Friday, March 30, 2007

Friday



We had an early briefing with our new Deputy Director and we had the TV in the conference room on the live feed. The eagle pair showed up 10 minutes into the briefing and stayed the whole time, distracting all of us for the remainder of the meeting.

New thread.

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Tuesday

Big doings here this morning. I drove in to see our eagle pair perched above the nest.

Steve Wunderley caught me as I came in and said that he observed the pair mating ealier this AM. Steve says that that is a very good sign for another clutch. No guarantees, but steve said it is promising.

Steve also said that this is a very unusual pair of eagles, and we should expect the unexpected.

Update:

If there was some success, we should see an eggs or eggs in about a week.

Monday, March 26, 2007

Monday

New thread. Guess we're on eagle watch here at NCTC to see what the next move will be.

Saturday, March 24, 2007

Saturday

Had a bad feeling with all of that rain.

Still a chance that they will lay more eggs, but we'll see what happens.

New thread.

Friday, March 23, 2007

update

We've all been watching today's nest action. We are figuring the restless behavior of the female is due to one of two things.

First and hopefully, She senses that an egg will soon hatch.

Second, and hopefully not in our future, is that she is sensing that the eggs are not going to hatch and she getting ready to give up.

Keep watching.

Friday


New thread.

Thursday, March 22, 2007

update


Two eggs.

Thursday

New thread.

Update:

Here is an excerpt from the NU Webcam (now called FirstLight) on egg viability that may be relevant to our nest this year, keeping in mind that they are talking about a Massachusetts nest:

"During incubation, the adults must keep the eggs warm and dry as exposure to rain and snow can chill and kill the developing embryos. Late snowstorms have resulted in the failure of many Massachusetts eagle nesting attempts, most notably the April Fools blizzard of 1997 which dumped up to 20 inches of heavy wet snow across the western half of the state. That year, four pairs of eagles nesting along the Connecticut River, including the pair under Eagle Cam, all failed to produce chicks. The snow that built up on the nests melted and collapsed around the eggs and the adults were unable to keep the egg cup warm and dry."

Hopefully our eggs here have not been impacted in a similar way.

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Update

The have been questions about egg viability/hatching times that Steve W. and I will try to address for you.

Normal incubation period is about 35 days, although a few sources say longer, up to 45. We think that the cold weather during incubation can have an effect on the eggs that could add several days onto the normal incubation period. This could explain why we don't have another hatch yet. We have likely exceeded the time period that we saw a hatch last year.

With that in mind, the days are ticking off, and we think if we do not see a hatch by the end of the weekend, we may be facing egg viability problems.

Bent says this:

"...He gives the period of incubation as 34 to 35 days under normal conditions, though interrupted incubation may require a somewhat longer time. "

Let's wait and see.

Wednesday


New thread.

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Tuesday

New Thread.

We're up at Yale today digging through the papers of renowned writer and FWS employee Rachel Carson, who was born 100 years ago this year.

Monday, March 19, 2007

Pics from the Storm








Thanks to Jo for the pictures.

Cam is up

Monday

New thread. Here is a reprint from the comments the other day. John estimates the battery is up near 12 volts, and it needs to be 12.6. He'll head out after 12:00 to check the system at the tree.

Good Morning Eagle watchers. I feel your frustration with the NCTC Eaglecam this year. We also are unable to see the cam on campus. It seems the battery keeps losing it's charge. To give you a heads up, Mike & I (John) have worked on this project from the beginning. Last month during 20 degree weather, and high winds we replaced a failed microwave transmitter 100 yards from the tree onto the side of the barn. So cold we couldn't feel our finger tips. Steve purchased a new battery, which was replaced early in the season. He also purchased a new solar controller, which we replaced. We also verified the voltage on all 3 solar panels. The solar controller will cut off the load (camera & microwave feed) when the voltage drops below 11.4V, then will reconnect the load when the battery is charged up to 12.6V We don't want to replace batteries at this point, due to scaring the eagles off the nest. The live feed problem is not here at the NCTC, but network security implemented at the department level. Mike has been working closely with the department to get this corrected. Anyway, I feel and see your frustration, especially when reading the comments in this BLOG. I assure all of you, we've all worked hard to try and provide this service to you.--John NCTC

Saturday, March 17, 2007

Saturday

Back from the city through the storm. New thread. The cold weather continues to takes its cam toll, apparently.

Thursday, March 15, 2007

Monday, March 12, 2007

Monday




New thread. Mike tells me one of the eagles was on a limb looking right into the cam.

Friday, March 09, 2007

Friday

I'm in Wyoming today. It is warmer here than in WV.

New thread. Hopefully we'll have a fix for the cam soon.

Monday, March 05, 2007

Monday


New thread.


We're looking into the access problems that several folks let me know about.

3/18/24. Different days, same results.

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