Drama on the Horizon?

Overnight photos of a Great Horned Owl at the Norfolk nest were captured by Joe Foreman. For those who have watched it does explain some of the alert posture being noted especially in the evening hours at the nest. Here are a few photos from last night, early Tuesday morning.

Here is some information I have gathered in relation to Great Horned Owls and Bald Eagles.
General information: Great Horned Owls do not build nests, but they will use the old nests of hawks, herons, eagles, and crows. They mostly use nests that were used by the red tailed hawk and regularly take over active nest of these species. Owlets have been known to be raised in the corner of an active bald eagles nest. There are usually 2-3 eggs laid from early January to February. After hatching the young owls often spend 10 days to 2 weeks on the nest protected by their parents until they are capable of fight.
info from

http://www.whozoo.org/Intro2001/verlcole/VBC_GreatHornedOwl.html
The Great Horned Owl is widely distributed throughout North America. From the Arctic, where it is almost white in color, the bird ranges as far south as Florida, Texas and Mexico. It often lives in deep pine, hemlock or spruce woods broken by hardwoods, and uses old nests of hawks, herons, crows or squirrels. Great Horned Owls may also displace bald eagles from their nests. These owls may begin nesting as early as February, even in northern parts of their range, and it is not uncommon to see the birds incubating eggs during snow storms.
http://www.acorndesigns.org/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=473

and the following info from
http://www.fcps.edu/islandcreekes/ecology/american_bald_eagle.htm


Great Horned Owls sometimes compete for eagle nests. Owls breed before eagles do, so they try to move in before the eagles get there.
Great Horned Owls and mice also nest in the lower parts of a big nest made by eagles -- even when the eagles are using it!
Because of their size, adult Bald Eagles have very few predators. Some animals which attack eggs or nestlings include squirrels, Raccoons, Ravens, and Great Horned Owls.
Crows, which don't like any raptors, will harrass (bother) eagles, but rarely do any harm.

Great Horned Owls sometimes compete for eagle nests. Owls breed before eagles do, so they try to move in before the eagles get there.
Great Horned Owls and mice also nest in the lower parts of a big nest made by eagles -- even when the eagles are using it!
Because of their size, adult Bald Eagles have very few predators. Some animals which attack eggs or nestlings include squirrels, Raccoons, Ravens, and Great Horned Owls.
Crows, which don't like any raptors, will harrass (bother) eagles, but rarely do any harm.

TESORO FLORIDA EAGLE CAM

On a much cuter note take a look here at Tess and Oro as they chow down

Jan 27 Eagle cam update

The nests are picking up on very interesting activity.

Talk about Wind beneath my wings...Click here to take a look at this capture by rgeegee of Maine forum


Tess and Oro our 2 eaglets at Tesoro are doing very well and appear to have wonderful parents.



George and Gracies kids at Cape Coral 1 are getting big.




Cape Coral 2 has at least 1 chick





Lady Blackwater has laid her first egg on Sat Jan 26




Norfolk cam is up 24/7 now. Click here to see an animation from Judy of Maine forum...This pair is definitely working on their next family


Liberty and Belle from NCTC are seen very freuqently at their nest working on the nest and the family.





Pelican Harbor continue to spend lots of time working and discussing their nestorations take a look here


And the latest info from Kent shared with us by MeMa Jo as she relates an email from Loraine on 1/26

They're here and around. The nest is pretty bewildering to look at right
now, squirrels dismantled it through the fall and this winter - not much
there for them to work with but we'll see as time goes on. They've been
roosting in a huge fir on the west side of our house at about 80-90' up and
about the same distance from the nest tree base. Possibly start a new nest
there? Hmm, won't know for a while. Their roosting there may only be for
protection from the weather and as soon as it changes they'll start again??
I haven't had a chance to look at the forum yet, The pic you sent sort of looks like Spirit... but then again it could be Star too??? The cropping puts it way out of focus, too hard to tell..
Stay tuned! Thanks for writing!
Loraine and Garry

Jan 24 Eagle sightings at home and on web

An intense period of action at Maine nest this afternoon

To hear the sounds that accompanied the confrontation you can go here.

If you have any opinions on whether 2 or 3 different eagles are involved in this encounter and any thoughts on who is who I would love for you to share.

Click here for cute slideshow here of lunchtime feeding for Tess and Oro

Flexing, Flying, Fishing and Feeding etc

Thanks Iris for seeing and sharing this next story on our forum (the link to the forum is on the left IF you haven't found it yet). This is a little sequel to the Beautiful story of George and Martha of Washington DC Eagle Style. who have been covered in previous posts on this BLOG. The full story can be read here.

Tesoro Bobbleheads chow down, Norfolk and Bartons Cove

A nice closeup of one of the Tesoro Babies captured by Birder...Thanks Birder..that is a prescious moment.





Norfolk is working hard on their camera. When they get their feed totally fined tuned and ready to broadcast 24/7 my guess is it will be phenomenal. I hope you did bookmark their site for slideshows as I had encouraged in a previous feed. Here is an awesome photo from a couple of days ago. Our Zoomers names are Reese Lukei , Joe Foreman, Perry Mathewes , Stephen Living,


Info from Bill to Judy B of Maine Forum regarding the work needed at the nest site for Northeast Utilities NE also known as Bartons Cove...

The batteries were installed yesterday, now we're tracking down
electronic gremlins with Montague TV ( the local cable access provider),
final testing of the new dedicated eagle line, and the various switches
and settings associated with a new set up.

Pelican Harbor Nestorations More Norfolk, Maine and Tesoro

Also I do hope you have bookmarked and are checking for slideshows on Norfolk. Zoomer continues to do an awesome job. Here are a few from this past weekend.






And of course there is Maine...still Full Of Drama Click here.

HERE IS A NEAT LINK To a wallpaper size photo origianlly created by Connie from Hancock Tesoro Eagle forum and made into wallpaper size by Skipper and posted with link then after Connies permission

Welcome Baby Tesoro

Help us all welcome Baby Tesoro. I hope you will enjoy this video.

Eagle Eyes

Eyesight

All eagles are renowned for their excellent eyesight, and the bald eagle is

no exception. They have two foveae or centers of focus, that allow the birds to

see both forward and to the side at the same time. Bald eagles are capable of

seeing fish in the water from several hundred feet above, while soaring,

gliding or in flapping flight. This is quite an extraordinary feat, since most

fish are counter-shaded, meaning they are darker on top and thus harder to see

from above. Fishermen can confirm how difficult it is to see a fish just

beneath the surface of the water from only a short distance away.
Young bald eagles have been known to make mistakes, such as attacking

objects like plastic bottles floating on or just below the surface of the

water. Bald eagles will locate and catch dead fish much more rapidly and

efficiently than live fish, because dead fish float with their light underside

up, making them easier to see.
Eagles have eyelids that close during sleep. For blinking, they also have an

inner eyelid called a nictitating membrane. Every three or four seconds, the

nictitating membrane slides across the eye from front to back, wiping dirt and

dust from the cornea. Because the membrane is translucent, the eagle can see

even while it is over the eye.
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.

above info from: http://www.baldeagleinfo.com/eagle/eagle2.html

We've all heard people use the phrase "eagle eye," and there is good reason -

eagles have exceptional eyesight.

Bald eagles have eyesight estimated to be four times sharper than humans. They

also have dual-focus ability - meaning they can focus their eyes on an object

ahead of them and another on the side at the same time.

No one knows why, but like many raptors, the iris of the bald eagle starts out

dark brown, and turns bright yellow by the time the bird matures sexually, at 4

to 5 years of age. Their adult eye color is almost identical to the color of

the bill.

Eagles' daytime eyesight is excellent. However, experts say their nighttime

eyesight and hearing is about the same as ours, and their senses of taste and

smell are poor.

Above info from

http://www.cvps.com/eagles/eyesight.shtml


Web cam updates:

Norfolk is up and running: Well sort of anyway. Post this evening says they are performing final test, and will be up soon for good.

A very short video can be seen here:

Daily slideshows can be seen here...Bookmark this I bet this will be awesome


Pelican Harbor continues to work hard with nestorations: Cute video of this pair here:


They have also had a visit from a 3 or 4 year old immature see juvie video here



Blackwater also reports immatures visiting the nest on more than one occasion.




Tesoro
Hatch there hopefully is imminent. The

chairback eggsperts

have a variety of dates from Jan 9 til Jan 11 as earliest possible hatch.





Cape Coral 1 Has at least 2 little eaglets.




It also appears that Cape Coral 2 has had a hatch




NCTC Has talk of getting their video underway soon.




For those who have the time and enjoy watching 600 eagles soar I made a couple of videos of my last trip to Fulton on January 4th. It was a cold windy but sunny day. I got there quite early in the morning and the eagles were very active.

A short 3 min video is here.

The longer 5 minute video is here.

News about myself AND the Eagles.

I had five days off from work following the busy holidays. I enjoyed getting out to see the eagles near my home. I hope you will enjoy this slide show of some of what these eagles shared with me. All photos except for one were taken from public viewing areas or in my car. I do my best to practice good eagle etiquette when I am around these birds. The one closer photo you will see here was taken only after a local newspaper photographer had selected a close spot under a tree where the eagle just sat and posed. As the photographer returned to his car he said "Go Stand where I was (in a foot of snow actually LOL) and you will get a nice shot from there. Well since a human had already been that close and the eagle seemed very undisturbed I did go to that spot for one of these pictures.

IMPORTANT HINT If you hit the pause as this loads then you can the next and watch the show on your own time.



Eagle Season Online is also getting somewhat more active. Pelican Harbor saw both adults on the Nest this past week. Look for 5 nests online out of Channel Islands this next season. Maine also had 2 adults on the nest most likely now believed to be the Original Pair and "owners" of the nest. Intruders do seem to still be in the area however. Kent and Oregon have both seen one adult on their nest this past week as well. NCTC also has had one quesitonable visitor perhaps. Blackwater is "winging it" their fans know what I mean. Cape Coral has a hatch or two and some thing they have spotted a little bobblehead. Tesoro is due to hatch in the next week. Stay tuned our Eagle Season is slowly picking up pace.

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Happy New Year