I blogged about my Orchids in previous posts. And I promised an update. Two of my Orchids are doing great! So, I'm doing pictures of them first:
This is my Cattleya:
Taken on 11/10 showing the buds just coming out of the sheath:
Taken on 11/17, using my finger to show the size of the flower buds:
Taken on 11/21 just to look pretty. This is the first time I've ever seen this orchid bloom:
Taken on 11/21 to show size of blooms:
Taken on 11/21 close-up to show detail -- pretty and fragrant. Looks like velvet:
This is my Dendrobium:
Taken on 11/10 showing flower spike with flower buds:
Taken on 11/17 with one bloom open:
Taken on 11/24 with two blooms open. Pretty, but not fragrant:
My Epidendrum taken on 11/10. Still looks the same today... Not sure what's happening here:
My Mini-Cattleya taken on 11/10. Seems like the sheath died. Not sure why. We had a hot patch of weather while it was still outside and it might have gotten too dry. The Cattleya above was in the same environment. But it might have been better able to handle it since it's a larger plant. Maybe I'll have better luck with this one next year:
And a couple of random pics that were on my camera when I downloaded it... This is one of my Camellias. I love Camellias. They bloom in the cold weather when just about nothing else is in bloom. This particular one has a fragrance too -- kinda spicy.
And this is a regular visitor on my back deck. I had a bag of bird food that was infested with moths. (So annoying.) I put the bag outside so they wouldn't infest my house... Picture is taken through window and screen. Talk about being in hog heaven:
And in Bald Eagle news, it looks like the Northeast and Southwest eagle cam nests will both have two eggs this year. If either nest was going to have a third egg, it would have been laid by now. I checked in on both cams this evening and Moms were on the nest, incubating/sleeping. Seemed really cold and windy at the Northeast nest... And I looked in on the Berry College nest -- no one was home. But that's ok, since there aren't any eggs yet...
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!
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!
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...
Reese posted a new location for Bald Eagle Camellia today. Cammy has been sticking to more rural settings lately...
Pam Monahan has posted 49 new pictures of Bald Eagle HK that she took on 11/10, 11/11 and 11/12! All kinds of different pictures. HK carrying a fish, carrying sticks, in the nest he built, arranging sticks in the nest, in the Osprey nest, perched, eating, flying, taking off, and landing. Awesome job Pam!
Love the "Find Momo" for 11/9 and 11/11. I think the pictures on this site roll off the bottom as new pictures are added, so you need to see them before they disappear!
Been spending my evenings trying to get one of my applications to work on my new computer. I had to go back three older versions to get it to work. What a pain trying to get back to where I was...
While I was without a computer, Eagle On Alliance (EOA) filed an emergency injunction to stop the destruction of Dad Norfolk and DT's nests. Very interesting reading. EOA is really doing some good things on behalf of our Norfolk Eagles!
Bald Eagle Camellia missed a check in when his battery went really low. But then he finally had a check-in on 11/6 and another right on time on 11/9. Azalea's transmitter worked for 1,397 days. So it's too soon for Cammy's to give out. He's only at 1,284 days...
I got my Garden Of Eagles 2014 Calendar in the mail. It is awesome! Debbi (Congowings) never takes any credit for the calendar, but she puts so much work into the calendar and she does such a great job and takes no credit. If you happen upon her, and if you appreciate the beautiful Garden Of Eagles Calendars, please take a moment and thank her!
Of course, Pam Monahan took some new pictures of Bald Eagle HK over the past couple of weeks. He is looking so handsome, just like his Dad!
There is a training update for Bald Eagle Buddy posted on 10/30. He is getting additional training for a couple of upcoming events.
Someone using the name "arbitrage" posted a series of pictures of Bald Eagles on a photography forum. They named the series "Arial Acrobatics". This is an incredible series, and for some reason, the last picture makes me smile. I guess it's just the success factor...
Here's a picture of a Bald Eagle I found on flickr. Posted by Brian Kushner. Beautiful detail! Finding this picture lead me to look at his other Bald Eagle pictures. Very nice set!
I'm back! Having your computer die makes you realize how much you rely upon it. My new computer is so pretty! And it arrived faster than they had promised. Happy, happy! I just hope I didn't lose any people that follow my blog...
Here are Bald Eagle Camellia's location updates:
10/22 exploring Virginia Beach lakes
10/25 Kemps Lake
10/28 does some exploring
10/31 off to a new location
And there is an update on Bald Eagle KE. She is really off on a grand adventure!
The Center for Conservation Biology's (CCB's) Eagle Nest Blog has an item about Libby Mojica attending the Raptor Research Foundation Meeting in Argentina. Libby is responsible for placing the transmitters on Bald Eagles, including Azalea and Camellia. The location data obtained from these transmitters helps to identify which areas are important habitat for Bald Eagles so that conservation efforts can be directed where it does the most good.
There is a star fish die-off happening off of both the east and west coast. They've named the problem the sea star wasting syndrome.
Ice age fossils are being excavated from LA tar pits.
30,000 miles of roads have been built in the Amazon over a three year period. I'm conflicted over this. The Amazon is such an amazing ecosystem that I hate to see the destruction necessary to put in these roads. But the roads are part of the forward progress of the people who live there. I don't feel I have a right to sit in the lap of luxury (comparatively) and demand that they not advance... Hopefully, they can find a way to elevate the standard of living while keeping conservation in mind.
I know I'm late with this. But this is my favorite picture of my girls... So, better late than never! We hope you had a Happy Howl-O-Ween! (l-r Sky, Daisy, Shannon)
I came across one of my older videos the other day. It's from the 2009 Norfolk Botanical Garden nest: Bald Eagles Azalea (HH), HK and HE. It's HK return to the nest after fledging. I love this video! HK is so pitiful -- so hungry. Read my comments on the video before you watch it, so it will make sense. There is also a lot of wingercizing in the second half of the video. It makes me happy to see Azalea in this video. It's been so long now since her transmitter stopped working. I miss my girl! Here's a link to the video. It's 8:22 minutes, but I enjoy the whole thing and am disappointed that it's over when it ends. (This was recorded with my old camcorder, so the quality isn't great. But this is still one of my favorite videos!)
While you sleep, your brain is cleaned of toxins. This includes the plaques that are found in the brains of people that have Alzheimer's. This cleaning process almost stops when we are awake. Read about it here.
Now for some bad news. My computer died. I have a new one on order, but it won't arrive until around November 14th. I'm picking and pecking this paragraph on my Kindle Fire. And I have no idea how to copy addresses of web pages so I can include links. (The two paragraphs above were already composed and saved in my drafts.) So, I'm going to have to experiment and see what I can figure out...
Mike posted a great picture of Bald Eagles Dad Norfolk and DT! They look great and I'm so happy to see them together. Hopefully they can weather this storm that the idiots on the Norfolk City Council are throwing their way.
How about a couple of bee stories? This woman had some honey bees living in her attic. Honey bees are suffering from colony collapse, so they had to try to evict them without killing them. And then there's Hornetgeddon! Look at these giant hornets causing problems in China! These are very aggressive hornets that have killed 42 and injured at least 1600. In the video, they are referred to as the sharks of the insect world. Yikes!
Jellyfish are causing Jellypocalypse! Look at the size of the jellyfish in that first picture.
Here is an amazing story about Swifts flying non-stop for 200 days! You read that right. Non-stop for 200 days. I didn't know that birds could "rest on the wing." I think this is just incredible!
There has been research to answer this question: Do dogs feel emotions? I don't need to do any research to answer this question. But it's still an interesting article...
I like reading about places where humans haven't gone in and destroyed what nature intended. Pristine places. Wild places. Check out Suriname: A Tropical Eden. And make sure you check out the slide show of animals that live there.
I had a friend in town for the past couple of days. We were going to go see the ponies at Chincoteague/Assateague. But we were rained out! We still had a nice visit...
It has been raining so much here, Mike got a picture of a soggy Bald Eagle Dad Norfolk.
We have a couple of location updates. Bald Eagle Camellia is still in Gloucester. And Bald Eagle KE took a little trip into Maryland, then back to Virginia.
Check out the Find Momo from October 10th. It took me a while to find him!
Ron Dudleys Feathered Photography blog has got a male Northern Harrier hunting. He gets some really great shots of a variety of birds.
I'm going to close today's post with something pretty gross and pretty funny at the same time. I really didn't think it was possible to laugh until I was crying while being totally grossed out. Meowza!
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This past weekend was Buddy Day at The Wildlife Center of Virginia (WCV). Ann posted on the Norfolk Eagles Forum about her visit with Bald Eagle Buddy. Here's a link to her post. She has some pictures and a short video of Buddy. WCV also has updated their Buddy Training page to include some pictures from the day as well as the photo montage that they presented as part of the day.
Pam Monahan has a bunch of new pictures of Bald Eagle HK. (I think 14 are from today.) And it has recently come to my attention that she has posted pictures of HK's girlfriend. She is sitting on the same structure as many of HK's pictures. From what I understand, this female has a silver band on her right leg. She does not have the color band with the large letters that the eagles from the Norfolk nest got in 2009, 2010, and 2011. An interesting thing is that the eagles from the 2007 nest only got silver bands on their right legs... The oldest from the 2007 nest is a female. Makes me wonder...
What in the world is Bald Eagle NX up to? I'm not sure if she's coming or going these days. I do think that she's found a place that she likes: Rosier Creek.
Bald Eagle Camellia has checked in. He's spending some time in Gloucester County.
Check out Ron Dudley's recent Feathered Photography blog post about Bald Eagles. He's got a picture of a Bald Eagle eating while in flight. Pretty wild!
Duane has a new post on the Norfolk Eagles Forum of Bald Eagle Dad Norfolk. He's looking good! Duane also spotted the Female (DT or Dirty Tail.)
There's also a new post on the forum by Jim of Bald Eagle HK taken out at Honey Bee Golf Course. He's just got a little bit of a dark eye streak. His tail looks completely white now. Hatched in '09 with Azalea, he should molt the last of these dark feathers and have his adult plumage in the upcoming year.
Pam Monahan has posted 3 new pictures of HK. This time he's in a nest in a tree. I believe this is the nest that he started building last year. I sure hope he finds a good woman and has a family this year!
For some reason, Bald Eagle Camellia was missing some data from on his October 3rd check-in. Here is the blog entry with partial location data that was available. There is a comment in this post about a picture of HK with a girlfriend. However, I haven't seen the picture... Then there is a post on 10/4 that was complete and shows him to be dumpster diving. The allure of a landfill...
Episode five of the Earthflight series was on this past week. This episode was filmed in Asia and Australia and features Japanese Cranes, Swallows, Swifts, Lorikeets, Cockatoos, Budgies, Pigeons and Geese. That's what they advertise. There were also many different raptors and vultures. This was another great episode! You can watch it here. It will be available until October 30th.
Pam Monahan has posted some new pictures of Bald Eagle HK. She's got a really neat picture where I first thought he was coming in for a landing. But he's looking up and if he was landing, his wings would be stretched out to slow him down. And he would be looking down, concentrating on sticking the landing. But with his wings in this position, he's trying to get a big stroke for some big lift. My final answer: He was taking off. Neat picture.
Bald Eagle Camellia is 32 miles away from his check-in point of three days ago. I think he's enjoying this beautiful weather!
I mentioned in my September 24th post that I've got a couple of Cattleya Orchids in sheath. It occurred to me to take some pictures! (My Orchids spend the summer outside in dappled shade. Some get more sun than others, depending on the type.)
About the two that are in sheath: I bought both of these Orchids online (years ago) and have never seen either bloom. So, I'm really excited! The sheath is that rounded bit coming up from the junction of the leaf with the stem. You can tell by the size of the sheath that a big bloom is on its way:
The other one is a Mini-Cattleya. They typically had two leaves per stem and the sheath comes from that juncture. The leaves and sheath are considerably smaller on a Mini-Catt. The bloom will also be smaller. But the blooms on both are supposed to be very fragrant, which is why I bought them. Something else to note: Each year, the leaves should get bigger than the previous year's leaves. I definately succeeded with this one! Which is why it's happy and giving me a flower!
I've also got a couple of other varieties putting up flower spikes. This is a Dendrobium, one of the easiest Orchids to get to rebloom. I've had quite a few of these rebloom. Some of them have flower spikes and some of them put out blooms along the stem, at each leaf junction. This kind has a spike. There's only one spike, but it's still a success for me!
And this is my Epidendrum with a flower spike. This is the first time I've gotten it to rebloom!
I'll post pictures of them in bloom when they get there...
I realized that I never did comment on this past Wednesday's Earthflight. I really enjoyed it. This one covers South America. There are Codors and Hummingbirds. I never realized how big Condors are! In one scene they are among Turkey Vultures and the size difference is incredible. Turkey Vultures are not small and they look tiny in comparison. There are also some pretty Macaws and Black Vultures. You can watch it here. It will be available until October 9th.
Bald Eagle NX is still hanging out at Rosier Creek.
That's it for me tonight. I've had an exhausting weekend. It was a pool tournament weekend...
There is a new training update for Bald Eagle Buddy. He is being more cooperative now that he's tethered.
In my September 25th post, I mentioned the upcoming clean-up of the Stony Creek Metropark. According to this article, it looks like it was the resident female that had gotten caught up in some fishing line. She is alive, but is injured. If you fish, please dispose of fishing line in trash receptacles! And if you see discarded fishing line, please pick it up and dispose of it properly!
Berry College Eagle Cam! It looks like it's a good one to watch already. It seems that every time I check that cam, someone is home:
This photo gallery looks interesting to explore. Nature stuff...
A nesting pole has been erected at Lake Waco (Texas). Make sure you go through all of the pictures that are in a slide show. It says that a cam will be included so the eagles can be monitored. And they will stream it so the public can view it. (So many cams, so little time!) I'm always interested in these stories of man-made structures for Bald Eagles. I'd like to know how well they take to them. Please leave a comment if you are aware of Bald Eagles using a nesting pole.
Bald Eagle NX went right back to Rosier Creek. She is really spending a lot of time there.
Bald Eagle Camellia has also checked in since my last post. He's really been touring around the area!
Bald Eagle NX has left Rosier Creek and has really put on some miles. She was in flight for this check-in. I wonder if she was still on the move... And if so, where was she going?
Shelly would appreciate this picture of a Bald Eagle. It is a really great capture of a bald eagle with a fresh fish. And, there's an action aspect to this picture... I wandered around this site and found a lot of beautiful pictures.
Here's an opportunity to volunteer. Volunteers are needed to help clean up Stony Creek Metropark located in Shelby Township, MI. Recently, a Bald Eagle became tangled in some discarded fishing line. They are looking to do the clean-up on October 12th (with a make-up date of the 13th in case of bad weather.)
