Quite the lightning storm going on at the Sooner Sequoyah nest. I’m seeing lightning light up the nest every 20 seconds or so. Pretty amazing to see for a Californian used to seeing hardly any weather LOL.
Video: About 3 minutes of highlights of today’s banding at the IWS Two Harbors nest on Catalina Island (with a little artistry thrown in for fun).
Earlier today, the second hatchling arrived and joined its sibling at the Whitehorse Yukon nest! Congrats to all the folks enjoying this beautiful new eaglecam and thank you to Yukon Electrical for bringing us this cam!
We saw a pip in the second egg yesterday, and today you can see the chick moving inside the egg, as it works to hatch. The pip has enlarged significantly, so hopefully soon we’ll see the second chick make its entrance in to the nest! Cam: http://www.yecleagles.com/
They plan to arrive today at the nest between 11 am and 1 pm Pacific Time. They will work to get the camera restarted (cross your fingers) and then we will be able to watch live. If you have never watched a banding or Jim Spickler’s amazing interactions with the eaglets in the nest as he gathers them up for banding, it is a very special thing to see! He and the entire IWS crew do a wonderful job! For a preview of what takes place during a banding on the Channel Islands, here are photos from banding of another couple of nests in the past few days on the islands (nests without cams) http://z7.invisionfree.com/CHIL_EagleCAM/index.php?showtopic=8277and of course the link to the cams and chat for today’s events, http://www.iws.org/interactive_nestchat_allUstream.html
Woohoo! The first chick hatched sometime early this morning at the new Whitehorse, Yukon nest eaglecam! This is the first hatch since the camera went live, so big congrats and thanks to Yukon Electrical for bringing us this new cam! I am finding it really interesting to compare the daily routine of this pair compared to nests that are more southern. With such a long daylight period so far north, the diurnal cycle signals must be so different! Cam link: http://www.yecleagles.com/
The IWS crew is looking at doing banding at the Two Harbors nest (1 eaglet) this Saturday, around 11am pacific time. The date/time have not been finalized, but wanted to pass along a heads up. Also the cam there has been down for a little over a week, so I know they will work to get it going when they are there (and should be able to), it may affect their ability to stream the banding live. Lots of “not sure’s” right now, but generally with IWS things do go as planned, so I’ll be ready to watch Saturday! I will update if I get further info or confirmation. (Pic of eaglet from May 3)
One of our blog followers, Pat, did some great research and found some more info including photos of the nest and its construction! It is really cool to read about how the nest was constructed and what inspired the community, as they came to the aid of eaglets who fell from their tree nest in 2006 and how that evolved into the platform that was eventually built and is now used. Here are some links that she found to news stories that help tell the story. Thanks Pat!
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/story/2006/07/04/eagle-rescue.html
http://yukon-news.com/news/winged-migrants-get-new-deluxe-loft-accommodations
http://yukonkirstin.wordpress.com/2010/08/08/birthday-cake-and-bald-eagles/
I wasn’t worried, really I wasn’t LOL. What an amazing thing to watch the chick find its way out of a shell half covered by another shell! That was something I won’t soon forget and was a very special moment to witness. Big thanks to HWF for bringing us this great new cam this year and all who monitor and love this nest. Also thanks to Priscillash who caught the video shown below of part of the process. Looking at just after 30 seconds in to the video, I think dad was actually helping by nibbling the shell a little bit! What do you guys think?
Judy B at the Hancock Wildlife Forums (be sure to scroll back through posts) has posted incredible videos of the Harrison Mills nest second chick who is working very hard to get out of his double thick shell, as a large part of the first chick’s shell slid over the second egg after the first chick hatched. Check out the forum link to see lots more pics, videos and info on this amazing story as it unfolds! The cam and zooming and zoomers are great! Link to cam: http://www.hancockwildlife.org/index.php?topic=HarrMills
