Welcome Guest [Log In] [Register]
Welcome to IWS Eagle Forum. We hope you enjoy your visit.


You're currently viewing our forum as a guest. This means you are limited to certain areas of the board and there are some features you can't use. If you join our community, you'll be able to access member-only sections, and use many member-only features such as customizing your profile, sending personal messages, and voting in polls. Registration is simple, fast, and completely free.


Join our community!


If you're already a member please log in to your account to access all of our features:

Username:   Password:
Add Reply
Chat - Monday August 3, 2009; How Is Your Summer Going? Super Duper!
Topic Started: Aug 3 2009, 04:44 AM (550 Views)
Artsy Mom
Member Avatar
Eagle Guardian
How fun that your foursome won the tournament Carole. I love that the underdogs can come out on top :)^
Sounds as though you all had a really wonderful day :D
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
catM
Member Avatar
Eagle Guardian
I was saddened by the information on number of birds killed - especially since it was preventable! I am glad they were fined and will address the problem.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Harpo516
Member Avatar
Eagle Guardian
awesome Carole congrats to you

yes sooooo sad about the raptors lost to the power lines :(


vacation bliss quickly replaced by work shock - man where did all this stuff come from in just a week! LOL
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Harpo516
Member Avatar
Eagle Guardian
a few more summer camp photos

Posted Image Posted Image Posted Image Posted Image

Dan taking a break in the hammock :<:: - ice cream night in site! - Liz (parent) making her very first fire and we all cheered her on! - one of my scouts / darn he didn't fall in!

Posted Image Posted Image Posted Image

skeet shooting (Liz) - in the dining hall signing a song - spaghetti we cooked in site in the pouring rain!

Posted Image

all but one (he went home early) :(
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Artsy Mom
Member Avatar
Eagle Guardian
I love these 'on the spot' reports from Doug Carrick on Hope's first exploratory adventures :D
This is from this morning:


8:15 am - Hope flew down to beach (only the second time I have observed this). She had spotted what appeared to be some kind of prey - a gob of seaweed. She leaped on it, clutching it with her left talon, and hopped along the beach mainly using her right foot for locomotion. She tore at the gob with her beak, appearing to be tasting it and spat it out. After several goes at this she moved on to a shallow tidal pool.

Watching the pool intently she saw a long thin fish (piece of eel grass), pulled it out, nibbled at it and spat it out. She pulled out tender lettuce-like seaweed (dulce), which is edible - but she didn't like that either.

She carried on from pool to pool, each one being a new adventure - so intent was she that not a sound was made for an hour.

9:15 am - mother came along, with food I assume, and Hope flew up squawking, more than making up for the previous hour's silence - and they flew together in the Grassy Point direction, ending up at the nest.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
catM
Member Avatar
Eagle Guardian
Deb, I love seeing photos about your adventure. Keep 'em coming!

Penny, I would spit out seaweed too when I had my heart set on fish!
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Artsy Mom
Member Avatar
Eagle Guardian
Hope leaves the nest on a mission to get her parent to bring her lunch. It doesn't take long :P

Posted Image

Click on image for video by beans (1:38)
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Artsy Mom
Member Avatar
Eagle Guardian
From David Hancock this morning:

<::: RE: Sidney Chick -- Tiny Tink Faces Challenges but Few Options.

I realize some of you are concerned about the last and late leaving Sidney chick -- Tiny Tink. I am too.

Tiny Tink may well be a failure for a whole number of reasons, none of which really mean much individually. This whole phenomena of adults feeding chicks at the nest this late is not what I have observed in wilderness areas and seems peculiar to the urban/rural eagles -- as we have witnessed in other years. The fact Tiny Tink is still hanging around and his sibs have long left is not normal. However, while I do think that Tiny Tink is not in a good position, I do feel that he has to try and prove himself. That is by far the best option. He is doing what is right and best for him -- adding experience.

Sure the "normal" (if there is any normal any more for the urban eagles!) pattern is what his siblings did -- they relatively quickly left the nest territory after fledging and headed off to make a life for themselves. They have built into them, after thousands of years of nature's test, that flying north to find scavengable spawned out salmon is the way to go. Most do that. Tiny Tink hasn't yet cut the apron string with home. Maybe he does not have the full genes or is simply too low in energy or even perhaps has some handicap. I hope he leaves shortly and the quicker the better -- if we believe in the evolutionary insight.

As I have written elsewhere, we suspect that the huge extra wing width and length is there to assist this long soaring flight -- 500 to a 1000 miles north to that easy food supply -- the spawned out salmon. Dropping the body weight in those 8 -- 12 days (normal time) between fledging and leaving is probably an assistance to soaring light-winged on the updrafts -- and gliding a long way after each soar upwards. We know from satellite tagged birds that 300 miles a day journeying is to be expected -- that makes Alaska only two or three days away. A couple of days soaring and gliding and the reward of a salmon buffet -- not a bad incentive if you like dead salmon.

I just rescued one of OWL'S releases on Saturday -- the Yukon bald eagle released April 19 with the Golden eagle. I was able to run it down in the dump -- more than a mile from its release site. I first thought, from seeing the bird fly out of the corner of my eye, that it was dragging something. I stopped the car and walked up the hill to get a photo looking back at it with its prey. Then when I got in front of it I realized it was not carrying food but simply dragging its wing. This was confirmed as the bird again tried to fly -- as I approached to photograph its band. This flight was obviously going to be its last as it was struggling so badly. The bird was spunky and cleaver -- working back and forth across an open ditch of not so pleasant water in the dump. Between Karen and me we got it to sit still long enough that I could grab and wing and pin it down to avoid the talons.

At OWL, the inspection revealed that the right wing had been broken and set but not set perfectly functional. I suspect it looked normal in the release pen, flying the length during its evaluation period, but simply could not cut the mustard in the wild. The bird was not very thin and has probably been scavenging in the dump since release. Dump food cannot be the best food for a total diet. However, if I could run it down with my bad knees and feet, the bird could not fly very well! The point is eagles, rehab or wild, have to try and see what they can do in the wild. There is no great waiting list for rehab birds and the Wildlife Branch basically wants non-releasable birds put down. If they can learn to live in the wild then they have a chance. I called the Yukon people who sent her down originally in case they now had an educational program she could fit into but no luck. They do not have the facilities. I am trying to find another rehab center willing to take this bird but I am not very hopeful. That is a sad tale.

If Tiny Tink can make it in the wild, then he should be given every opportunity. If he doesn't then he will likely be picked up and put through rehab but that is a very last resort. Living in the wild, learning and trying is the best option as far as I can see at this moment. The very last resort is to bring Tiny in. The group is watching for that but as long as he is able to avoid being run down by one of us he is best left in the wild. At least that is my opinion. Rehab is a great last last hope, but except under a few circumstances, the bird already in the wild has the best chances to learn more wilderness survival skills. At this season there are no local salmon runs to dump him near to get him over the first 4 - 6 months. My position is that every day he is in the wild is a great day for learning "something". He may even draw on the past few thousands of years of his species success stories and head north. Let's hope he does. That is what he and we should be hoping for.

At this season this is a poor area to find 'scavengable food' -- but maybe he will learn something. The closest big salmon runs are still 500 + miles away. By Oct. -- Nov. some will be locally available. A few fish can be available in the local Goldstream River a little sooner. If he can't or doesn't try to make the long flight, let's hope he can hang in there for a couple of months. This is not a high likelihood but the best option I see at this time. Alternatively he will be picked up and processed through rehab -- and hopefully released with a second chance. But as we have seen with the Yukon bird this week, second chances don't always work. I am for giving him full options in the wild.

I appreciate your concern. We wish Tiny Tink well.

David Hancock

Ma Hornby delivers prey to Tiny in the old nest. He takes it to the new nest to eat it in private. He seems to be able to fly with his prey, so that is a GOOD thing :chk:

Posted Image Click on image for video
Screencap by Debbie57.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Naturegal
Member Avatar
Eagle Guardian
Penny - I pray Tiny Tink makes it in the wild. :candle: David Hancock's report was a bit upsetting to me but he is far more knowledgeable than I am. I like to think that Tiny is like some of our teenagers who just graduated from college, still hasn't found a job, and is soooooooooo comfortable staying at home where Mom feeds him and Dad supports him. I believe that Tiny is a survivor after all he has been through. :X:
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Naturegal
Member Avatar
Eagle Guardian
Posted Image
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Artsy Mom
Member Avatar
Eagle Guardian
Carole, I think David may be wrong (and he has admitted in the past that he is dumbfounded at some of the behaviour of the urban eagles compared to all the wild ones he has studied over the years). Because Tiny was so far behind his siblings from the start when he didn't get enough food and then he was off the nest for all those many days when it is possible he wasn't getting much if anything to eat :unsure: This comparison chart was posted by a forum member...It makes me feel very optimistic :D

Breeze:
hatched 8 April
fledged 27 June, aged 80 days
left 24 July, aged 107 days


Hero:
hatched 10 April
fledged 7 July, aged 88 days
left 24 July, aged 105 days


Tiny:
hatched 14 April
fledged 13 July, aged 90 days
today, 3 August, aged 111 days

"So in terms of age since hatching, as of today Tiny is only 4 days behind Breeze and 6 days behind Hero. Considering Tiny's retarded development, that he's still around today seems to me to be no cause for worry."
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Artsy Mom
Member Avatar
Eagle Guardian
I'm feeling worse about the Yukon BE David rescued, whose wing injury did not heal properly and now if he cannot find a home somewhere for it as an educational eagle it will be euthanized :o
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Naturegal
Member Avatar
Eagle Guardian
<:3 <:3 :'( :'(
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
jillers
Member Avatar
Eagle Guardian
Posted Image
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
ZetaBoards - Free Forum Hosting
Create your own social network with a free forum.
Learn More · Sign-up for Free
« Previous Topic · Daily Chat · Next Topic »
Add Reply