Eaglecam

[slybot]

Re: Eaglecam

Talk about Eagles and vehicles.
Just recently we had to rescue a damsel in distress(okay my wife) from the inlaws place out west.
There is a lot of road kill on the side of the road from Semi-trailer drivers who drive during the cool of night.
I happend to be in a vehicle doing an excess speed(double limit) along isolated highway, when we broached a corner
with fresh road kill in the middle of the road. There was about 30 or so Kitehawks feeding off the dead kangaroo carcass. I think that was the clearest closest view of a Kitehawks rectum I ever saw. He clipped the top of the passenger side windscreen. He lived to tell the tale. I saw him flying away. I bet he told all his hawk mates "those humans are literally a pain-in-the-@ss."
Kitehawks are a large bird. Thier wingspan covers across the windscreen of a vehicle.


l

hey neo, wouldn't that be wedgie's?

[Iowatech]

Re: Eaglecam

I have to give kudos to the guy who safely caught the young eagles.
I don't know if you've ever handled anything like this, but years ago I had to help my mom free a red tailed hawk from some electric fencing it had gotten tangled up in (they are birds, so sometimes they can be bird brains). I have roughly a six foot wingspan, but holding the hawk's wings fully extended they went past my hands by around six inches per side. Also, while the hawk was groggy from getting zapped by the fence a few times, it still had the presences (sp?) of mind to reach out with its talons and rip a chunk out of one of mom's boots.
So while a zoned out hawk can be somewhat difficult to handle, young eagles that have achieved flight are larger than a hawk (most likely quite a bit larger), so it couldn't have been easy to collect those two.

[blackcat4866]

Re: Eaglecam

I was pleased that D19 and D20 are OK. The statistics aren't good though. Only 1 in 5 eaglets reaches adulthood. =^..^=

[Iowatech]

Re: Eaglecam

Looks like two of the young eagles at the Decorah site just went through some tough times, one down with a broken wing and another down with starvation issues. It sounds like the third one is doing OK, though.
Luckily, the two having problems were caught by a place that takes care of injured raptors, and while the one with the broken wing is going to be there for a while, after eating three entire quails the other one was fitted with a transmitter and let go.

[Iowatech]

Re: Eaglecam

Even Rudy, the young eagle from the Alcoa site has taken off, so all the sites currently show empty nests.
I'm a little disappointed with the Decorah site, back in the day that camera could pan to the right and show where the young eagles would normally perch when they first fledged. There's actually a pretty large branch over there.

[blackcat4866]

Re: Eaglecam

D20 left today. No recording posted yet. I'm sure somebody is digging through today's footage. =^..^=

Here it is:

[slimslob]

Re: Eaglecam

I can't help it. I just can't stop watching the birdies. =^..^=

That's normal for a cat, isn't it?

[blackcat4866]

Re: Eaglecam

Great News!

D18 and D19 have both fledged today within a few hours! And gracefully, too!
Here are the YouTube links:

D18

D19

D20 is still at home.

I can't help it. I just can't stop watching the birdies. =^..^=

[Iowatech]

Re: Eaglecam

One of the young Decorah eagles was jumping around and flapping its wings for short flights across the nest this afternoon. One of the short flights had it land right next to the camera. Heh, talk about "eagle eye".
Once they start jumping around in the nest like this it won't be long before the young eagles start flying to nearby branches, and then off on their own.

[Iowatech]

Re: Eaglecam

If you notice that D18, D19, and D20 are shaking their heads a lot, it's because they have a bad case of lice. Earlier today the camera operator focused in close, and you could see them crawling with white lice. The eaglets are two weeks overdue for their first flight. =^..^=

The long, harsh winter is probably why the eaglets haven't started fledgling yet.
After seeing the Alcoa eaglet jumping around a few days ago I'd guess it won't be too much longer before these three begin also, though. That's pretty fun to watch. Stay tuned.

[blackcat4866]

Re: Eaglecam

If you notice that D18, D19, and D20 are shaking their heads a lot, it's because they have a bad case of lice. Earlier today the camera operator focused in close, and you could see them crawling with white lice. The eaglets are two weeks overdue for their first flight. =^..^=

[Iowatech]

Re: Eaglecam

If you have a problem with motion sickness, avoid the Alcoa tree-top cam right now. It must be pretty windy there at this time, and that camera is on a different (and apparently less sturdy) tree.
The Decorah cam was down for a while earlier, but it is back up now.

[Iowatech]

Re: Eaglecam

I don't know if you're taking a look at the Alcoa eagle cam, but yesterday that young eagle was practicing flight by jumping around while flapping it's wings.
Also, a few minutes ago a small bird (looked like a wren or something similar) landed in the nest. The small bird was there for a couple of minutes and then left. The young eagle then looked towards the camera as if to say "What?"

[NeoMatrix]

Re: Eaglecam

The chicks haven't taken long to grow to fledglings.
They only hatched a few months ago.
Time certainly gets away....

[Iowatech]

Re: Eaglecam

Looks like you've checked the Eagle Cam more than I have, thanks for the updates!
From what I've seen in the past, you're right - it shouldn't be too long before the young eagles start taking short flights to the branches near the nest. As this camera wasn't used that much last year (the adult eagles nested in a nearby tree then, according to the info here they apparently do that every once in a while), I hope it can still pan out to those. I haven't seen it do that yet, but I may have missed it.