Archive through May 23, 2003
TV ClubHouse: Archive: 2003 May:
Nature Cams (Formerly Eagle Cams) (ARCHIVES):
Archive through May 23, 2003
Lucy | Friday, May 23, 2003 - 02:34 pm     ok, she's back on the eggs, but this is what I just saw a second ago...
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Whoami | Friday, May 23, 2003 - 02:41 pm     I just have to say, she is absolutely beautiful, isn't she? I was blessed and fortunate enough to see a bald eagle up close and live once. It was at a demonstration for a rescue/education group called Hawk Quest. I was in the front row, just a couple of feet from her. She was a rescued eagle, and while the demonstrator talked, she sat perched on a stand, and she was wearing a hood (to keep her calm). Then he said he'd take the hood off for a few minutes, so we could look into her eyes. He took the hood off, and the power and intelligence that radiated from those eyes is something I'll never forget. She was gorgeous. I actually started to cry right there, she was so beautiful. I'm getting goose bumps just remembering it. |
Grannyg | Friday, May 23, 2003 - 02:44 pm     Sometimes the eggs look like they have not changed at all. Then the next time they look like the babies are trying to get out!! Is that because she is still turning them? Who, I miss our Friday nite games and having you to talk to!! |
Whoami | Friday, May 23, 2003 - 02:46 pm     Back at ya Granny! St. Louis is probably starting to get old by now. And those hotel bills! LOL! I'd guess she's probably turning them. Of course, I'm no expert! |
Mygetaway | Friday, May 23, 2003 - 02:48 pm     According to the FAQ sheet on the WDFW site, this should be the 4th batch of Eaglets since 2000. Did anyone (Juju, Hippy, Half, etc.) see them last year or the year before? I can't wait to see them trying to "fledge", etc. It sounds so interesting... |
Halfunit | Friday, May 23, 2003 - 02:54 pm     MGA - this is my first eaglet experience, and I'm enjoying it tremendously! |
Lucy | Friday, May 23, 2003 - 03:04 pm      |
Mygetaway | Friday, May 23, 2003 - 03:05 pm     That's a great story Who!.. I've also seen an Eagle at NorthWest Trek. It's a big wildlife park up near Mt Rainier. They have lots of different animals (bears, birds, cats, canines, forest animals, herd animals, reptiles & insects and wetlands animals) living there inside the park. It is definitely quite an experience seeing them up close. |
Lucy | Friday, May 23, 2003 - 03:25 pm      |
Egbok | Friday, May 23, 2003 - 03:30 pm     LOL Lucy! Egbok eagerly eyed every egglet expecting eaglets! Whoami, I really liked your eagle story and now I have one to share. A few years ago I was on a river float trip in Montana. While slowly rafting through a calm section of a canyon area, there suddenly was this gorgeous eagle just drafting on through the canyon. His wingspan had to be 8' across! I could see his talons/sharp claws, beak, eyes and each feather over his body all so clearly. He was right above us by just a few feet, as if hunting one of us floaters for his dinnertime meal. I was so awestruck by this vision that I didn't even think to grab my camera and take a picture. The event purely was a privilege I'll never forget. |
Karuuna | Friday, May 23, 2003 - 03:33 pm     I have to admit that I am very lucky to live about 1/3 of a mile from a lake that hosts a small family of eagles. I get to see them almost daily on my walks; and every once in a while I see one swoop down on the lake and pluck out a trout. They're much better fishers than I! |
Mygetaway | Friday, May 23, 2003 - 03:50 pm     I swear that egg was moving.. did you guys see it?? |
Halfunit | Friday, May 23, 2003 - 03:53 pm      |
Lucy | Friday, May 23, 2003 - 03:57 pm     Great eagle stories everyone!! I can't believe mom and dad left the nest for that long!
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Rabbit | Friday, May 23, 2003 - 04:09 pm     While we are waiting, I’ll give you my eagle story. In 1996 we bought a house in NE Tacoma on a hill that sits above Dash Point state park and the Dumas Bay bird preserve. These birds we are watching here are about 25 miles away I would guess. When we first moved in, the first time I mowed the yard I looked up and floating about 50 feet above my head was the biggest bird I had ever seen in my life. Of coarse with the distinctive white head I instantly knew what it was but had no idea there were any flying around the city. I went screaming into the house dragging the wife and kids out and they looked up and saw nothing, they suggested I not mow the yard in the mid-day heat. They went back in the house and looked out the kitchen and saw 2 of them circling above the bay. Though it became a quite common sight, I never lost my appreciation for the beauty and majesty of these birds. Now my eagle complaint. Several years the eagles wiped out the entire nesting colony of Great Blue Herons in Dumas Bay. Why can’t huge beautiful birds just get along? At our new house in Portland, we again abut a bird preserve, we have scads of little birds, 3 types of hawks and green back and great blue herons, but no eagles for which the herons are grateful. |
Juju2bigdog | Friday, May 23, 2003 - 04:20 pm     How about this???? Wish I could see it better.
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Mygetaway | Friday, May 23, 2003 - 04:23 pm     I know, I doubled it, but you can't see much..
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Lucy | Friday, May 23, 2003 - 04:27 pm      |
Juju2bigdog | Friday, May 23, 2003 - 04:31 pm     MGA, I first found the eaglecam last summer after two babies were hatched. I got to follow them for a month or so until they flew. Here is one of the very first days they tried their wings in the nest. They did this daily for about two weeks, and then one day they were gone and never seen again. Never.
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Whoami | Friday, May 23, 2003 - 04:35 pm     Boy, I wish we could make that camera zoom! Loving these eagle stories. I attended a wedding in the mountains. Just as the wedding procession began to file in, a large eagle/hawk (don't know which) drifted over the wedding site. For some reason, I took it as a good omen. It just felt like this couple had just been blessed. |
Mygetaway | Friday, May 23, 2003 - 04:46 pm     Cool pic Juju.. I hope we get to see that soon. It looks like they get pretty big before they leave. Great job on pictures today everybody! I thought I'd pass out some refreshments. I think we could all use them at this point, LOL. Your choice if you want alcohol or not..
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Whit4you | Friday, May 23, 2003 - 05:05 pm     Let's induce!!!! |
Mygetaway | Friday, May 23, 2003 - 05:46 pm     BTW, it's 79 here today, 76 where the nest is.. **edit** I'm about 50 miles from Kent. Don't know exactly where the nest is though. |
Halfunit | Friday, May 23, 2003 - 06:06 pm     More useless trivia on the bald eagle: Body Temperature - 102 degrees Fahrenheit (38.8 degrees Celsius) Size - The female bald eagle is 35 to 37 inches, slightly larger than the male. With a wingspan which varies from 79 to 90 inches. The male bald eagle has a body length from 30 to 34 inches. The wingspan ranges from 72 to 85 inches. Bald eagles weigh from ten to fourteen pounds. Northern birds are significantly larger than their southern relatives. Life expectancy - Wild bald eagles may live as long as thirty years, but the average life span is probably about fifteen to twenty years. Eagles sit at the top of the food chain, making them more vulnerable to toxic chemicals in the environment since each link in the food chain tends to concentrate chemicals from the lower link. Eaglet males can fly at about 78 days and females a few days later. Eagles do not have vocal cords. Bald eagles have 7,000 feathers. Eagles, like all birds, have color vision. An eagle's eye is almost as large as a human's, but its sharpness is at least four times that of a person with perfect vision. The eagle can probably identify a rabbit moving almost a mile away. That means that an eagle flying at an altitude of 1000 feet over open country could spot prey over an area of almost 3 square miles from a fixed position. A bald eagle's lifting power is about 4 pounds. An eagle can consume one pound of fish in about four minutes. A typical nest is around 5 feet in diameter. Eagles often use the same nest year after year. Over the years, some nests become enormous, as much as 9 feet in diameter, weighing two tons. The eggs hatch in the order they were laid. Eaglets break through the shell by using their egg tooth, a pointed bump on the top of the beak. It can take from twelve to forty-eight hours to hatch after making the first break in the shell (pipping). Once the eggs begin to hatch, the female's vigilance becomes nearly constant. It is not uncommon for the older eaglet to kill the smaller one , especially if the older is a female, as females are consistently larger than males. And that concludes Eagle 101 for today. |
Grannyg | Friday, May 23, 2003 - 06:15 pm     Half, that was wonderful info. Thanks so much for posting it. Ok, we have to hope both babies are girls. That would be awful if they both didn't make it!! |
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