Africam Black Eagle Day 104 Fledge Watch Continues, Big Sur Condor Day 117, White-bellied Sea Eagles Day 35, Discarding Trash, Birds Using Fur, International Space Station

No fledge today at the Africam Black Eagle nest. I had other s'caps from today, but can't find them. If I can find them, I'll post them tomorrow. The chick is perching up on the rocks in the s'caps I can't find... I guess that's the equivalent to branching.

I have no idea what to expect for a progressing with the Big Sur Condor chick. There is a month long window when it might fledge. I guess we'll just watch and wait!

 
Dad came by for a feeding. Red67 on the wing is "Kingpin." He is the boss of this flock.

I think this chick is getting fed every day.

Here's a video of the Feeding With Dad (3:53):

The White-bellied Sea Eagle chicks were awake early.

They were looking around.

They eventually came beak-to-beak. There were a few nips, but nothing serious.

The IR cam turned off and the nest was suddenly in color.

The parents are always close by.

Look at how big SE16 is! These babies change every day.

It looks like we will see their backs for feedings...

Here's the whole family.

SE16 is a lot more steady when standing. It will be awhile before they stand upright. For now, they will appear bent over.

SE16 did a poop shoot without falling over.

Oh my! What big wings you have already! I'd say those wings are at least a foot long.

They are both feathering out nicely. It looks like SE16's feathers are starting to open up after coming through the shaft. SE15 still looks like pin feathers. I am still amazed by the differences in these two chicks.

Here's a story that reminds us all to be responsible when discarding our trash.

Birds like to use fur to line their nests. This bird wants it to be fresh!

Here's a way cool time-lapse of the International Space Station transiting across the sun.

Africam Black Eagle Day 96 Fledge Watch, Big Sur Condor Day 109, Dyfi Osprey, Harrison Bay Eagles, White-bellied Sea Eagles Day 27 Milestone Moments

The Africam Black Eagle was panting today. It was pretty warm at the nest, getting up into the 70s today.

Mom came to the nest for a feeding.

Here she is leaving the nest, she's crouched down right before launching out of the nest.

The chick is watching, having thoughts about doing it too.

There was some wingercizing to strengthen its flight muscles. The IR cam makes the chick really blurry when it moves.

It self-fed for a bit before laying down for the night. Black Eagles are supposed to fledge between 90 and 97 days, and tomorrow is day 97. So, I'm going to call fledge watch, but I really haven't seen that much wingercizing, so it might still be a few days...

From what I understand, the folks at the Big Sur Condor nest leave carrion out for the parents to eat. Then they go to the nest and regurgitate it for the chick. I think the second cam where they leave the food and I assume that's the parents perched together.

The baby was laid out with her head tucked. (The biologists refer to the chick as a female, so they must have made that determination based upon her size.)

She spent some time looking out at the world.

Look at that wing! The nest cavity is 4-5 feet across. Wow!

The baby has to stand in the doorway if it wants to stretch both wings at the same time...

She finds a shady spot when it gets hot.

I know this chick was also fitted with a transmitter. I think it's part of the wing tag. And I think that's the antenna tending toward the cam.

The was a different sight on the Dyfi Osprey cam. This is off in the distance as viewed from the same cam. I didn't even realize that there was a second platform in the area. I'm not sure who the two Osprey are...

There were lots of visitors today. Here's a woodpecker.

It's hard to see here, but there are two small birds in the nest.

Here's Dad, getting ready to reach out and grab the wind.

And there he goes. I love this s'cap!

Then some crows visited the nest.

One parent was visible at the Harrison Bay Eagle nest.

 

Here's a family s'cap of the White-bellied Sea Eagle nest.

 

Look at SE16 standing up!

 

The size difference is pretty apparent when they are back-to-back like this.

Here's a short video of Milestone moments today: SE16 standing and SE15 working his way out of the nest bowl. And there's a poop shoot. (2:04)

Three days of posts: Africam Black Eagle, Dyfi Osprey, Harrison Bay Eagles, Loch of the Lowes Osprey Standing!, White Rock Eagles Branching!

I was in a pool tournament this past weekend, so I didn't have time to post. But I still collected material from the nests and tonight I've got all of my s'caps from the weekend.

The baby was peeking out from in front of Mom at the Africam Black Eagle nest on Saturday 6/20.

The lighting wasn't very good on Sunday 6/21.

But today was good light and a good view of the chick. I'm finally seeing a view of the chick where I can see that it is putting on some size. It's still hard to believe that this chick hatched the day before the oldest Dyfi Osplet hatched. I wonder if this development is normal? Anybody know?

I got some really good s'caps of the Dyfi Osplets. On 6/20, two were mugging for the camera while one was being fed.

On 6/21, Mom was doing some nestorations.

I love the two s'caps that I got today.

The Harrison Bay Eaglets are still spending time at the nest. They were lounging together on 6/20.

The DVR had reset on 6/21 before I could review the day. But I got some great s'caps today. This is HB7:

This is HB8. The nictitating membrane is covering half of its eye. This is a see-through eyelid.

Eagles have backward facing ridges on their tongues that help keep food moving to the back of their throat. This view also show HB8's damaged cere (nostril). The function is most likely intact, it's just looks different. (Compare to previous two s'caps.)

Eagles have a hole in their tongue for breathing.

Here's a Chatter video of these two having a big conversation, with the zoomer doing great work! (5:21)

The fledglings continued to keep the zoomers busy today as they explored the branches below the nest.

The Eaglets are also perching in the pine tree across the way that the parents like to perch in. Both of them are in this sc'ap. One is obvious. The other is above it and to the right.

One of the Scottish Wildlife Trust's Loch of the Lowes Osplets is standing up now! It even pooped from a standing position. This was from 6/21.

 

Then today I caught these funny looks as one tried to flap while standing. It's feet look like it's water skiing in this one...

Looking good!

And falling back to a sitting position.

 

The White Rock Eaglets are growing like weeds.

I had to get up early on 6/21 and caught some views of the White Rock nest before the IR cam switched off. What an eerie-looking scene!

It's always surprising to see the babies doing these Eagle things. I don't think they are taught to stretch like this, they just do it... Here the Eaglet has its right foot and wing stretched out.

Big Eaglets make a lot of poop!

Look at who I caught on a branch this morning! It was already there when I brought up the cam and was still there when I had to move on to another nest... I imagine it stepped up. That's usually how they first venture onto the branches. Eventually they will hop/flap up and down.