March 21
Over the weekend, we were able to confirm the presence of a third adult eagle near the nest, and we are almost certain that it is a breeding age female. Typically, the presence of a new female means she is competing with the established pair of eagles for the current nest. Nest competition is a common occurrence in areas with healthy eagle populations, meaning the total population of eagles near NCTC has likely increased in recent years.All I can add to this is to thank you for your concern, passion and understanding that intervention in this episode was not the right thing to do. Things don't always work out the way we'd like in nature, but I think we would all agree that we have gotten a rare glimpse, these past few days, into the world of bald eagles that most people do not see or will ever know about. The fact that we have competition such as this is speaks well for the recovery of the Bald Eagle, a species that was nearly extinct fifty years ago.
We have also confirmed multiple sightings of the male eagle who is part of the established breeding pair. The male does not appear to be injured, and appears to be in good health. The eaglet which hatched on March 17th has died and the remaining egg is not likely to hatch given that it is not being regularly incubated by the parents.
We do have biologists on staff here at NCTC who have been offering their expert assessments of the situation. In addition, our land manager has been communicating with another raptor biologist based in our Chesapeake Bay field office. There is general agreement among our biologists that if the new female eagle is successful in chasing off the current female, the new female will then need to recruit a male to join her. However, it is likely too late in the nesting season for success in laying, incubating and hatching any new eggs.
You may wonder why there is competition over this nest - and there are several potential factors. Eagles prefer to nest in the tops of large trees located near rivers, lakes, and other wetlands. The NCTC nest is located very close to the Potomac River, which is a plentiful source of fish for nesting eagles to hunt. In addition, eagle nests represent a considerable investment of effort to construct: they can be up to 10 feet in diameter and weigh up to 2,000 lbs. And finally, as mentioned above, nest competition frequently occurs in areas with a significant eagle population.
New thread.
1,077 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 1001 – 1077 of 1077KATHI....BELLE IN NEST WITH FISH. CHOWING AWAY! AT LEAST I THINK IT IS BELLE.
Wow just swallowed the tail! Kewl.
Another article in the Charleston Daily Mail today talking about the death of our little one.
http://www.dailymail.com/News/201103211175
Whoever it is looks very strong and very healthy!!
Does my heart good to see Belle and chowing away.
Good morning everyone!!! Not much sleep last night for coughing, but feeling some better this morning.
Praying for Delphia that her results from the biopsy come quickly and are benign.
Seem I cam in just in time to see Belle arrive with a floppin Wushi! It is really good to see her tear into food like this.
Hopefully it is our Belle!!
I think it's Belle...
Iris, glad you are feeling better. Hope the coughing does not linger.
Looking around now off the back and sides of the nest
Boy, that fish disappeared fast!
Yea, that's Belle. Her beak wound is either healed or hard to see in the sunlight today...plus can't see that much of that side of her beak the way she is in the nest.
Is she looking around for more?
What I would give to see Lib land in the nest about now.
Not sure if she finished all of it or not.
that shadow at about 10 oclock...is that someone in the tree?
That is Belle in nest.
Unless female intruder has left the area Liberty won't come into the nest.
Ha ha, fish just twitched...not gone yet.
Thanks Lolly, my hubby hopes it doesn't linger either. I'm sure it disturbs his sleep too.
No Iris, that is the now cut off tree trunk
Off to the right...didn't hear anything land in tree or see tree shake
Iris if you check out the pics in the album, you'll see that cut off trunk. NCTC trimmed it off because it was decaying...they did that this past fall.
You're kidding, Paula! It twitched?
Dern cam! Did not see Belle poof! The cam is stopping for me at 14 minutes!
I couldn't tell if the fish was twitching or my eyelid was !!
or both !
nice big fresh breakfast either way
Thanks Paula, I did notice that in some of the pictures posted yesterday and meant to ask about it. So it was decayed. Is the rest of the tree in good shape? That nest must weigh at least a ton!
We need eyes on the ground to truly know what is going on.
As to where is Belle, where is female intruder and where is Liberty. If there is any air attack going on or chasing intruder off...only eyes on the ground can give us this information.
They could call someone like I did so comments could be wrote. Even done like Paula, Megan and Lori did wrote their own comments while there.
I liked your "mug" Lolly, and I really like the Sun ☼ also
okay, will drop in later...
xoxoxo
I can sit and read the news aobut Belle eating. Yep Thats A little good news today Thanks for posting.
Gosh if I htought I didn't have to watch Belle get attacked I might even turn the still cam back on.. I am changing my name to chicken blogger not that anyone will actually notice :-). Well actually you will think its a new blogger and check my profile.
Your thought: OH its that nut from IL Glo.
My second thought: But she does try , she really does.
Belle I do hope there is also some rest behind that food. Not sure its gonna be a restful day but even some and nourishment feels better.
I think they may have started actually nesting here so late because this intruder was already in the area. Probalby tried to drive her off then. Woos skippe dout for shelter during storms whiel Belle sat, and then showed up with a vengeance on the chick was here and Belle was distracted. Hmmm
The tree is decaying, Iris.
Mine stopped around 14 too
Good friends of ours lived in Japan for about 5 years. Did a lot of traveling around. Stayed at an inn one night and ordered dinner to be delivered to the room. Food was brought, the waiter lifted the lid to have the food approved. The fish wiggled! Russ tasted it and approved it!!!! They were very proud that their kids did not say anything. LOL
Thank you so much, Lolly! That is definitely a bright spot in my day!!! hoping for more good news today!
Wish I lived closer, I'm crazy enought to spend the time at the nest right now - and stubborn enough to return if they chase me out !!!!
Oh yes, Glo! We would know when
Chichen Blogger came on! lol
My wish exactly!!!
Anyone else lose the live feed?
Nevermind, finally got it back, took 4 tries
Is anyone else's live cam down?
Of course, I AM unemployed - no hubby - daughter grown - not disrespecting anyone! Oh, and my cats just wait until I return - perfect opportunity - another reason I don't like Massachusetts! TOO FAR AWAY
Yes Paula - I am going to refresh
and pray it returns.....
i am on the live feed
Paula
cant say much about sound but the little things are blowing in the breeze
Restated and it is running - can see some leaves moving.
Mine went down, too. But, I have it back up.
Have to leave and eat a bit of breakfast and then put on my "street face" to go get my do done.☺
Be prepared! Things happen while I am gone.
Refreshing did the trick!
Sorry I was so busy in album that I didn't say
Good Morning to Everyone even our Lurkers ( : Carol (at work) if your checking on blog Hi!!! Up high on that Mountain!!
y'all definitely know where I am when I say I have "Live Feed"
Hope all is well, really cannot study the post right now
xoxo
Seems like sound is off and on today, but NCTC has an automatic refresh for the sound, so it will come back within an hour..could be sooner
Good morning everyone. I'm not even going to try to catch up.
The live cam is stopping at 14 min and when I refresh I got a blank screen with the circling arrow. Took several more tries to get but finally did. Hear thekids.
?? How do you recognize Lib? I think that was Belle in with the fish, but....
Is there a raptor behaviorist? That's what we need. Someone with some answers.
Nest is empty and so is my stomach.
Have to eat to take my pain meds. It's going to shoot something from the sky - I can tell.
Have a good day everyone. ...later
Hello all. Hope you are having a great day.
I just did a quick scan of some of the most recent posts. I see DTHB was in the nest. How DARE she do nestorations!
I'm glad Belle chowed down on a fish.
I plan on going to the nest this afternoon. I will try to give a picture of what is going on. I've only been watching since last season, so I'm not good at identifying the eagles. Hopefully I will see something useful.
How far past the NCTC entrance is the pull-over area? I'm assuming it is on the right.
We just pull over in the grass along the road on the right just before the corner.
Pam, it's only a couple of hundred yards. You'll see the nest right in front of you.
PA Nana: Belle has a notch, and upside-down "V" on her throat where the white feathers of her head meet the brown feathers of her chest. When they are in the nest together, their size difference is enough to tell them apart (males are smaller in the raptor world), but of course Liberty hasn't been allowed to be in the nest for at least a week.
Minnesota cam is up!
Minnesota Bound Eagle Cam
floralgirl, Paula, and Bird Girl - thanks for the info. :)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
GooD MorniNG, aLL !
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
So, if I've read the commentary rightly, the intruding she-devil has been back a couple of times this morning, but Belle has driven her off. Belle is probably perched above the nest now....
Is that about right??
C(°Ù¿°)D Jim
Iris, thank you :) Hope you continue to steadily improve!
PA Nana, I forgot to mention, there are folks from NCTC and FWS watching what is going on this year, as every year, and Steve (from NCTC) does pass on info when he can. Several of us also have contacts elsewhere who have experience and knowledge with the eagles, and have sent messages to them to get their take on things (me included). Hope that helps :)
Pam, can't wait to hear your observations! Also the observations of the experts you guys have contacted!
Geesh at least they could make it 20 minutes again...only got 12 that time.
Okay folks, at the risk of being ostracized by the group....
I realize that the intruder female's presence caused the usual order of things to be disrupted, but she is only doing what she is programmed to do. She doesn't know any better. We should not hate her for following her instincts.
We don't know that the second egg was DEFINITELY going to hatch, and we don't know that PJ was DEFINITELY going to survive, even without the other bird's arrival and interference.
Let's just hope that all the adult eagles live unharmed to reproduce another season, whether it's Belle & Liberty in this nest, or Trudy & Liberty or who knows??
We should all be grateful that there is competition, because it means there are more eagles...and we nearly lost them, not that long ago.
Having said that, I sure wish Trudy would move on.
Lynn, are there eagles or owls this year? I tried it about a month ago and it was still down.
Looks like an eagle in the MN nest. The description says the nest is only 3x3 in diameter...doesn't sound very large!
Does anyone know how large our nest is?
We know that she is just following her instincts Delphia :)
We just wish she would find some other nest to pick on!
New Thread is up. Go for it.
NCTC says 6ft diameter....I say it looks more like a 5 X 7...sure wish they would measure it next time they go up.
NEW THREAD FOR TODAY
COME ON OVER
Thanks RED for mentioning
New Thread is up!
I don't know how or why, but every year the O.'s at BWO come up with some strange action, which nobody can sort out.
Looks like the new pair there is making good progress though.
C(°Ù¿°)D Jim
Good day everyone, been trying to catch up on my droid, hands being difficult today, thank goodness ins approved my remicade infusions 100%.
I see intruder is back and once again moving sticks around, I also see someone already said Trudy will be nest owner? Tell me not true and it was a noobie making comment.
I am going to fire up the espresso machine and make a cappuccino then I will try and finish the last 125 posts
Another article---Good!!! BUT:
contrary to this line: The viewing community is "particularly upset at the father, Liberty, for keeping his distance"....we true momsters ARE NOT !! We know our Lib is doing what he can, when he can.....and if it's true that he wouldn't interfere in female/female strife, then he's being a normal eagle. WE LOVE YOU, LIB!
** Costume Lady said...
Geula, if you are still on here...our Pastor is in the Holy Land right now on a tour. Can hear bombs or gunfire or both. We a very concerned for his safety. Can you hear anything?
Tuesday, March 22, 2011 8:02:00 AM
**
I think it depends where you pastor is...There are some serious demonstrations against Assad in Syria, not far from the Israeli Jordanian border. The other place that there may be a problem is in Gaza. The Israeli planes have done some retaliation after a large number of rockets were shot at the south of Israel. I don't think there's really anything to worry about...there's no war here or anything! Just "normal" every day stuff!
Sorry it took me so long to answer...I wasn't home
Catching up again...
Yes, Lolly, I WILL get another dog....older...in the not too distant future.
Paula, I could tell yesterday that Belle's beak was MUCH improved. Probably wouldn't even be noticeable if we didn;t know how it looked before!
Eagles, Paula, at MN Bound!
Delphia, how did things go? You feeling okay?
Hi, Jim---yep, that's pretty much how the day has been.
Pammie, hope you get some good shots!
Lily is very intent on taking that cam out. She is being successful!!!
12:07 AND 12:08 IT WAS STATED
N E W T H R E A D
G O O V E R TO
N E W T H R E A D
Jo-Lowreeda's nesting eagle.
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