Wild Side Ornithology Club

[freedombecki]

Berry College - Experience it Firsthand

I hope another follows soon. It will be enlightening to watch the eaglets being fed.

I liked learning something about our national mascot, the Bald Eagle at your web page (above), asaratis. Thanks for sharing it. It read:

General Facts About Bald Eagles

• 2007 - The Department of Interior took the American bald eagle off the endangered species list.
• The bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) is a member of the sea and fish eagle group.
• Juvenile bald eagles are a mixture of brown and white. They reach full maturity in four to five years.
• Size - The female bald eagle is 35 to 37 inches, slightly larger than the male.
• Wingspan ranges from 72 to 90 inches.
• Bald eagles can fly to an altitude of 10,000 feet. During level flight, they can achieve speeds of about 30 to 35 mph.
• Bald eagles weigh from 10 to 14 pounds.
• Diet - Mainly fish, but they will take advantage of carrion (dead and decaying flesh).
• Hunting area varies from 1,700 to 10,000 acres. Home ranges are smaller where food is present in great quantity.
• Because an eagle lives up to 30 years in the wild, it has many years in which to produce offspring.
• Bald eagles build their nests in large trees near rivers or coasts. 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.
• Eagles lay from one to three eggs. Parenting duties are shared by both male and female during the 35 days of incubation, but it is the female who spends most of her time on the nest.
• The young birds grow rapidly, adding one pound to their body weight every four or five days. At six weeks, the eaglets are very nearly as large as their parents.
• An eaglet can take its first flight some 10 to 13 weeks after hatching and approximately 40 percent of young eagles do not survive it.
• All eagles are renowned for their excellent eyesight.
• Fidelity - Once paired, bald eagles remain together until one dies.
• The bald eagle became the National emblem in 1782 when the great seal of the United States was adopted.

There are a lot of them in LBL. But they are hard to photograph.

Where are Spoonman, Connery, and Ernie when you need them?

 

[Connery]

 

[Spoonman]

 

[asaratis]

The second arrived several days ago, but I haven't captured screen shots until recently. It seems that the male spends more time on the nest than the female. She could be off gorging herself to produce a third egg. I hope so.

I anticipate watching the eaglets being fed 'til they fly off to hunt and fish on their own.

Cheers!

Sorry about the small picture. I'll try to fix that.

 

[freedombecki]

That's just so beautiful, Spoonman.

Is the upside down bird in the top picture a nuthatch?

 

[jon_berzerk]

during the winter months

we get over run over with the rough legged hawk

some days when traveling you can see one every couple of miles

they seem to be everywhere

they like the big open prairies

can hover for long periods of time

i should take the time to learn how to safely down load photos to the net

Rough-legged Hawk Photo - Photograph - Picture

 

[freedombecki]

during the winter months

we get over run over with the rough legged hawk

some days when traveling you can see one every couple of miles

they seem to be everywhere

they like the big open prairies

can hover for long periods of time

i should take the time to learn how to safely down load photos to the net

Rough-legged Hawk Photo - Photograph - Picture

Wow, John, he's beautiful against sunlight! Thanks for sharing. I found another picture of the Rough-legged Hawk at the Patuxent Bird Identification Center at USGS, not quite as spectacular, but beautiful, nonetheless, FWIW:

Rough-legged Hawk, Buteo lagopis​

Where to find the Rough-legged Hawk on the CBC map:​

 

[Spoonman]

That's just so beautiful, Spoonman.

Is the upside down bird in the top picture a nuthatch?

yes becki, that is a nuthatch. one of the more common winter birds up here

 

[Spoonman]

Cardinals

 

[freedombecki]

Cardinals

Outta sight, Spoonman! Your bird pictures are second to none. Thanks for sharing a spectacular talent of capturing them at their most poignant moments.

 

[Ernie S.]

Not my photo, but I saw a pair of golden crowned kinglets just now. They are a bit smaller than a chickadee and about twice as hyper.

 

[freedombecki]

Not my photo, but I saw a pair of golden crowned kinglets just now. They are a bit smaller than a chickadee and about twice as hyper.

He's really a cutie, Ernie. So they're twice as hyper as a chickadee, hm? Some little greyish bird came up to the window today to remind me the bird feeder hadn't anything in it this morning, and I was thinking it had to be a female of the Goldfinch family, because all I saw was the top of her head, but the tale-tale feathers of her wings, plus a mottled gold-tinted chest. Actually, I guess I really wasn't sure what I was looking at, so I took a wild guess. *sigh* Amateur me!

 

[freedombecki]

Well, this is a female goldfinch, and very close to little ms. Constant Reminder this morning.

So I'm pretty sure I was right. Some are grayer, others are tanner; some have yellower heads, ours didn't. Ours was showing a little more yellow on her chest which was facing me than the pictured bird, but not that much yellower. And those wings are a dead give-away.

 

[Spoonman]

more woodpeckers

 

[percysunshine]

Hey...I'm naked!

.

 

[freedombecki]

Hey...I'm naked!

.

In that Tuxedo? Yeah, sure.

 

[freedombecki]

Flitting around the net looking at bird quilts, for some reason someone posted this "snowbird" quilt, and I think it's quite wonderful.

Credits: Sethsnap

 

[freedombecki]

The second arrived several days ago, but I haven't captured screen shots until recently. It seems that the male spends more time on the nest than the female. She could be off gorging herself to produce a third egg. I hope so.

I anticipate watching the eaglets being fed 'til they fly off to hunt and fish on their own.

Cheers!

Sorry about the small picture. I'll try to fix that.

Very nice, asaratis! It's so different in the dark hours.

 

[freedombecki]

more woodpeckers

Darn, you make it hard to pick a favorite, Spoonman!

But this one is as awesome as can be:

 

[freedombecki]

I've seen a black guillemot in the early morning about 3 times in the past month. Oh, how I love these lively, amazing winged artforms... You don't see them in perspective unless you see them flying. Notice the surprising, shocking red of their legs. This one was taken in Scotland. It's more buffy like the ones I see here].

Maybe it's the lighting or humidity. I don't know.

This one is showing off his matching red palate:

heheheh!