Good Evening, Fellow SeleneGazers!!
That big round thing in the night sky, our nearest neighbor the Moon, is at its closest perigee of the year tonight. That makes for what the press is calling a Super Moon. What it means in reality is the moon looks a few percent brighter and a little bigger than a “normal” full moon. If you can, step outside and take a look. You won’t see it any closer until next year. And speaking of full moons, was just me or did we have a kind of crazy day on the nest? It started with the cam being down until almost midday. We infer that Harmony and Peace had an adequate breakfish in the morning because the nest looked like they had a pillow fight with mallard feathers.The warmest part of the afternoon was taken up with naps and guard duty and the kids were squeeing for a food delivery around 3:15pm. The cam again left us in the dark for about an hour and a half so we never found out if the food showed up. After it came back up we had a small panning session (Thanks BBC!) and it seemed like the kids were just as hungry as went it went down. About 7 in the evening Peace decided to see if Mom and Dad were close from another perspective. She flalked ( a combo of flapping and walking) up the tree trunk and found a perch on Dad’s patio near the cam mount. She came back down after about 20 minutes and a short while after had a 2 round wrestling match with Harmony. Shortly after that Peace again went up the tree and stayed for about 40 minutes. During her second stay some chatters said Mom made a delivery of food and Harmony got it. I didn’t see that as my feed froze at that moment. After Peace came back down the second time Mom again brought a small meal and Peace scored and consumed that one. Peace went back up the tree after eating but was seen to return to the nest before it became completely dark.
With all this tree climbing and extended stays away from the nest the mods gathered, consulted and voted that Peace had branched. We announced it in the SS and rejoicing was heard. Some chatters felt it wasn’t a branch since it didn’t involve any airtime to get there. We searched and searched and nowhere could we find that “branching” has to be preceded by a short piece of airtime. Cornell, CCB, and RRP all agree that it is a change of position in the tree or area of the nest away from the confines of the nest that matters. Nowhere does it say that an eaglet has to fly the get to the new position for it to be considered branching. So the how isn’t important just the change of position and the fact that it happened are. Hope this clears up some of the confusion.
On to the pics and vids of the day!
Harmony and Peace have a squeefest on the nest
MNBound Eagles Squeeetastic
Rugby rematch: two rounds, no clear winner but Peace ahead on points
MNBound Eagles Peace & Harmony Go 2 Rounds
Peace climbs the tree and makes history
MNBound Eagles Peace Climbs Branch & Leaves Nest
And a selection of lovely pics of the day!
I can smell your Saturday BBQ from here! Got any leftovers???
Did you know the kids left gum under the picnic table??
I'm feeling lonely already!
I've never seen this side of Peace before!
You rebel!
Well, if you wanna be a chicken, stay here!
I hope you had a lovely Saturday on the nest and were able to see the Super Moon when it rose tonight. It was pretty spectacular! And for all those who say strange things don’t happen at the full moon check the ER’s of America. They’ll tell you something strange is going on!
Well, here’s hoping for a calm and “Peace”ful Sunday and we’ll see you on the nest.
TalonStrike
If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to post them below or in the chat room. Also, we'll be updating our official MN Bound LIVE Eagles Facebook Page regularly so you can follow along, like, or share with your friends. We have several site moderators this year to help give optimal information to all that want to learn more about these magnificent birds.