Eagle Cam 2009:
 

The Eagle Cam at Norfolk Botanical Gardens is getting
ready for the 2009 breeding season.

It appears that the same mated pair has returned to the first nest (they are abandoning the nest of 2008), and are working on it now:


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The camera is being moved and updated with better infrared night lenses and a clearer view into the nest than last year's afforded.

It won't be long now. Everyone is hoping for a better season with less strife and pain, than 2008 held.

This is the main link...


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As MrsD reported in the other thread, the Eagle Cam is up and running. :D

The sticky will make it easier for us all to find and post to.

Thanks, Curious...
 

this will be much easier.

Maybe this season will be less filled with strife, and more
upbeat. (that will mean less posts too).

I'm watching Animal Planet right now and are telling how on another Eagle Cam off the coast of Ca. They see an Eagle swoop down & pick up one chick & drop him then goes back & gets the other. Luckily the ppl found the chicks alive. One had a broken wing & one had a wounded beak. They got medical treatment & when they were OK, they were taken back to that area.
I just thought I'd write this because I am at this site.

Yes, lor.... there was an active video on the net last spring showing that attack! It was really disturbing...fast and deadly looking.

From what I could figure out, is that the Golden eagles sort of had that territory, and as the Bald eagles start to reproduce more successfully there is an overlap and competition for those breeding areas in the Catalina area. What I read is that it was thought that a Golden eagle was the attacker.

It will be interesting to see what happens this year.
I love watching the cams. They are just so moving and fascinating too.

The cam is active, but it has been dark the past two days.
I check it twice a day, just to make sure.

an eagle is visible today...
 

The cam is turned on, and if you go full screen one of the eagles is in the lower right.

The nest itself is really in shadow...I don't know how we will see anything this year? :rolleyes:

I couldn't see a thing...said camera is being adjusted. Hmmmmmmmm

Tried again...can see it now but it needs work! *grin

Finally! I see it! It's awfully blurred though.

working today...
 

The female is on the branch in the lower right...but you
have to go full screen to see her. She is not visible in
the smaller screen.

Light is better today.

I can't remember how to go to wide screen...and I'm clicking on the main link...right? :o

Edit to I got it now...you double click on the picture. *grin

they are working on the nest
 

this morning. Seems they like early activity.

The sunrise is lighting the nest up nicely.
This is a nice tree with long branches, and good for
"branching" when the eaglets get close to flying stage.

Looks like the male brings the branches, and the female helps
a little bit, and mostly supervises.

I went to last year's slideshow, and the first eggs were laid in
early Feb! So the female may be already making eggs.

Yes!! first time I have seen them both on the nest! And so it begins. *grin

Am I the only one with the blurred problem!? Every time I look at the cam it's just way too blurry.

It's blurry for me too right now...but wasn't earlier. :hug:

It is changing daily.
 

If it is windy, it is more blurry.

I have seen them adjust the brightness also, which may help or be worse.

This morning it was off.

It's like I'm wearing the wrong prescription glasses but I know I'm not! Everything else I'm looking at is clear. Hope it focuses better in the future.

The work they've done on the camera really helped a lot! Not blurry today at all.

I don't think
 

I don't think the cam is manned as much when the nest is empty.

Once the eggs are laid, I think there will be a biologist or at least a student on hand to monitor the camera.
I can recall movement and focusing all the thru the day in the past.

The first eggs will be due in early Feb, if they are on time like last season. It won't be long now.

It isn't up for me right now. I wonder if it's sunny there today. Sure is sunny here, but brrrrrrr cold.

this link...
 

This link explains what is going on with the cam:


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alot
 

alot of activity in the nest today.

The female is busy in the nest today.

Eggs are a comin'
She is resting alot. (just like our ducks do in spring).

first slide show is up. And it's windy today!

yes....
 

Today or tomorrow may be the day.

The camera is fixed really close, clear as a bell, and it appears
the female is staying in the nest alot...the egg may be due any minute. And the people at the gardens appear to be watching it closely.

There are some nice things on the new slideshow too!

The Blackwater cam...
 

This cam is in Maryland, and the eagles there have already
laid 2 eggs!


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The cam link:

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This is a "still" cam...refreshed every 30 sec.

eggs at Blackwater...
 

Yesterday, the female at Blackwater left her eggs for a moment,
and I was able to screen capture it.

It is a cute little nest within a nest she has made. And it is in
exactly the same spot (around 5pm on a clock face) as last year's!

I thought people here would like to see it:

I've finally had a chance to look and the picture today is beautiful! Our eagles are so gorgeous. Beautiful sunny and windy day there today.

Blackwater eagle cam 2008 videos.
 

I find it really difficult waiting for the Norfolk eagles to get going.

So I found these videos on YouTube of last year's eaglets newly hatched at Blackwater (which is near by) in 2008.


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This nest had quite a bit of aggressive behaviors between the chicks.
I don't recall seeing that in 2007 at Norfolk.

It is amazing that these majestic birds start off as tiny fuzzy tennis ball sized chicks! The parents are so tender and careful with them!

sitting on eggs in the SNOW!
 

I was looking at the slides of this season at Blackwater...

And found this picture of the female eagle sitting on her newly
laid eggs IN THE SNOW! Notice the snow is not melting on HER because her insulation is so good!

She had just laid these eggs when that storm hit.

The second picture shows the eagles trading off brooding.

We have an egg. She laid it around 4:10 and I was watching. I don't know how to post pictures but it's huge.

Now the fun begins. Wonder how many more she'll lay?

Oh, YAY....
 

I was on Ebay bidding..... drat I missed it.

There is a slideshow on the wvec showing it all.

This eagle has had 3 eggs clutches before.

So we may get 3. But at least 2, I would think.

I knew something was coming...she has been in the nest quite a bit now...expecting it any moment.

this is from the biologist's blog:
 

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I was getting worried there for a while, since this mated pair
had eggs earlier last season.

I just love watching this. It is so interesting and fascinating to see how attentive the eagle parents are.

Thanks for posting this Mrs.D...I was getting worried too. :hug:

2nd Egg!
 

There is now a second egg!

There is a slide show there with close ups. Looks like our Mom Eagle was very tired after laying it, and she seems conked out!

Yesterday afternoon at 5:05pm.

there is now a 3rd egg...
 

The eagles are very busy now.

The female probably laid it yesterday just after midnight (17th).
There is a video on their forum showing her all puffed up and uncomfortable looking at that time.

There have also been fly-bys by unidentified birds, and the
eagles have been very vocal. So I hope we do not get a
repeat of last year's dramas.

So now we all wait... for the chicks!

Blackwater hatching alert!
 

The Blackwater cam is having a hatching of one egg.


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If you click on hatching alert you can see the hole in one of the eggs. The chick will make holes all around the egg and then kick the ends off.

It is really tough timing...they are having a snow/ice storm!

The Norfolk cam is down.

Here is a video posted on Photobucket, showing the Norfolk eagles making a
brooding switch, so the female can eat. This was before the snow arrived.
Unfortunately, the cam is down there now, and we cannot see what is happening.

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In 2007 there was a terrible March storm ..Nor'easter...and the Maine eagles on the National Geographic cam that year, lost all their chicks. So when weather is like this, the parents are really stressed and their skill makes all the difference!

Snow...
 

The snow at Blackwater is DEEP....

here is a screen capture of it. I see footprints across it too.
Today we should see the first chick hatch!

I hope it warms up soon!

edit to add:
The first chick has hatched at Blackwater @ 6:32 am
There is a still picture of it posted there.

The second picture was just posted there...
The chick's first meal.
I guess the snow is not so terrible to the eagles.
It just looks stressful to us! (or at least me)

The second egg at Blackwater has hatched. There are now two
chicks there.

It is much harder to see the action on the type of cam however, but the newly hatched chicks are my favorite time, anyway.

Yesterday there was quite a "fish" layout buffet on the nest.
Sitting on the snow, it looked impressive, left by the male for the Mom and baby! (not like last year when he did not provide quite as well).

those pictures are great Mrs. D. Feel sorry for the eagle sitting in that cold though and yes the fish is great!

So excited about the 3-egg clutch again this year!

Here is an interesting thing from the Blackwater blog:



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I also discovered that I can ZOOM with my view tools in Firefox and make the Blackwater pictures larger...you can see the
little chicks better this way. ;)

Update at Blackwater....

The chicks are eating up a storm. You can see feeding often.
They are cute and growing very fast.


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hint== you can zoom in with "view" tools, a 4xzoom gives a good closeup.