Saturday, March 10, 2007

THEY'RE BACK


This is another reason I love Maine. Last year my school received news that there was a live web site recording the birth of baby eagles. My seven little rug rats and I would watch day after day as the eggs hatched, the baby eagle chicks appeared, as mom and dad brought daily meals for them to eat, as they matured and then one day left the nest - then we had months and months of the empty nest syndrome.


March 5th the eagles started their next brood. Mom and dad can be seen exchanging incubation duties. This morning I watched and listened as a rival crow and seagull were chased away by one of the parents.


This is the second year for the Eagle Cam site and it has become news across the nation. Today alone, there were 3.5 million hits. They ask that we respect the two minute limit so that all may enjoy - and believe me it is so hard to limit yourself time wise as this is just fascinating to watch. As an alternative I leave the web page up where I get a refresher shot every 15 seconds.




Welcome to Maine - The Way Life Should Be

11 comments:

Jim Chandler said...

Hey, I'm thinking that somewhere in this hungry-eagles-feeding situation, lies a solution to your rugrat problem.

See what I'm saying?

Lisa said...

They'd have to be some strong eagles (like the Stephen Colbert, Jr. eagle) to pick up rugrats--now, Fluffy? Fluffy is 4.2 pounds. See what I'M saying? Solution to my Fluffy problem lies in those hungry-eagles.

Lisa said...

The kids and I just finished watching the eagles. Thanks for the introduction. They were amazed at the "live"-ness of it. Thanks!

Annie in Austin said...

What a great idea!
Do you ever see eagles soaring near where you live? [we get the occasional turkey vulture or hawk, but no eagles]

Annie

Jim Chandler said...

Annie, I don't know about Pat (between you and me, she wouldn't know an eagle if it flew down and pecked her on the head), but I saw one just recently. I was on a hike around a pond at a park near my house, rounding an opening in the trees. Suddenly I felt this "thing" swoop down right above me. It went out over the water 50 feet or so, tipped its wing, and plucked a fish right out of the water. What a spectacular sight, to see a bald eagle that close!

Jim Chandler said...

ok, ok... truth is, I'm a fraction of the birder that Pat is. She taught me mostly everything I know.

But don't tell her I said so........

21 Charles Street said...

You are too funny Jim. Annie - I have a favorite eagle's nest I watch on a pond just down the street from where I live. Everytime I kayak in the riverway that feeds this pond a bald eagle flys out of it's nest near the banking and flys over the kayak. Ospreys are also very plentiful in Maine.

Today, as a special activity with my rugrats, I took them outside to build an eagle nest. We measured it to be 7 feet round - the kids brought me tons of long branches and sticks from the ground and we wove our nest - it was quite a site to see - they then filled the nest floor with tons of pine needles. They had so much fun - next week I think I'll have them build a humming bird nest so we can compare the different sizes. I think my next blog aught to be a picture of this 'grounded eagle nest' :).

21 Charles Street said...

Lisa, we've had eagles soaring over our backyard and have literally picked up our 8lb silky terrier. We tend to leave Jim out as bait!

Annie in Austin said...

Eagle's Nest building with the kids? It sounds both educational and hilarious!

Annie

Lisa said...

How'd your terrier do, Pat? And, uh, could I ask you to dogsit Fluffy for an afternoon in your backyard during soaring time? See what I'm saying?

21 Charles Street said...

Little Wiley is safe and sound Lisa - it's a good thing he's cute or he would have been eagle fodder a long time ago. I'm sensing a 'fluffy' frustration...