Blog Update September 12, 2013 - Cam update, Mod Adventures, And An Ostrich Cam

September 13, 2013

Hi Eagle friends and Cam fans!

I have started about 4 of these blogs since the last one I posted and never managed to get any of them up due to work and other untimely distractions. I do apologize for that and will try to update you on what has been happening on the nest and on the Net.

Nest news- not much to tell there. Harmony and Peace seem to be off on their adventures and Mom at least is still hanging around to keep an eye on the old homestead. She was spotted on the nest on Labor Day weekend and has been heard in the neighborhood several times since. On the Tuesday after Labor Day several chatters (bdog, dibberdobs, jutebox judy, pckrbckr, and mnbutterflygirl) along with our own MNKarenAnn took a roadtrip to the nest area and had a great time. This was the bookend to the trip they made to The National Eagle Center in Wabasha in August. They spotted one adult near the nest that flew off away from them and saw what looked to be our juvies circling high above. Unfortunately no close-up shots were able to be taken. They did go into the nearby town and saw some more juvies there. They tell me that a great time was had by all. They even brought cheetos just in case. The pics from both trips are posted on the MN Bound Chatters Facebook page.

The cam server spent most of the last month going to the fair. It started out at the local county fair for a week and then moved to the Minnesota State Fair where it broadcast the doin’s in the 4H barn at both fairs. I saw a few of those and found them interesting as I have not been to the fair in more years than I care to count. We hope to have the cam back up for the Chat on Saturday but I ain’t makin’ no promises. Hope you can join us in the chat on Saturday from 1-5pm CDT.

During the Saturday chat on the 17th of August we were made aware of a cam that was watching an ostrich egg about to hatch. Naturally being bird cam geeks one and all we went to check it out. The egg had pipped and you could hear the chick peeping inside the egg. Things were pretty calm during the day on Saturday in the chat and the SS but come evening time the site was posted to several sites where some of the more unsavory elements of the Net reside. These, for lack of a better word, trolls then proceeded to take over the chat and SS and chaos ensued. As Dash, the owner of the cam, had not anticipated the site going viral or even being popular he had not asked anyone to mod for him. The trolls came from all over and there was no let up to the chaos until Sunday morning when some of the mods from here and many of the other nest cams finally convinced Dash that he needed moderation on the cam to restore order. Our own Bekka and Eaglessoarfree were among the first to draw their BanHammers and start to clean up the chat and SS. In a remarkable show of cooperation and comradeship mods from over a dozen nests came running when they heard the call for help and after several hours of continuous pounding order was mostly restored. I arrived rather late in the game as I sleep on the west coast but there were enough miscreants still around that I was kept busy most of Sunday. In the midst of the chaos a beautiful new ostrich chick was hatched with help from Dash and Dash’s daughter named it Pipsqueak. Everyone took to calling it Pip and that’s the name that stuck. Late Sunday evening I was the last “Blue Meanie”, as the trolls called us, left in the chat and Dash contacted me to give him some help and pointers on running with moderators. I was glad to help him get on track and to make a long story shorter most of the mods from here, a few from here before the transition and several from other cams are now modding at the ostrich site.

Unfortunately poor Pip only survived a week after hatching. She succumbed to an infection and malabsorbtion of the yolk sac. Not to be deterred Dash went to an ostrich farm on Labor Day weekend and acquired 3 more eggs to incubate and hatch. They have been in the incubator for 12 days now and are expected to hatch around the 12th of October. So if you are looking to chat with us and a lot of your friends from the MNB nest please drop in at the Ostrich Egg Cam and set a spell.

Some pics of Mom on the nest on Labor Day weekend.

Where is that man?? The nest needs mowing!!

Who are those weirdos out on the road? And why are they waving orange bags at me??

The nest area circa. 1950. Notice the lack of pond that didn't come into being until the late 90's.

Well, this has gotten long and it’s late so I will end it here and say adios until the next time!

Have a great day and may all your hatchlings fledge!

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.

Stand By

August 21, 2013

I think I feel a blog coming on! And it may not be what you think, either!

Nest Update August 5, 2013 - More Good Things!!

August 6, 2013

Good Evening, MNBEagleFiends!!

Well, I promised you guys a blog and here it is! It’s tough to write one of these when my muses have “flown the coop” so to speak. But I’ll guess I’ll give it the old eagle nest try! We saw a fair bit of action in the week between the last daily blog and the cam shutdown. All of Razzle’s vids from that week are in the post below this one, starting with the oldest first. Harmony and Peace are having fun learning new lessons in Survival 101 and Intermediate Flight Tips 206. They have also been exercising their vocal cords squeeing for Mom or Dad to bring them some cheetos or another tasty treat. Even when they were far away from the nest they could be heard yelling at anything and everything that crossed their path. Hope they learn to be quiet sometimes so they can sneak up on their prey!

We had a great chat session on Saturday last and Peace even put in an appearance for us at the beginning of it. She flew off after a bit and we chatted and waited for someone to grace us with their presence. Wouldn’t you know it the nest was empty until 2 minutes after we closed the chat for the day. Dad showed up and posed for us for a bit and BBC was kind enough to keep the cam up until he left. It was good to see him standing still after all those hit and run food deliveries.

On the last day of live cam LovebirdsJGA set up a Facebook page where all the chatters can keep in touch while we are down. It’s here: MNBound Eagle Viewers. It is a closed group but all you have to do to join is click the “Join” button and one of the admins will add you to the group. It’s a good place to hang out and remember all the great things that happened during the season.

Lovebirds has also posted all of her screencaps for the season here: MN BOUND 2013 NESTING SEASON. There are a ton of pages there and it may take you until the cam comes up again to see them all. She also made a movie of some of them: LOVE BIRDS - A PHOTO MONTAGE. It’s a large movie but well worth the wait for it to download. Thanks, LovebirdsJGA, for all the hard work you have put into the Facebook page, the photo archive and movie. You have made us all that much richer.

We hope to have the cam up for next Saturday’s chat but for the 3 weeks after that the server that brings the cam to the net will be at the local county fair and the Minnesota State Fair streaming a cam for the 4-H barns at the fairs. BBC does this every year and its one of the reasons why BBC has to shut down the nest feed every year. Also, BBC hopes to go up the tree in early October to retrieve the cam and refurbish it for next years season so we will be without the cam on the Saturday chats for however long that takes also. But we look forward to having full functionality back after the cam is replaced in the tree and it will be good to have a clean dome to view through again.

In case you haven’t noticed BBC has been bringing up the cam when the kids are on the nest. It has happened a couple of times and we hope it continues to happen. You can see the vids at the Ustream page of what they happened to catch on the nest. Thanks BBC, we love it when you do that!!

Razzle made a vid of Dads appearance on Saturday and we have a couple of scaps from the day also.

Dad shows up late as usual. Could you make it a bit earlier next week??

MNBound Eagles Dad Takes a Nest Break

And some random pics.

Don't look at me, kid! I'm outta gas for this year!

Guess I'll have to find Mom to go get it!!

Let's see, new carpets, a power wash, higher rails next year and she wants a new deck. I better get my order in at Sticks Depot soon!

No Grandpa, I ain't falling for the "Pull my finger" trick!!

Well, it's been fun writing one of these again. Maybe I’ll do it more often! LOL

Thanks as always to Razzle and BBC for the pics and vid.

I’ll see you on the other nests and next Saturday right here at our Home Sweet Home nest!

TalonStrike

P.S. Pass the word to all your eagle friends I got off my nest and posted another blog. Thanks!!

Videos for the week of July 22-28, 2013

July 23, 2013

Just a place for the videos from the last week of the cam for 2013.

And the last vid of the year by Razzle! Thanks Razzle! Couldn't have done it without you!

Nest Update July 21, 2013 - All Good Things.........

July 22, 2013

A semi-final Good Evening, EagleFriends!!

So, how do you start the beginning of the end of the daily blogs for this season?? Do you talk about the 43,852 times the mods answered the question “Did they eat today?” Do you talk about the greatest chatters in the world and how this nest would be nothing without them? Do you talk about the mods (I used up all the superlatives last night) without whom this cam and chat could not exist? Do I bow down to Mich989Razzle whose superb videos and pictures made this blog the best thing around for catching up on the days doin’s on the nest? Or do you thank Broadband Corp for bringing us the cam and getting it up the tree in the first place? Or maybe thank MN Bound for their sponsorship of the cam, this blog, and allowing me to bring you a little humor along with the eagle news of the day?

Well, I think I’ll do all of that and more!

It may have been only 43,851 times. I lost track midseason.

The chatters at MN Bound are the BEST! We only have one rule here, as opposed to many other chat rooms that have pages of them, and you guys took it to heart and made this a great place to mod, chat and blog. Thank you for “Being Nice!”.

The mods. What can I say to Bekka, Firetruck, mibirder, ArkyAngel, Riverroadraptor, MNKarenAnn, and Eaglessoarfree? They are the best group of mods anywhere and will continue to be now and next year when we do it all again. I love you guys!

I must also acknowledge the contributions of the mods that started the year with us and couldn’t be with us after the transition that was made mid-season. MNVicki, Gretch, jreagle, GazGeorgia, Reenie, squirrelmama, Pinkabbie and graycsam I thank you for helping us get the season going and I do wish things had worked out differently.

What do I say about Razzle? She has worked harder than any of us to bring you and us the BEST instant replays and screencaps on the net. This blog would not exist in its present form without her skill and her accomplished eye for the best highlights of the nest action. Mich, you have my undying thanks and admiration. I look forward to doing it all again next year.

Team Broadband Corp. The best cam team bar none. In this third year at this nest you have outdone yourselves again. We look forward to an even better year next year with night vision and a windscreen on the mic. Thank you for all you have done this year under, at times, trying circumstances. The Best Cam On The NET™ will be even better next year.

MN Bound. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to display my middlin’ literary skills in this blog. It has been a blast writing it and I hope we can do it again next year.

What else can I say except we have some plans for the future that are being discussed and we will let you know about them here and (hopefully) during our weekly chat sessions that will start soon after the cam goes down next Sunday. I will try to do one blog a week to keep you updated and maybe look back over the season that was. Please keep checking here and at the cam on Ustream to see what’s going on with our eagle family.

Speaking of the eagles, the last couple of days have been pretty sparse as far as sightings go. We see them in the mornings as they get up for the day and then they disappear except for short visits to the nest. It must be a busy world for our two juvies learning how to fend for themselves. They look healthy and vigorous and are adapting well to their newfound freedom. I hope you’ll all stay with us until the cam goes down to watch their progress.

We have two vids and a selection of pics from yesterday and today.

In a vid from yesterday Peace decides to see just how deep her gullet is.

MNBound Eagles Peace Eats Bone