Bald Eagle Cam; Limited Decorah coverage

[BigRedIggy]

WVEC: DGIF biologists have decided that it is in the best interest of the eaglets to remove them from the nest and relocate them to the Wildlife Center of Virginia. The removal operation will take place at 10 a.m.

Edit: Just to be clear...This is concerning the Norfolk nest which lost the mother Eagle when it got hit by a plane. This is NOT the Decorah eaglets that we have been following in this thread.

[BigRedIggy]

They are getting ready to start the extraction. You can view it here:

http://www.wvec.com/marketplace/micr...eagle-cam.html

[Sonuvahusker]

One eaglet bagged. Two to go.

[Sonuvahusker]

Two down. The last eaglet is being difficult. He's going to have to practically climb into the nest to get it.

GOT IT! I guess the dad is now officially an empty nester.

[BigRedIggy]

I caught most of it on video. I wish I had sound. I will post after it processes.

[BigRedIggy]

Those tree guys are nuts! They are just so comfortable hanging up there close to 100 ft up.

[Prairie Sage1]

Can't say I'm a big fan of removing the eaglets from the nest. You need to let nature play out. Plus now dad will have lost his mate and his kids all in the space of 2 days. He needs to get a lawyer.

[BigRedIggy]

Here is there response...

Norfolk Botanical Garden: This morning the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries will be removing the 3 eaglets and send them to the Wildlife Center of Virginia.

DGIF consultanted with the partners and many experts about this situation. They received feedback about a variety of approaches and arrived at the decision to remove them.

Norfolk Botanical Garden: One option discussed was to leave them and see if the father could continue to raise them alone. It is possible he could, but it is also very possible he could not continue to provide enough food as they grow and need a higher calorie count. There was a concern it would reach a point of no return and it would be difficult to remove the eaglets. It would present the problem of being too late to remove them for their survival. There is a reason it takes two parents to raise the eaglets.

Norfolk Botanical Garden: Another option would be to try to foster them out to other nests. That would require finding three nests with eaglets at the exact right age. There is also the concern the foster parents may reject these eaglets.

[Prairie Sage1]

I've read their responses. Another option would be to make it easier for male to provide food, such as leaving fish or other meat in easily available places. Never saw that discussed. Watched another nest in West Virginia earlier this year where a chick starved to death while it's parents were having trouble with an intruder eagle. They let nature play out in that one. I think their concern for the eaglets is admirable but it is, after all, nature. It isn't always pretty.

[BigRedIggy]

Gotta say I don't disagree with ya PS.

[BigRedIggy]

I see now where they are saying supplemental food was one of the options. Personally I think the reason they pulled them is because of the "popularity" of these eagles and they didn't want to take a chance of showing any of the eaglets starving to death with all those people watching.

I lean more on the side of you here and say let nature take it's course. I think that is pretty much RRP's philosophy too.

[BigRedIggy]

Not a huge fan of Ustreams new popup ads. Not the ones that popup on the bottom of the screen that you can x out of and eventually go away. I am talking about the new ones that you used to get the first time you loaded the site. The full screen with sound. Now they keep coming up on a regular basis. ANNOYING!

[BigRedIggy]

Here is the full video of the Norfolk Eaglet Removal from today...

[Prairie Sage1]

Thanks BRI for the video, if you watched them band the eaglets a week ago, you'll have noticed how much more these birds have begun to become eagles. A week ago they were pretty docile and agreeable to the whole bagging thing. This week they were much more aggressive and confrontational. Pretty neat stuff.

Also, the largest bird at the Norfolk site was a female as with raptors, females are larger than the males. Rex is in all probability a female.

[Ice Cold Peanuts]

Not a huge fan of Ustreams new popup ads. Not the ones that popup on the bottom of the screen that you can x out of and eventually go away. I am talking about the new ones that you used to get the first time you loaded the site. The full screen with sound. Now they keep coming up on a regular basis. ANNOYING!

Pretty soon this will be just like TV with commercials eating up a bunch of time.

[Ice Cold Peanuts]

Rex is in all probability a female.

So should we be calling her Rexanne like the song from the Police?

[BigRedIggy]

Pretty soon this will be just like TV with commercials eating up a bunch of time.

I think enough people complained today. It seems to have backed off considerably now. It was happening about every 15 minutes for most of the morning. It's been close to 2 hours now since my last ad. Much, much better.

[BigRedIggy]

The next step for these little guys is to learn to stand up without doing the Maggie Simpson face-plant. Once they can do that they will start to self feed.

[Prairie Sage1]

I'm not in on any of the Decorah chats, are they going to band these guys?

[BigRedIggy]

I'm not in on any of the Decorah chats, are they going to band these guys?

They have contemplated it but no plans as of now. They are really trying to keep the hands off approach on this nest but it has been discussed.