Wed. May 31

In DC all day and just had time now to check in. Big storms this early AM, and the weather is supposed to moderate.

Sorry for the continued issues with the live cam. I'll be at NCTC tomorrow, so I'll pursue a better fix. Next thursday night is an evening lecture series program at NCTC. If you come out for the show, this time on Green Infrastructure, featuring my colleague Mark Benedict at the Conservation Fund, you'll be able to get a great view of the nest. More info at training.fws.gov then click on events and Conservation and Community.

Tuesday May 30

A hot one today. Live video feed should be up shortly.

more later.


UPDATE 1:13 PM: Live feed is back up

Sunday May 28

Summer's here and the live cam is staying up. Hope everyone gets out and does something this holiday weekend.

Friday May 26

Lots of speculation on the comments about first flights. I'll ask Karen here for her thoughts.

more soon.

More May 25

Looking like rain here...

more later.

May 25

Here's the picture from the article in today's Washington Post showing George and Martha.

Tuesday May 23

It is an amazing day here weatherwise--truly a bluebird day in West Virginia. A deep blue sky, 53 degrees and a 35 degree dewpoint! Was in the 30s this am!

Our eagles are very active.

A few questions from Sunny:

"A couple of questions: Are the adults still beak-feeding the eaglets? And since the adults aren't on the nest very much any more, is one always in sight of the nest, or are they 'out and about' all day? Thanks for educating us!"

The eaglets tend to be helping themselves nowadays. About 9:15 this AM one of the adults brought in a fresh fish, and they all started in on it. The other adult even came in for a minute or two to get a few bites. Regarding the adults, there does always seem to be one within a few seconds of the nest. Often they are perched in the sycamore nest tree or in an adjacent tree.

Monday 22 May

Lights, Camera, Action.

Back from NE and see that the cam is on. Great work NCTC Folks.

More later.

Friday May 19

Hi Folks,

Here's the latest on the webcam problems:


From: Karen Lindsey
Sent: 05/19/2006 12:49 PM
To: Steve Chase
Subject: Eagle Cam

Hi Steve,

It appears that there is some problem with the camera at the tree end. We
went to the bottom of the tree today and could not get a video signal on
the portable monitor. John and Mike are thinking on it, and if they come
up with any ideas, we'll give it a try.

K


Folks, we will do everything we can to get this thing going again. Please bear with us.

Wednesday May 17

Here's a late Post from our Land Manager:


"Our eaglets are 9 weeks old this week. As you can see, they have replaced
most of their downy feathers with the darker juvenile body and flight
feathers. This transition between the down and the juvenile feathers must
be complete before the eaglets can be successful in their first flight.
Bald eagle research suggests that this transition takes place between 10
and 12 weeks, depending on the eaglets themselves, their general health,
and their diet up until this time. The NCTC eaglets have had very loyal
and attentive parents who have brought ample food for all three eaglets to
survive and develop. A good sign that fledging is nearing is the increased
activity by the eaglets--flapping their wings, jumping up and down, moving
about the nest, sitting on the edge of the nest, etc. However, they won't
attempt flight until their feathers are ready. At that point the parents
will begin a behavior of enticing the eaglets out of the nest. They will
do this by not bringing food to the nest for the eaglets, but rather flying
nearby with food in their talons and calling to the eaglets. Soon, the
eaglets, out of hunger and in response to the parent's call will begin
flapping vigorously and take their first leap into the air. Most eaglets
fly a short distance and make a clumsy landing either in a nearby tree or
on the ground. Wherevery they land the parents will reward them with food
immediately, and continue to feed and encourage them to fly. If an eaglet
lands on the ground, it is important to get back in the air as soon as they
can so they can be safe from other predators on the ground. Our eaglets
have been demonstrating lots of wing flapping and jumping, so they are
nearing the time of fledging. However, the last two broods from these
parents have been fairly close to the 12 week mark. I don't expect them to
fledge for another couple of weeks, but it could happen. Keep your eye on
them, and if anyone sees the first fledge, please be sure to let us know
through the website email or the eagle cam blog."--Karen



Also, I've been looking at the web statistics for the cams and they are impressive. More than 1,000,000 visitors and over 17 million hits on the sites. Folks from 50 countries have looked in on our eagles including Peru, China, New Zealand and India.

Will be out of the office the next few days, but will be checking in.

Tuesday May 16

I'm trying to get the status on the live cam. Still not working...


Update 5:00 PM--Still not working, my apologies...I'm in DC the next few days, but will still try to track down the problems.

Monday PM

Things have dried out a bit here. Lots of speculation as to when the oldest eaglet may finally fly. I too have seen him lift off a little in the nest, but I still think we have a few weeks to go for a full flight. It will be the oldest's 8 week birthday on thursday.

Wet Monday May 15

Live video is on, and the rain looks like it's moving on, although the forecast is for showers through Tuesday. Seems like our eaglets are getting used to the rain.

Tried to get a picture posted but blogger is all clogged up. I'll try again later.

Sunday May 14

Live cam is on...

Forecast is T-storms this afternoon.

Saturday May 13

Drying out after more rain last night.

Friday May 12

I have been out of the office again today, so I just took a quick look at the site and caught one of the adults bringing in more twigs with leaves. I know that folks have asked if we could explain that. My only guess would be that it is just normal maintenance of the nest and that leaves are easier to get now than dried grass.

On other questions--we do track how many hits we get on the eagle cam site and the live video site. I don't track the blog stats, but that's really secondary. I'll get the cam data and let you folks know how many people are watching. I think that number is a large one.

We'll also get a status report from our land manager next week.

Weather is pretty good right now, but more storms may be headed in tonight.

Heavy Weather Thursday

Wow. The cold front came through about six this evening, with wild winds and heavy, heavy rain. One of the adults got down in the nest and helped the trio ride out the storm. As said in the comments, they did look like a bunch of drowned rats. I too was worried that one was missing for a time, but by 8:30 or so you could again see all three.

Thursday May 11

Three wet, but tough, little eagles.

Wednesday May 10

Another bright sunny day here. Live video is up.

more later.

Tuesday May 9

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