Upper Mississippi Bald Eagle Trio, Peregrine Management Program

Eagleholic has reported that the Upper Mississippi River nest seems to have three adults, one female and two males. Check Eagleholic's post for the details and a picture. A pair of Great Horned Owls might also be trying to use this nest. This might be an interesting nest to watch! Will I be watching? Darn skippy! (That's a yes!) Here's a link to the cam. 

Check out this story about the peregrine management program. Good stuff!

Berry College Eaglet Day 88, Nest Cam Round-up: Hays, Two Harbors, White Rock, and Peregrine Falcon, Bald Eagle Camellia Checked In, Meet Bald Eagle MR, Today's Q&A Session With The Doctor Treating The Jordan Lake Eaglet

Today is day 88 for the Berry College Bald Eagle. I think she's  starting to think about taking the big leap. Finally! I don't have many s'caps tonight, so I'm going to show some of my process. These first three s'caps are basically the same. But I take multiples and then select the best one. (The shadows change as the tree sways in the breeze. And she moves, which changes how she looks.) The beak looks best in the first one. They eye looks best in the third s'cap. The second is just garbage... I'd probably keep the third since there is no eye in the first...

In these two s'caps, I took the first in case that was the best I could get. I prefer at least a profile of the head, so there's really not much about the first s'cap that I like. Then she flapped, and I took the second s'cap. I'd keep the second.

There seems to be a lull in the activity at the Hays nest. The eaglets are mainly eating, sleeping, and growing.

At the Two Harbors nest, the eaglet was in pancake mode.

The White Rock babies are still spending a lot of time sleeping. But I did catch this one just waking up. The sibling stayed in face-plant mode.

I checked on the Peregrine Falcon cam and I felt like, "Where's Waldo" as I searched for the bird... Then, after I spotted it, I said, "Duh!"

 Bald Eagle Camellia checked in.

We have a new Bald Eagle with a transmitter! Bald Eagle "MR" is a 7 week old eaglet in a nest in Virginia Beach. CCB did the banding and transmitter fitting yesterday. After the eaglet fledges, her movements will be tracked on CCB's EagleTrak website.

Twizzkid put together a summary of the Q&A session with the doctor treating the Jordon Lake Eaglet on the Eagleholic blog.

Berry College Eaglet Day 86 (Pesky Blue Jay), Nest Cam Round-up: Hays, Two Harbors, White Rock, Chickens, Peregrine Falcon, and Berry College Bluebird

Today is day 86 for the Berry College Bald Eagle.

She's eating here. I think it's nestovers.

She has the piece of food hanging from her beak.

Eating again.

She's done eating now and is using the back branch for feaking.

She did spend some time today perched on a branch.

But she spent a lot of time in the nest. She has her head tucked under her wing getting some sleep...

She is still picking at those bones.

She's a pretty girl!

A Blue Jay was harassing the eaglet today. In this s'cap, her head is swiveled all the way around so she can look above her. The Blue Jay kept coming swooping down and hitting the eaglet. Smaller birds will get raptors to go away by doing this. But she wasn't going to leave, so the Blue Jay kept harassing her.

She has been pounced on again and is watching her back.

I tried to get a s'cap with the Blue Jay in the picture. The closest I got was the reaction of the eaglet after another dive-bombing by the Blue Jay.

 

 You can see the Blue Jay perched on a branch above the and to the left of the nest and the eaglet is looking at it. The pesky little bird finally gave up and went away.

Look out below! My timing wasn't perfect and I took the s'cap a second before she pooped...

She found a sunny spot to lay in and is panting to keep cool.

Food drop! I'm happy to see her with real food after watching her pick at bones all day...

 The Hays triplets are looking so grown up!

 There is a favorite spot to stand at the Two Harbors nest...

 The two White Rock chicks are like frick and frack. Where you find one, you'll find the other.

I fist posted yesterday about the chicken cam that I found. I don't know how many chickens live in this yard. It looks like they've got a nice variety of chickens.

Today was the first day in a long time that I've found anyone home on the Peregrine Falcon Cam. The baby is no longer confined to the planter, so it's hit or miss.

They've cleaned out the Bluebird box.

Berry College Eaglet Day 73, Nest Cam Round-up: Hays, Two Harbors, White Rock, Berry College Bluebird, and Peregrin Falcon, Bald Eagle Camellia Checked In

Today is day 73 for the Berry College Bald Eagle. It was another day like yesterday, with some flapping and hopping except... Today I saw the eaglet aggressively take the food delivery from the parent and mantle over it. The parent stayed back for quite a while, allowing the eaglet to self-feed. This was a milestone in the eaglet's journey to independence! Here's the s'caps from today. The baby was hanging out:

Then the adult arrived with the food and the eaglet grabbed it and mantled over it.

Secure that it had won the food, it begins to eat. The parent left it alone for a long time.

Eventually, the parent came up and started eating. Not feeding, but eating.

The baby was still hungry so the parent gave it a bite.

But the parent started eating again, so the baby tried to take the food. Which the parent didn't allow.

The baby went over to the edge and pooped. (Yes, I caught another poop shot!)

Then the baby talked to the parent.

The baby came over to the front branch to feak.

Then the baby investigated the nest-overs.

The weirdest thing happened next. The baby gave the adult a bite of food.

Then the adult started feaking on the front branch.

The two ended up standing close together.

The baby reached over and grabbed the parent by the beak. The parent was very tolerant.

The eaglet took a big step up onto the branch.

The eaglet folded its wings in, showing more comfort on the branch.

The eaglet kept looking back. I'm not sure if it was keeping the topography in mind or if it was looking back at the adult in the nest.

Another look forward.

Another look back.

The eaglet is keeping cool here, with its wings spread out a little.

Wheeee! I like the eaglet's shadow across nest.

The eaglet returned to the nest and did some more flapping.

Then back onto the branch and stepped to the side until it was nearly out of view (all the way on the left edge of the view).

It then stepped back over a bit and, feeling the breeze, threw out its wings. I like the shadow on the nest in this s'cap too...

The camera angle at the Hays nest was not very good. I couldn't really get a good s'cap of the three babies. These first two s'caps really show off the fat crop of the youngest chick on the right.

I did get all three faces on these next two s'caps.

This does not look comfortable. But a food coma is to be expected with a crop that big! I like the fluffy butt and leg!

Lazy wing stretch.

The cam at the Two Harbors nest doesn't show any detail any more. But, that's the eaglet...

The babies at the White Rock nest must have eaten recently, because the were snuggling with Dad (I think) and then they passed out.

And then Mom (I think) showed up.

And then the babies woke up from their food coma, ready for more food!

The Berry College Bluebird is getting huge! Look at its size here compared to the eggs.

A friend reminded me about the Peregrine Falcon cam. The baby was first seen around mid-April. I finally got a look at it today. Peregrine Falcons are beautiful birds. But this baby is cuter from the back than the front!

Bald Eagle Camellia checked in.