20 February 2024
Good Morning Everyone,
Monday was a holiday – Louis Riel Day – in Manitoba. Oh, everyone loves a long weekend especially when the weather is fine.
It was gorgeous weather, and loads of people people were at the nature centres making bannocks, at the Festival du Voyageur, and at many other celebrations across my city. My blog is ‘thin’ today because I wanted to spend as much time outside as I could! Walking is so much easier when the sky is blue and you don’t have to wear a jacket rated to -40 C!
After doing the daily ‘cat and bird chores’, I headed off to the nature centre for a long walk in what snow remains. It was -2 C, and lots had melted. There were so many people that the birds and deer had escaped to quieter parts of the park! Then, it was home to clean the cat’s teeth, check on the nest at Eagle Country, and see if ‘The Boyfriend’ was about. He has been missing since Friday. There he was this morning – he must have gotten locked in someone’s garage or found a steak dinner elsewhere. What a worry. When I left the nature centre, I did not feel very hopeful for little Meadow.
As I write this, I am closely watching the Eagle Country Nest of Abby and Blaze. It is true – we cannot ever take anything for granted. Our friends and family have heart attacks and die quickly and we didn’t even know they were having issues. Meadow went from a lovely eaglet on a nest where both were being fed nicely to a full 24 hours of rain on the nest, little food, and an irate Swampy. Meadow has not had much to eat for at least 24 hours at the time I am writing this and then, the miracle we all hoped for. Swampy got full and Meadow was fed – from roughly 4:32pm to 4:55 pm. This is a huge relief. I really thought we might lose this little eaglet.
Swampy eating.
Meadow being fed after Swampy goes into a food coma.
Thank goodness, Meadow had a good meal. Swampy was back bonking hard at 1734.
Ah, I am just not a fan – a believer that the species should cooperate to thrive.
Still, Abby and Blaze are amazing parents and Meadow had at least two good feedings on Monday. Tears of joy.
Hatch is in progress at Superbeaks. That great microphone has picked up the cheeping of the eaglet. The banner says it is coming from egg 3. As I write this, we are 37 hours since the pip was first seen. Will there be an eaglet when I wake up? And will only one egg hatch? We wait…there is a lot of waiting with raptors!
And that little one was free of that shell this morning. Congratulations Pepe and Muhlady – you have a baby! We hope it thrives.
At Little Miami Conservancy in Ohio, Bette has laid her first egg of the 2024 Bald Eagle Season. The time was around 15:35ish.
It was a relief to see Gabby and Beau both on the nest at NE Florida Monday afternoon. I had started worrying about Gabby.
Not sure what to do about that egg. Looks at it, incubates for a bit, and then goes up to the Sunset branch.
No eggs for Talon and Stella at the University of Florida-Gainesville campus.
Annie is feeling the love at The Campanile.
At Great Spirit Bluff, Julie might be wanting to win the affection of Newmann since Savannah is no longer with us.
It is difficult to watch Cal with Lusa’s body still on the Captiva Eagle Nest. On Monday, Connie arrived early, at 0717 with a nice whole fish, which her and Cal shared. Clive arrived around 0900 with another fish that Connie fed to Cal around 10:35. Nice to see fish coming in on the nest…stay away from the birds and the rights, alright?
Part of the day was spent exercising those big wings.
Liberty and Guardian have two eggs and the streaming cam is back on line!
It looks like Harry did such a good job last year that Sally thinks they can go for three in 2024!
Good news for Albatross lovers.
Hatch is in progress at Superbeaks.
Cameras are up and running in the Channel Islands.
Fraser Point: Home to Andor and Cruz.
West End: Home to Akecheta and Thunder. It is a little wet there on Monday. Incubating three eggs.
Two Harbours: Home to Chase and Cholyn. Still on Highlights.
Sauces Canyon: Home to Jak and Audacity. Incubating one egg. Still looks good. Raining there. Lots of nesting material!
Let’s move over to Big Bear Valley with Jackie and Shadow. Pip watch is now 9 days away…that’s right. Thursday the 29th. Will there be 10,000 people watching?
I don’t know about you, but I hold my breath every time I see those eggs. Send all positive energy – every bit of it, please.
Rain started. Jacki only takes a second to get a stretch and back on the eggs. They are being ever so careful.
The eaglet at JB Sands Wetlands can easily be seen now. Thermal down is appearing along with the mohawk!
At Port Lincoln, both fledglings are doing well. Here is today’s posting of Giliath’s tracker.
An article in The New York Times asks if the demise of the dinosaurs allowed our feathered friends to flourish.
We are expecting egg 3 at Farmer Derek’s Bald Eagle nest if it is to happen and egg 2 at Berry College today.
The Girls wish everyone just a fantastic day!
Thank you for being with me. Please take care! We hope to see you soon.
Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, images, videos, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post this morning: ‘H, J’, LouisRielDay.com, Eagle Country, Little Miami Conservancy, NEFL-AEF, UF-Gainsville, SK Hideaways, Ashley Wilson, Window to Wildlife, Sharon Pollock, Moorings Park, Holly Parsons, Superbeaks, IWS/Explore.org, FOBBV, JBS Wetlands, PLO, and The New York Times.
