workshop is being offered by the City of Hampton:

HAMPTON 101-PROPERTY MAINTENANCE

Learn about the right of inspection, paint, gutters, grass and zoning codes as part of a property maintenance workshop presented by Hampton 101 and the Hampton Community Development Department. Thursday, May 16 from 6-8 p.m. at the Ruppert Sargent Building, 1 Franklin St. To register or for more information go to www.hampton.gov/learn or call 727-8311.

The recovering Bald Eagle population is wreaking havoc on Great Blue Herons in Washington State.

Massachusetts has conducted its first Bald Eagle nesting survey.

Here's a slideshow, set to music, of 'Amazing Birds You Probably Didn't Know Exist'.

A pair of Bald Eagles locked in battle fell onto an airport's runway in Duluth, Minn. The eagles were removed from the runway before aircraft could strike them. If you remember, the Norfolk Bald Eagles were on the runway at the Norfolk airport. Instead of getting them off of the runway, they had a plane land on the runway, which struck and killed Mom Norfolk. The Norfolk airport was completely negligent in having a plane come in, knowing that there were Bald Eagles on the runway. But I digress... Good job to the folks at the Duluth airport!

NX's Location, View at Work, Wind Farms, Lead Poisoned Eastern Shore Bald Eagles, Bald Eagle Liberty, Bald Eagle Nesting Platform, Therapy Dogs at Airports, White-Nose Syndrome in Bats, Hong Kong Apartments, Liger Cubs in Taiwan, Wild Animals are not Pets

NX checked in today. She isn't done exploring Aquia Creek!

I'd love to have this view from my window at work... I'd never go home!

This is a pretty good article about the possible affects of wind farms on Bald Eagles.

Looks like there's a total reward of $7500 available for information about the Eastern Shore Bald Eagles that recently died of lead poisoning.

The Bald Eagle Liberty is going to appear this weekend at the Montezuma Audubon Center's 7th Annual Wildlife Festival.

Here's a story about a 17-year old that built and installed a nesting platform for Bald Eagles for his Eagle Scout badge. I'd like to know if any birds build a nest on this platform...

Here's a neat story about Therapy Dogs at airports. I'd love to do something like this one day... And I would have loved to have seen a Therapy Dog last week while I was traveling!

Many bat populations are in decline due to White-Nose Syndrome. Bats are very important because they help to control the insect population -- especially mosquitoes. This problem should concern everyone. If you have available land, think about putting up a bat house! Do your research first though, they are sensitive to location and the direction they face.

Here are some pictures of apartment buildings in Hong Kong. I can only imagine what so much over-crowding does to natural resources...

Liger cubs in Taiwan! So cute! The zoo is in trouble though. They didn't anticipate the Tiger and Lion mating since they had been in the same enclosure for six years.

You should not try to raise wild animals as pets! Here's an article about the dangers. Wild animals, even if raised in captivity from birth, are still wild animals. They aren't suddenly tame because they grew up in a house. It's in their nature to be wild. I know someone that "rescued" a baby raccoon and the thing is kept in the house. It has bitten everyone. All the people that live there or have visited there have been bitten. And the raccoon is no longer fit to be released in the wild. It doesn't know how to take care of itself and it doesn't have a natural fear of humans. It sees humans as a source of food. Can you imagine how freaked out someone would be if a raccoon came up to them because it was hungry? I'd be thinking, "rabies" and trying to get away or trying to physically keep it away from me. It often happens that people think a baby in the wild is an orphan. If you think that, you should leave it alone and contact wildlife officials. Here's an article on the subject from The Wildlife Center of Virginia. This article contains links for what to do for various animals that you suspect might be orphaned.