M Nest Comparison, The Effect of Cheese on Quicksilver, and Blackwater Eagles Have a Hatch!

The M nest from last season, 2/14/2010 6:08PM
This is the nest two weeks ago.

The M nest from last season 2/14/2010 5:58pm
And this is the more current model.

Unfortunately both days in which I had a chance to photograph the nest were rather late in the day so the clarity isn't what it might be. But in the latest version if you look carefully there appear to be two or three sticks in which the ends are pale, as if they were freshly broken from a tree. This isn't visible in the nest from two weeks ago, even though the time of day and therefore the light is at least somewhat similar.

I'm slightly heartened that work may be being done on it.

ATTENTION LOCAL ROCK RIVER EAGLE VIEWERS- There has been some concern that only one Eagle is being sighted along the river instead of the usual two. The reason only one is being seen at a time is likely that the other is sitting on their nest.

So far I've not talked to anyone who knows where the nest is located, if you know please let me know. My second option is to attempt to get a hold of a small boat and reconnoiter for the nest's location by water. Anyone with a boat who'd like to join in the adventure?

Quicksilver and I cool our heels in the Milwaukee Airport on Friday. Metaphorically of course Silver doesn't really have much in the way of heels being zygodyctal. And no that isn't mu nose it is someones are in the foreground.

Unfortunately this cooling of heels wasn't because our flight was delayed by weather in NYC. It was delayed on the shall we say whim of the corporate office. In the past I've had great experiences with Midwest Airlines. The employees were very friendly and helpful, the seats were commodious comfy leather, the food was very good, and the chocolate chip cookies yummy. But that was before Midwest was taken over by Republic. Hiss. The employees being mostly Midwesterners are still friendly and helpful but the seats have shrunk to pretzel presses, there is never enough food to go around, and horror of horrors I think they've changed the recipe for the cookies.

Okay Silver and I could have lived through all that but yesterday after we'd all been loaded into a nearly full plane, a voice comes over the intercom explaining that gosh, we aren't going to be taking off on time after all, because corporate has decided that we're going to wait around an hour or so for some employees to get here so they can deadhead to NYC. WHAT?

A planeload of paying customers is going to wait for employees to get on at some unspecified time because the corporate headquarters is penny pinching? Clueless about courtesy? Their convenience is more important that ours? And of course the time is unspecified though they said an hour because...well...you know.

What does this have to do with birds? Well Silver was as usual traveling with me and Silver travels in the plane's cabin inside a case that fits under the seat. Dandy for a certain amount of time, but we'd already done a flight from Madison to Milwaukee, laid over 45 minutes--Okay Silver did draw a crowd five deep by talking to them and counting fingers, doing his part in educating the public about bird brains not having quite the same definition as it once did but by the time we got on the plane to NYC we were ready to get on with it.

We sat the first hour, Silver having already eaten his supply of apples and nutri-berries and feeling no flight vibration as a real lack of travel progress, he never talks while the flight is actually underway, began quietly to say--"Want cheese", in a little voice wafting up from under the seat. He repeated it a little louder and a little grumpier, "Want CHEESE". I offer some more nutri-berries and he made a quiet but somewhat disgusting spitting noise. My, my we are grumpy aren't we? (Good thing my seat mate, liked birds and had a sense of humor, hey?)

By this point the folks had decided to let us deplane and wait. Better than sitting in the pretzel benders but the kicker was you had to take all your carry on baggage with you. Sigh. Better than having Silver graduate to mimicking the smoke alarm for sure. So off we go lugging our stuff: parrot in case, camera equipment, computer bag with a half dozen external hard drives, in search of you guessed it- CHEESE.

Now we could have gotten a ham and cheese sandwich from one of the little kiosks, but the last time I did that in Milwaukee I got food poisoning. Tomaine not being in my current plan, we walked farther and there was a place that sold nachos. Ah HA! Nachos have cheese. We get the nachos. We take them back to the gate, and Silver puts on another show, albeit a rather unintentional one. This one is called (Drum Roll, please) Watch the Parrot Eat Nachos. Many photos were taken, the crowd had something to do, we got back on the plane, the long awaited missing employees showed up, FINALLY. We took off and most of the rest of the passengers were treated to many free cocktails in hopes they'd forget their ordeal.

Now it's not that I have anything in particular against alcohol, it's just that after two sips I tend to fall down and who needs that so I don't ever drink. And please, can you imagine a drunken parrot? Not good, not good at all.

So beyond the suddenly boisterous passengers we made it to LaGuardia, didn't have to stand on the bus back to the city, though it looked close there for a minute, and about 12 hours after leaving Milton we got to the apartment in NYC. And Silver wasn't really the worse for wear at all. Ta da! The wonders of cheese.


Blackwater Eagle News from Robin of Illinois--
http://www.friendsofblackwater.org/camhtm2.html

Thursday afternoon, the papa eagle brought a fish to the nest. This is often, as noted, a sign that there is about to be a hatch, and today, one egg was seen with a hole in it and the hatching process, a slow process, has begun!

Screen Capture, Robin of Illinois
First Blackwater hatch of the season. Hatchlings are a wonder; such a teeny little thing that turns into a great big eagle if all goes well.

Donegal Browne

Red-tail Update: The Ms Do Something? Just Exactly What Isn't at All Clear

I was driving down County Rd. M, scanning for the Red-tailed Ms, and sure enough there was the formel on her power pole. Having had enough of looking at her back the last time round, I decided to drive up the road adjacent to the pole, and then turn around so I could see her front. Well, I hadn't taken into account the lack of plowed verge so I did have her front, but I was extremely far away. She of course looked my way but did stay sitting, and scanning. I'd noticed on the way in that there were small flocks of birds foraging on the land around her. I couldn't tell the species I'm afraid, but they were bigger than sparrows and smaller than Robins, with a pale anterior and a brownish unstreaked back. I know that's only about 50 different birds.

She kept scanning and I attempted to creep up a little.

Then she was off, though I'm not sure if it was me or if she was after something.

She curves.

She looked like she was folding her wings and going closer to the ground which gave me the impression she was after something.

Then she began flapping again. Note as she is going towards the left there is a bird flying right, hot winging it for the cover of the Spruce tree.

She flies on.

Over one of the Gilmour's buildings

Now I'm not sure if the bird just above the leafless small trees on the left is Mrs. M or if it is another bird.

I think that was another bird because here comes the formel into frame on the right. Is she chasing that bird?

There is a bird up and slightly left of the left most evergreen. That's the mystery bird.

Because here comes Mrs. M. Both then head across the field beyond a barn and silo and out of sight. For some reason I look back toward her power pole.

And look who is in one of the trees in that direction. It's got to be Mr. M. I can't find him in my initial photos but I they don't show that particular tree. He could have been there all the time or he may just have slipped in when the formel left. One pair of eyes just isn't enough to keep up with two crafty hawks.

This is how he looks to the naked eye.

He leans forward toward the field.

I look over and the formel and the mystery bird have reappeared from behind the barn and silo.

Here's a crop.

The smaller bird doesn't take to the Spruce but rather flies in the tree line.

As does the hawk.

The smaller bird now seems to be curving back in an invisible circle toward the direction in which I and the tiercel are situated.

He's still in the tree leaning forward watching with acute focus.

Here's a crop of the previous photo.

Then he's up and traveling in the treeline on a curve in the opposite direction from where the formel started. He curves towards her and she curves toward him making a big O if both flights were connected.

He comes out of the twigs and looks to be attempting to catch an air current for some altitude.

He gets some height and then flaps like crazy closing in on the area in which the formel and mystery bird were last seen coming his direction. I've completely lost track of the other two.

Then Mr. M crashes through branches makes a right turn back toward the horizon in the photo. Suddenly everyone is out of my range of sight. What just happened? Did the formel herd the mystery bird the tiercel's way and then he nabbed it or was he hunting something else altogether? Curiouser and curiouser.

Donegal Browne

Is That the Sentinel Crow?

When I looked out in an attempt to gauge just how much snow was coming down, lo and behold I caught a crow unawares on the stump. This whole season the moment I look out a sentinel starts cawing and they're gone. But not this day.


I was adjusting the camera so I'm not sure if the second crow had been there all the time behind the stump or not. I think due to the spread wing he's just flying in but that's a probably.

Stump Crow gives Crow 2 the eye. Crow 2 remains vigilant. I wonder if he is the sentinel crow? Has Stump Crow been ignoring his warnings?

Stump Crow continues to eat and Crow 2 looks tough.

It appears to me that Crow 2 has spotted me. Have crows figured out that humans are less likely to be active when it snows and that is why he isn't crying the alert?

More alert behavior.

Then a fixed stare at Stump Crow.

Stump Crow flies off and Crow 2 watches him go.

Crow 2 checks the front side of the stump.

A look towards the feeding area.

A look possibly to spot Stump Crow...

and then a second later he is gone too. It's all rather inexplicable. One would have thought that Crow 2 would at least have gotten up on the stump for a bite before leaving. But if he's on the job, he's on the job. Rather like the Secret Service Agents, that don't get to knosh off the buffet table at events after all.

From faithful contributor Robin of Illinois, the hatch is imminent--


http://www.friendsofblackwater.org/camhtm2.html

The Hatching Process:

http://friendsofblackwater.org/wordpress/eagle10/

I discovered both of the M crows yesterday but I can't quite figure out what they were doing. At any rate there are so many pixels involved they won't all fit on today's post. They'll be up soon.

Donegal Browne