Nest Update May 8, 2013 - MNVicki’s Guest Blog

Hi fellow eagle watchers!

Wow! I have some big shoes to fill with my fellow mods, whose guest blogs you have already seen and were done wonderfully, and talon’s blogs which are an art form itself. So hopefully you will find my information just as useful and I lived up to the standards. 

If you have been watching you have seen the little grey bundles of love up by the rails this week. I just want to assure you that this is normal. I have watched many nests, watched every little grey bundle of love do this. I, like the rest of you the very 1st time they are up by the rails it causes me to catch my breath, to get the little flutter of panic, and yell at the screen to get away from the edge!!! Even though I know that the little ones are as safe as can be. What this raises is the question why? Why are they there? What are they doing? Do they have to be so close? Will mom and dad make them come back? 

First off let me assure you that they are safe. Remember the camera distorts what we are seeing. If we looked straight across the nest instead of looking down the little bundles of love heads would be the only thing we see. Popping up and down playing peek-a-boo over the top of the rails.  Also they are bottom heavy even with full crops. So their fuzzy little bottoms would keep them in. 

So, why are they doing this? They are strengthening their eyes looking out at the world. Learning to notice things. They are also imprinting. Imprinting is watching and learning the surroundings around the nest. Eagles also imprint with their parents since they are the 1st moving object they see. Now is the time they are learning what is in this big old area around this nest. The other reason you will see them by the rails is because they use it as protection. As they grow it is harder for the parent to be in the nest with them. With the coloring they are (the fuzzy grey) they blend into the sticks of the rails and it is harder for them to be seen by predators. 

All of these thing require the little bundles of love to be close to the rails and as much as we don’t like it and yell at them to “get back from the rails” it is an instinct for them to do this. Remember protection and learning. 

Who knows they could be looking at the branches and thinking this is the one I am going to perch on when I leave this nest. Or looking at the river thinking I can’t wait until I get big and catch my own fish or duck. 

MNVicki

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.

Nest Update May 7, 2013 - The Kids Learn to Edge!

Good Evening, Fellow NestRailBuilders!!

Two days worth of vids and pics and LOTS to talk about tonight!

But first I just want to remind everyone that tomorrow nights blog will be by our own MNVicki! It’s very topical to what is happening on the nest, so please don’t miss it! Thanks!

On to the nest happenings. 

Well, it happens at every nest, sooner or later. The eaglets have realized we are watching them. How do I know this?? They have started to play their games with us. The first is always “Scare The Chatters!”. It began Sunday with quick trips to the rails and intensified yesterday with short stays near the edges. Today was an all out effort to drive chatters and mods crazy as Harmony and Peace hung over the edges for extended periods. They would let us relax a bit as they fed but then it was right back to the game. They watched and napped at the edges all day in an effort to get the perchers to post worries in the Social Stream. And it seemed to be succeeding! The chatters were posting like crazy for them to “Get Back!”, “They are to close!”, “Are They gonna Fall?”, ... Well, we can beat the eaglets at this game. If we stop posting all of our concerns they will have no choice but to stop trying to make us crazy! Help us out in this effort to bring sanity back to the Social Stream! If YOU stop posting your worries, they WILL quit the game. I’m sure of it! All of us together can make this a true No Worry Zone. Thanks!

Other than the game we had a short day viewing today. The cam was down as the sun came up and didn’t return us to viewing until about noon nest time. BBC is investigating a battery drain and is working on a solution. In order to conserve power, they shut the camera down early tonight and will wait until approximately 9am tomorrow to bring it back up. This is to allow the batteries some time in the morning to recharge before they need to run the cam. BBC is keeping us apprised of the situation and we will update you as we learn more. Keep your talons crossed for a happy ending.

Mom and Dad fed the kids mostly nestovers until Dad brought home a wiggly northern pike about mid afternoon today. Mom immediately took it to the larder and proceeded to fill crops after making sure it wouldn’t wiggle any more. Harmony and Peace ate with gusto and kept up their strength to continue playing the game. As we waited for the cam to go down for the night the Kirby rays came out to play and it was another beautiful evening on the nest.

Ok, lets start with yesterdays vids.

The kids tail pin feathers have started to come in. 

MNBound Eagles Sprouting Tail Feathers

The babes were under foot so much yesterday Mom ended up standing on Harmony!

MNBound Eagles Standing Room Only

Later in the day Mom dances around Harmony again and Dad chases some flies on the nest.

MNBound Eagles Hey What's That?

And todays vids.

Dad brings home his wriggly northern!

MNBound Eagles Dad Grabs Slippery Fish

And Razzle made a vid of edge behavior during a zoom today. Its a game! I swear its a game! 

MNBound Eagles Edge Behavior

Some random pics from yesterday and today.

Its greening up around the nest area!

Harmony’s wing and Peace’s toes.

Peace’s peruke and Harmony’s pinfeathers on the right.

So, when do you wanna start the game??

Peace in the cool spot by the tree.

Dad and Mom fish wrestling.

Another northern pike for dinner.

Well, this has gotten very long, so I’ll let you get back to watching with this last thought. The game paragraph above is my attempt to inject a little humor into a situation on the Social Stream that should be considered by everyone before they post. Please, if all you have to say when you post is something that will engender worry in another chatter, please think twice before you post it. We can all see the eaglets and what they are doing. Eagles Nests are No Worry Zones. Lets try to keep ours worry free. Thanks!

Thanks as always to Razzle, Bekka and all who contributed pics here and on Facebook. You help make our eagle viewing so much better. And thanks also to BBC for the cam. I hope you work out the troubles soon.

Hope You had a good day on the nest and we’ll see you there tomorrow

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.

Nest Update May 6, 2013 - ArkyAngel's Guest Blog

Hello everyone! ArkyAngel here, and I wanted to share my story of how I came to be a full-fledged eagleholic!

Like many of you, the eagles came to me during a very difficult period in my life. I was emerging from an illness that had left me hospitalized for 9 months. As I began to become coherent, I knew I had a long battle ahead of me and I felt scared and alone. A good friend sent me a link to an eagle cam....and changed my life forever.

I watched from my hospital room on a laptop, often many nurses and even an occasional Dr. would be huddled around watching with me. I became proudly known as the unit "eagle woman." Before long stuffed eagles and posters became part of my scenery. As I watched daily these eagles thrived and overcame obstacle after obstacle. Such brave and strong birds, yet so gentle and loving with their young. I decided I could be a brave eagle, too! I thought of them during painful procedures and physical therapy and found it gave me strength...but more important than that, they had given me hope and something to look forward to each day.

Not having much family, they became like family to me in a way. I read about eagles, wrote about eagles, and got many other patients in the unit watching. All reported an uplifting experience. That is why it means so much to me when we find out that our camera is being watched in hospitals and nursing homes. These magnificent birds played a large part in my recovery and I will forever be grateful to them. At a time when I thought I had lost everything and everybody, they filled such a void! There is hope for us all in nature and we are the hope for the future of nature. It is a delicate partnership, but as we become more and more aware of nature, and especially as the children become aware at an early age, we can learn to coexist with respect and love. Your support in watching these cams and telling others about them is very important.

You just might be saving a life, I am living proof!

Here is a poem I wrote during my illness:

   I Am An Eagle

 Though I am frail

 My spirit inside

 Soars without fail 

Times have been hard

 Sometimes barely alive

But my wings sustain me

And I survive

As strong eagles glide

With wind under their wings

 Although my eyes cry

My heart always sings

When darkness surrounds me

And I want to hide

I just hold tightly 

 To the eagle inside

The daily vids and pics will return tomorrow.

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.

Nest Update May 5, 2013 - Cinco de Eagle in Minnesota!

Good Evening, Fellow SundayNestWatchers!!

I announced this in the Social Stream today and I’ll remind you here, if that’s OK? Tomorrow nights blog will be by our very own mod ArkyAngel. Don’t miss it, I’ll guarantee you’ll love it. 

Sunday on the nest was the way a Sunday should be, lazy and serene. Mom and Dad kept Harmony and Peace trotting around the nest to their next meal and inevitable nap. The kids are almost fully the darker shade of gray that tells us the secondary down growth has arrived.They have reached what I like to call the Peruke stage where they both look like they are wearing barrister wigs. H & P are both are showing pin feathers on their wings and you can make out the main feather tracks where their flight and body feathers will grow in. Just to be clear, “pin” feathers are the sheaths that the main feathers grow out of. They grow in and then split so the feather can reach its full growth. So, pin feathers are not feathers in themselves but the beginning of feather growth, just like hair follicles on our heads.

The kids ate a lot of nestovers today but mid-afternoon Dad brought in a nice big fish that rivaled any that Mom has caught to date. Mom immediately confiscated it and began to stuff H&P once again. Dad dug around in the nest for a bit and then headed out to Stick Depot to peruse the wares. The clown feet we all love are in evidence now. The kids are waddling are around the nest and sticking them out when they sleep. They are growing so fast! Late in the evening the magic hour light was complimented by some zooming by the cam gnomes! Thanks BBC!

Pink light bade the babes good night and sleep tight! 

It was another light day for pics and vids as there was not too much action to record. 

Razzle made a vid of the clown feet phenomena.

MNBound Eaglets Clown Feet

Razzle also put together a Progress Report on our eaglets.

Peace & Harmony have started to show an interest in picking up food; at 2:54 in video Harmony picks up and eats a morsel of food. They are briefly beginning to stand; to exercise their wings & the parents leave them alone for longer periods of time.

MNBound Eaglets Progress Report for May 5, 2013

Clown feet showing big time!

A look at the corner of the nest where Harmony was napping today.

Waddaya think? Can we outrun ‘em yet?

Dad brings in a huge clump of grass and covers the babes.

Mom’s tail as she splits the scene. 

Thanks as always to Razzle, Bekka, and BBC for the wonderful pics today.

Well we start another wonderful week at the MN Bound nest. I can’t wait to see what this one brings in the way of astounding growth by our eaglets. They are way ahead of the curve and I think they will stay ahead in the weeks to come.

Hope you had a nice Sunday and we’ll see you on the nest tomorrow.

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.

Nest Update May 4, 2013 - Vid Updates For May 3rd And 4th.

Good Evening, Fellow VidViewers!!

In order not to take away from jreagles wonderful guest blog I waited until tonight to post yesterdays vids!

The day on the nest yesterday and today was pretty calm and serene. The weather was a bit gray and gloomy but the bulk of the rain predicted did not fall on the nest. Mom and Dad kept Harmony and Peace’s crops topped up and the kids played, slept and PSed to their hearts content. Dad did a cover maneuver when he spotted what could be an intruder yesterday and later in the day lost a stick overboard. We discovered that Peace also has her pin feathers developing earlier than usual just like her big sister. Mom called for Dad for about an hour and when he finally did show up she was a little short with him. She left the kids alone in the nest while she let him know that she was unhappy. Dad then came down and took over nest duties.

Saturday was a very quiet day as befits the 1st day of a weekend. Mom and Dad kept Peace and Harmony so full it was amazing they could move at all. Lots of fish and nestover duck was consumed. Late in the day Mom left the kids alone on the nest while they were napping. After about 20 minutes Dad arrived and proceeded to try to stuff them again. Mom returned later and as usual crowded Dad out of a feeding. It ended up with Mom feeding Harmony and Dad feeding Peace. A good division of labor. As night fell on the nest Mom continued her rearrangements of the Feng Shui and all was calm. 

On to the vids and pics!

The first is of Dad covering the eaglets as something he didn’t like came by the nest.

MNBound Eagles Dad Covers Eaglets During Alert

A good look at the pin feathers emerging on Peace’s wing.

MNBound Eagles Pin Feathers Emerging on Peace's Wing

Mom gets upset with Dad for taking so long at Nest Depot.

MNBound Eagles Feisty Nest Exchange

Dad has an OSD attack that doesn’t turn out well for Mom or the stick.

MNBound Eagles That Stick's Going Overboard!

Screencap from the stick episode.

Dad giving a passerby what for on Friday morning.

Mom and the kids doing wing stretches Saturday afternoon.

Now pay attention! I’m only gonna do this once!

Family feeding time! How sweet is that!

It was a very calm end of the week at the MN Bound nest. We look forward to a week of improving weather as we get deeper into spring and continued growth and merriment from the eagles.

Have a lovely 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.