Eagles nest live

Good evening after a beautiful sunny 72 degrees at my house. I only know that because of the indoor/outdoor memory thermometer. This was the first of my two days on the road. It didn't start out no nice as it was 34 degrees when I left my home in Port Dickinson at 5:15 AM. Not quite as early as the farmer does his chores but close.

Last Friday at one of the deliveries I was given the following site which has kept me returning to check on the birds regularly. http://wavelit.com/media/702/Eagles_Nest_Live/ A web cam w/audio has been put by this eagles nest by the Hancock Wildlife Foundation. It streams 24/7 so you can see the full lives and activities of the mother, father (every so often) and two eaglets in the nest. Before I go further please note that when going to the web site you will have to wait for it to do a couple promos. Then it should go direct to the picture. If it doesn't, click on the play arrow and it will come up.

When I first started watching the eaglets were sleeping most of the time, waking only to be fed and then flopping back down to sleep or rest. It appears they either sleep with their eyes open or are just resting. For a day or two their movements were a struggle. More like flopping to where they wanted to be. Now they raise their heads more and stand trying to move around more. I think they are normal children. Yesterday they were scrapping at eachother. For awhile it appeared to be an on going battle. Finally they lay back down to rest.

The mother is tolerant of pressures around her. There are some black birds that are not happy the eagle is in the neighborhood. They will dive bomb her and on occasion have landed on her tail. It has been suggested that these birds may have nests and young in the same neighborhood and view her as a threat to their existence.

When I first started viewing the mother only left the nest for a very short period. Now she is gone 20 - 30 minutes at at time. This time element is another reason I don't think she views the black birds as a problem. When she is gone the black birds don't come around.

These are fun to watch. I hope any of you that view will share the same feelings.

Shortchange Gene