If you’ve been watching the three eaglets and their parents at the Norfolk, Virginia EagleCam, you’ll see that the chicks are at that awkward teenager stage, still a bit downy but starting to look like eagles. And their feet are huge! Here’s a screenshot I took a few minutes ago:
It’s time to band them, and, as alert reader Diane G reminds me, the whole megillah will take place at 9 a.m. tomorrow Eastern Standard Time (US). The EagleCam “blog” reports:
At five weeks of age the three nestlings have really grown and are now large enough to have identification bracelets placed on their lower legs called the tarsus. Eagles take size 9 rivet bands issued by the US Geological Survey Bird Banding Lab. The band will have an individual 9 digit number (0679-XXXXX). A second band colored purple will be placed on the other leg and will identify the eagle as having been banded in the Chesapeake Bay region and will have a 2-letter alpha ID. For information about the U.S. bird banding program go to this web site www.pwrc.usgs.gov/bbl. For information about eagle banding in Virginia by The Center for Conservation Biology see www.ccb-wm.org/virginiaeagles. The bands pictured above are those placed on the three NBG eaglets in 2010.
The banding of the three Norfolk Botanical Garden bald eagle chicks is planned to take place on April 21, 2011 beginning about 9:00am. The actual banding should take place about 9:30. Nuckols Tree Care will volunteer their tree climbing services to lower the eaglets safely to the ground where biologists from CCB will examine, weigh and measure them and fit them with bands. The Virginia Dept of Game and Inland Fisheries will provide a photographer and videographer and Stephen Living, Watchable Wildlife Biologist, will be present to assist. WVEC will broadcast the banding event over the live eagle cam at www.wvec.com/eaglecam.
Presumably we’ll be able to see both the temporary purloining of the chicks from the nest and their banding on the ground. I’ll put up a real-time post if I see it begin.
Here are the bands:
The fine print says “Wash. Biol. Surv.”
This is good stuff. What follows probably isn’t.
Growing up I remember the church (the jewelled, ivory, prado slippered church) said without irony that it would be a great day when the military had to hold a cake-stall or fete to buy a fighter plane and charities were given a substantial part of government funds.
My version of it would be that it would be a great time if humans were educated enough that if any one of us wanted to go all rapacist on nature and chop down a forest or dam a river or just exon-valdez an ocean they’d have to hold a few cake stalls and fetes to pay for it, whilst all along the government or majority were funding the support of nature.
Sadly, and appropriately given Jerry’s posts this week, I’m just masturbating my feel good zones in my brain because here in the only (I think) developed country that didn’t have negative effects from the Global Financiers Crisis, we can’t even help this amazing animal from extinction because it might cost less than a cent each Australian. Any animal that is less than spectacular is fucked. And all spectacular animals will die in the wild because we couldn’t be fucked saving their environment.
http://www.dpiw.tas.gov.au/inter.nsf/WebPages/LBUN-5QF86G?open
I should take my hand off it.
DFTD is one of the saddest and…most appalling plagues to come along in some time. And I couldn’t agree more about FUBAR priorities.
Bands are bird bling?
Pet peeve: Eastern Daylight Time. Unfortunately, right during my commute. Maybe I’ll come in early. Naaaah…
Good News; Bad News…
Looks like the Decorah, Iowa set of three eaglets are doing fine, in spite of a snowstorm…
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2011/03/baby-bald-eagles-hatching-on-live-webcam.php
(sorry, haven’t learned how to imbed links yet)
but…
The Maine coastal eagles have seemingly abandoned their nest…
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/brieaglcam#utm_campaigne=synclickback&source=http://www.briloon.org/watching-wildlife/eagle-cam.php&medium=5409059
Story seems to be that Mom got spooked by chainsaws just after laying the eggs, so only Dad was willing to sit and incubate. Couldn’t carry the load and eat, too. And they had an April 1st snowstorm too. Nature is rough.
Chainsaws are rougher.
True, but we are part of
‘nature’, too.
Natural selection has a hard time keeping up with ‘cultural evolution…’
True again, but “cultural evolution” is natural, too.
What else?
Chainsaws?
A few years ago in another forum, someone remarked, “our technology is part of our phenotype.” That’s stuck with me…
I’ll feel a little better about nature’s chances when our deer learn to stop and look both ways before crossing the road…
In other bird cam news, Phoebe is incubating what is most likely her last clutch of the season.
And there is a nice stork cam in the Netherlands where the five eggs in the nest are about 3 days from hatching. http://www.beleefdelente.nl/ooievaar.
It has sound so you can hear the clacking sound they make with their beaks. Interestingly, storks lack a syrinx and so have no vocalizations.
The forums are in Dutch, naturally, but every day an interesting stork fact is posted to the cam page .
Yes, I’m sorry, I am a bird cam addict.
OMG, I thought Phoebe was done for the season! And what a quick turnaround! Thanks for the heads up!
I think she started refurbing the nest she’s in now before the last little ones fledged.
My mind just boggles every time I try to mentally compare the eagles and the hummingbirds side by side.
OMGx2! I thought Phoebe was done, too! Thanks so much:-)) (Know what you mean about mentally comparing the eagles and hummers…)