Saturday

Heading up to CT for a couple days. Will keep checkin in.

New thread.

Friday

New thread.

More News

Here's the latest on the eagle delisting from the Post.

Also, check out my Children and Nature Journal blog here, and if you like it, please spread the word.

Thursday

New thread.

DC Event

Got this email today. This is a public event for all folks interested in bald eagles.

"The Endangered Species Program invites you and your families to attend an event at the Jefferson Memorial on Thursday, June 28, 10 am, announcing the delisting and recovery of the bald eagle.

Secretary Kempthorne will make the announcement, followed by remarks from several key partnering organizations. From 10:30 to 12 noon, booths staffed by WO Service programs and other agencies/organizations including the National Park Service, National Wildlife Federation, Environmental Defense, American Eagle Foundation, and Earth Conservation Corps will offer family activities. In the event of rain, the event will be moved to the Yates Auditorium at Main Interior.

This remarkable achievement is the culmination of many years of hard work and cooperative efforts with private and public landowners, States, Tribes, non-government organizations, and industry. Now, it is time to celebrate."



Also, one our our Shepherdstown eagles is currently on the front page of the US Fish and Wildlife Service website. Check it out here--which one is it? In addition, download the video, which is a compilation of video shot mostly here at NCTC.

Wednesday

New thread. John is still assessing the damage to the cable.

Some more pics

Just got these pictures from my friend Mark. Shows a rather crappy pic of the eagle we saw and a shot of me and my friend Pete looking at eagle perched in a beach tree.

Tuesday

Sorry about the last post. I have a couple of blogs and for some reason that post got on the eagle blog instead of the Children and Nature Journal blog. It's funny, I posted it and then didn't see it on the other blog and wondered where the heck it went...

We are investigating the cam problem.

We think it may be the farmer has run over and damaged the camera cable. John will check it out.

Monday News

Rich Louv spoke at the Outdoor Writers of America Annual Meeting in Roanoke a week ago, and I expect articles will continue to trickle out on the importance of connecting children to nature.

The San Francisco Chronicle posted this piece yesterday that does a great job of framing the issue.

In far-ranging comments, Louv described how a child's outdoor adventures -- or lack of them -- can affect his or her development. He said that a promising future can still be shaped:

-- Youth health: "The increase in diabetes and heart disease is because kids are growing up not moving. When you look at discussions of child obesity, you never see nature mentioned. They (parents) send them to the gym, but you look at adults, and gyms are not doing the job that well for them either. The greatest increase in child obesity in history happened in the same two decades as the greatest increase in organized sports in history."

-- Child development: "How does nature shape child development? Take attention deficit disorder. Kids exposed to just a little bit of nature get better. The attention span seems to lengthen. Could it be that the huge increase in kids on anti-depressants is because we took away the calming effect of natural experience?"

-- The education bounce: "Schools with kids with nature testing do better across the board, 27 percent better in science testing, than a kid in a cubicle. If we really care about education reform in United States, we would have a campaign called 'No Child Left Inside.' "

-- Integrating outdoor education in schools: When I told Louv of my proposal to Gov. Schwarzenegger to require outdoor skills curriculum in schools, he responded: "In Denmark, outdoor education occurs year-round. Kids get fewer colds and flu, and academic scores are higher."

-- The video impact: "Video games are the new rock-and-roll. I don't think they are the spawn of the devil. There are other factors, but video games and television are seductive ...

When I saw Rich at the end of last week, he said that 10,000 copies of his book had been sold last month alone. It is a hopeful sign that this issue continues to heat up as more people become engaged.

Monday

New thread.

Sunday

New thread.

Saturday

New thread. Happy weekend.

Friday

In DC this am for yet another meeting.

New thread. Photo by Suzanne.

Thursday

New thread. Was at a recption at the National Zoo last night for the new National Forum on Children and Nature. We met in the Panda House, Secretary Kempthorne was in attendance, and we got to "hang out" with the Pandas for a couple of hours.

Wednesday

New thread.

Tuesday

Hot hot hot thread.


Check out this article. We have been working hard on the subject of children and nature and this is great media coverage of this very important issue.

Monday

Gonna be a hot one thread.

Sunday

New thread.

Update: just got back from running the Shenandoah staircase whitewater kayak run in Harpers Ferry.

Didn't see any eagles this time, but we saw the biggest granddaddy osprey I have ever seen. He was fishing right over our heads, and must have had more than a six foot wingspan!

Saturday

New thread.

Friday

New thread.

Post from one year ago

June 14, 2006:

From a post by Sharon at 6:41 this am:

6:41 a.m. He is at the lauching pad. Been moving his wings a little bit, trying to get up the courage. Just back over to 9 o'clock and did a little poop shoot and then back to the lauching pad. Lightened that load a little bit! Oh my God, he just spread his wings out, he has the look. Nope, folded them back in! Doing a lot of flapping all over the nest. Back at the launching pad, looking around. Just moved a little closer to the edge. He wants to really bad! He is so close to the edge, his head gets out of camera range sometimes. He keeps spreading his wings out like he is going to and then back in. It is 6:50 now. A little head bopping going on. Camera freezing up a little bit. Wings back out. Now back in but head still bobbing. My heart is racing. Head keeps going out of view. 6:56 a.m. Wings back out. 6:58 a.m. SPUNKY HAS FLEDGED!!!

Thursday

One wet eagle thread, photo by Suzanne.

Wednesday

new thread, photo from Suzanne.

Tuesday

New thread.

Monday

New thread. I'm trying to pin down the cam problem...

Here's an update on the status of the Bald Eagle.

Sunday

New thread, back from the west.

Update--took this photo early friday of a mother moose and her yearling with the Grand Teton in the background.

Saturday

New thread, bloggin from Pearl street bagels in Jackson Wy.

Beautiful day here, sunny and cool.

Friday

New thread, with a rather crummy shot from my Macbook cam of the Murie cabin, a National Historic Landmark in Moose Wyoming. Slept there last night.

Thursday Night

Live from Moose, Wyoming, a new thread.

Wednesday

new thread.

Going to Wyoming tomorrow for a couple of days. Will try to keep things updated from there.


Our eaglecam team met eysterday and we are planning our cam updates to occur sometim e in July. More on this later as we finalize plans.

Tuesday

Picture from one year ago.

Second one this AM, by Suzanne.


new thread.

Monday

New thread.

Sunday

The storm on friday night blew out our internet all weekend. Just came back up.

New thread.

Couple more ST. John River Shots

Some new shots sent from my friend Phil, who flew out from Montana to join us on the trip.

Friday

Thanks to Suzanne for her continued early am vigilance to get shots of our eagles visiting the nest. They seem to be coming in around 5-5:30 AM every day. We have not been seeing them as much during the day.