Shadow Shot Sunday #49

Shadow Shot Sunday is brought to us by Tracey, at her blog Hey Harriet, down under. Since Australia is in an entirely different time zone from the U.S., her Sunday is our Saturday. Confused? Not to worry. Just click on the link, relax, and enjoy.

My shadows today are not going to be sharp and clear. I saw them on a video screen. They are lovely, leafy shadows, falling over the nest of a bald eagle up in British Columbia, Canada. It is one of the live cams I like to monitor. I published the first photo on my blog last Tuesday. It shows two eggs in the center of the nest, and Mama Eagle off to the right. A few minutes later, Mama took off in search of food - or of Papa Eagle - or whatever. She did not return, and the shadows deepened as the evening approached.








The eggs remain in the nest. One of the adults returned the next morning, but I have checked a few times, and the eggs are often unattended. Very unusual.

If you choose to follow the live cam link above, you will be taken to a different nest. Go below it to "Other Cameras" to find this nest at Delta OWL. There are three different nest locations you can see, all in Canada. One already has three young. The other has two eggs still being tended.

Hawks and Eagles

There is certainly no lack of interest in the nests and eggs of these birds. It seems that the live video of the hawks' nest at Franklin Institute went blank for some time yesterday, and they were flooded with comments and questions. Everyone wanted it back. I do not know the reason why it disappeared for a while. From the bloody appearance of the nest when the picture returned, I am guessing that the people at Franklin Institute decided it might be best not to show too violent a scene there. All they said afterwards was that all three babies were active and eating, and there was pigeon on the menu.

I tried to take a picture. All I got was a fuzzy one of two of the hatchlings' backs. But I think it's cute. Look at those tiny wings flapping! The third one is there. It is the smallest of the three - the last hatched - and is not so active as its siblings, who compete with one another constantly for food.

You can see both nests, hawks and eagles, by clicking on the pictures at the top of my sidebar

The eagles link takes you to a nest in British Columbia, where the parents are still taking turns keeping the eggs warm. But if you go below the video to the words "Other Cameras" you can see two other nests as well. One is in Sidney, and in that nest are three more babies, a bit larger than the hawks'. They are really fun to watch! Here is a photo showing the Mama and one of the babies. Again, my little point and shoot cannot do justice to them, taking a shot off a video screen. The baby is in its mother's shadow too, but I think you can get the idea. Actually, the other two are there as well, but aren't sticking their little heads up, and are concealed more by Mama's shadow.

There are videos of yet another Canadian nest as well. But this one worries me. I'll be anxious to take a look when daylight arrives today. They are in a different time zone, and are at least three hours behind those of us on the east coast, so I'll have to wait a while. When I saw this nest yesterday, one of the parents was sitting off to the side of the nest, and two eggs were in the center. As I watched, the big bird turned and took off. I came back to the scene several times, and she never came back in well over an hour. Here is the picture at the beginning, with the parent off to the right. I don't know if something happened to one of the parent birds, or if the eggs aren't viable, or what the story might be. I'm hoping when I go to the site later today, Mama will be warming the eggs again. We'll see.