Tuesday, May 09, 2006

Tuesday May 9



Another cool wet day. Be down in DC today so here's an early breakfast shot.

21 comments:

Eagle-Eyed Sharon said...

This was a pretty big breakfast, too. Thanks for the picture Steve. Have a good day!!

NillaWafer said...

TREASURE THIS KING

He's as graceful as they come
A descendent from above
There is no fear nor is there shame
The mountains his nest
The skies his domain

He doesn't borrow, nor does he steal
fighting the forces of nature
to find his next meal
But he's in serious danger
with all the power that he obtains
His life may soon end
because of senseless human gains

Please treasure this king
respect as you may
He's the almighty eagle
of the U.S.A.

Eagle-Eyed Sharon said...

Nilla, that was absolutely beautiful. I have always had such a respect for eagles but nothing like the respect I have now.

NillaWafer said...

Thanks i was having trouble with this blog site earlier but here is the web site i found searching around this morning www.baldeagleinfo.com i hope you enjoy alot more eagle poems to read also. Have a great day, Nilla

Eagle-Eyed Sharon said...

12:35 P.M. It looks like one of them is sunbathing. Stretched out across the nest. That is so cool. Nilla, that site is so interesting. Thanks for that.

Anonymous said...

I think Mr. InBetween and Spunky are trying to learn to perch today! But they don't last very long. BigBoy has it down, though.

NillaWafer said...

Watching Mr Big perched on the edge also, wont be long he will be testing those wings of his. Seem's like they are waiting on lunch from mom n dad..lol Sharon i hope you read some of the stories about other bird nest, there is one with apicture of a huge nest in an old tree and a story about the mother. Many interesting facts on that site. Looking at the cam live and they all 3 are looking directly at the camera what a wonderful picture. Well back to work but have live cam up in the corner of screen..lol

Eagle-Eyed Sharon said...

Nilla, I am a transcriptionist and I keep the live cam up on the corner of my screen all the time too.

NillaWafer said...

Jean Keene, known as the "Eagle Lady," has been living in a campground on the Homer Spit since her relocation to Alaska in 1977. Jean began feeding a pair of eagles on the Spit shortly after her arrival. Jean worked for a seafood plant where she had permission to gather surplus and freezer burned fish for the eagles. After ten years, more than 200 eagles were coming by Jean's place for breakfast. At age eighty-two, Jean still loads the fish into barrels and then into her pickup for the short drive home. Before she doles the fish out to the eagles, she chops them into smaller chunks making it easier for them to carry. Currently, Jean feeds 200 to 300 eagles about 500 lbs. of fish daily from late December through mid April.

Beginning June 1, 2006, the "Eagle Lady" will be the only person who can feed eagles within Homer city limits. Jean Keene received a special exemption from the Homer City Council which passed a ban on feeding eagles. She will be allowed to continue feeding the eagles until 2010.

This is amazing go to the web site www.baldeagleinfo.com to see the pictures of her with hundereds of eagles!!

Anonymous said...

It's chow time again! Hey Nilla, thanks for the website. I can't wait to check it out when I get home tonight. Unfortunately, I'm supposed to be working right now!

paula eagleholic said...

I keep it up all day too at work...Wow, what an extended feeding, went from one end of the nest to the other....When mom was done at the closer end of the nest, she went to the other end, where it looked like Big Boy and Mr Inbetween were trying to eat something on their own, and she fed them that too. All three of 'em should be stuffed and ready for a long nap!

NillaWafer said...

Today after i leave work im going to drive over to try and see the nest since i live in Martinsburg. I also am at work and always have the live cam in the corner, thank God im my own boss and can't get fired..lol They had a big snack awhile ago and just been lazy in the nest besides flappin wings now and then. They take their first flight at around 10 - 13 weeks so girls our childern will be experiancing that real soon . I just hope we dont miss it!!

Eagle-Eyed Sharon said...

Nilla, let us know what you see. I wish I lived that close. I am in the southern part of WV (Bluefield) so it wouldn't be quite that easy for me but boy would I love to. Be sure to look for the big boy perching.

NillaWafer said...

Hey Pete my guess would be to line the nest and maybe make it softer? But Steve can answer that question, i did read in the site i left in other post that 40% of eagletts dont make it taking the first flight.. Sad now to think that could happen, but i guess apart of nature. Big Boy sure has taken up perching at the end of the nest for long peroids of time now.

Mema Jo said...

There are times when I have a difficult time distinquishing between Big Boy & Mr/Ms Inbetween. Especially when they both have their backs to the cam & are perched on the side of the nest. I am thinking that I see a more slender bird in Big Boy then I do in Mr/Ms Inbetween- Any thoughts? I can still site Spunky as the coloring hasn't completely darkened. Past 2 days has really been great for feedings. I am wondering why at 7pm the fish the adult brought in wasn't eaten except by the adult? None of the eaglets seemed to be hungry unless the adult told them Not to touch. Let's hope all 3 first flights are successful - I did read that if the young land on the ground that the adults will still feed the eaglet.... I am hoping that the first flight just takes them out to a branch on their tree that is in view of the cam! Like all of you - I'm fearful of missing it!

NillaWafer said...

Sharon i didnt make it over some family things came up so nothing to report..lol One question i hope Steve can answer is how can you tell the difference between male and female eagles? I read it today in that web site but cant find it now..lol Something about the way their beaks are formed or size? With as big as they get i sure wouldnt want to try and find out. LMAO Have A Good Evening Ya'll

Eagle-Eyed Sharon said...

Okay, here is a little info I just got off of eagles.org about being able to tell the sex of the eaglets and their sizes as juveniles. I thought it was pretty interesting.

The size of the juvenile bald eagle is remarkable in that it is actually larger than the size of the fully grown adult bald eagle. This is because the plumage of the juvenile bald eagle is actually longer and thicker than that of the adult bald eagle. The adult bald eagle is more streamlined with fewer and shorter feathers than the juvenile. This streamlining contributes to the more graceful flight of the adult bald eagle. The longer feathers tend to make the juvenile eagle a bit clumsy in flight.



Male and Female
In terms of coloring, male and female bald eagles are virtually indistinguishable. At all stages of life, the male and female cannot be told apart except generally by size.

An adult male bald eagle generally measures 3 feet from head to tail and weighs between 7 and 10 pounds. The male's wingspan is about 6 1/2 feet. As with most birds of prey, female adult eagles tend to be larger than males and can weigh as much as 15 pounds, with wingspans up to 8 feet. The scientific term for this size phenomenon has come to be known as reverse sexual size dimorphism.

The difference in size is generally accurate for predicting the gender of a bald eagle. After eaglets reach about 12 weeks of age, scientists can tell whether a bald eagle is male or female at well over 90 percent accuracy by measuring the ratio of the bill depth to the length of one of the talons (the "hallux claw"). Especially for younger birds, the only way to tell for sure is to examine the bird surgically

Mema Jo said...

Here's another way to tell sex:One way to determine the sex of an eagle is to examine its beak. Females have deeper (distance from top to chin) beaks than males. The info came from the Beakspeak,Cambridge, MD Bald Eagle, AmericanBaldEagleInformation-Nesting & Young. It also gives good info on the first fledging. At least the more you know - the more you pick up on when watching. I think we have 2 females and 1 male(Big Boy). All a guess as we can't get close enough to examine their beaks & don't think we will do a surgical exam! Right? We'll take what we have.

NillaWafer said...

From an Eagle's View

Have you ever wondered what it's like to fly free,
To see the world as far as the eye can see,
To view the surroundings from high and from low,
To hear only the sound of a distant echo,
To float in the air with the wind being your guide,
To admire many rainbows that the trees tend to hide,
To see the misty mornings over a beautiful mountaintop,
To glide over a flowing river that never seems to stop,
To watch the animals from over a mile away,
Or to rise above the treetops that glisten in the day?
If you were an eagle you would wonder no more,
For it can see things you have never seen before.
Next time you look into the sky of blue,
Think of what it's like from an eagle's view.

Weds May 10th
Good Morning Ya'll thought it would be nice to start this beautiful morning off with a poem, i found very beautiful, just think our birds will be soaring soon. Have awonderful day, Nilla PS Please be sure and check out this web site its fantastic www.baldeagleinfo.com

Anonymous said...

Welcome skrichba! Isn't this great fun and educational at the same time? The eaglets have not been officially 'sexed'. I think each of us came up with a set of names, but BigBoy, Mr. InBetween, and Spunky identify them pretty well, and seem to be universal now. Since the mortality rate for eaglets is 50%, we've all been rooting for Spunky (#3 to hatch) since even before he hatched! I've checked out books on Eagles from the library, and am fascinated by learning about them.

paula eagleholic said...

Skrichba,
Big Boy is the eldest, Spunky is the "Littlest" (youngest), and Mr Inbetween is the middle child. We don't know what sex they are...I can't remember who came up with those names, but they do seem to fit.
Quite a few of us here are hooked too. We have watched from egg laying till now, and all of us "parents" love these beautiful birds, and watch our "babies" daily.

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