CCB Eagle Nest Blog

August 18 was a really “bad hair” day for the Norfolk Botanical Garden adult female. For the first time in a couple months she sat on the “love branch” in the 2010 nest tree. However, this region was being pounded by a thundrous downpour in the afternoon so she got completely soaked. She got a good wash of her bright new head feathers. By evening she was fairly well dried off and about 7:30 flew to the roost tree and just about dark at 8:00pm was joined by the male adult.

For the past few weeks in the evening after 6:00pm one of the adult eagles at NBG has perched on a pine branch behind the bridge over the canal next to the NATO Tower. The branch is actually right beside the canal, although we cannot see that from the camera view that we have. Here are two photos from the webcam camera, so that when I comment on the WVEC chat that the adult is sitting there,

you will know what I am seeing.

Today, July 14, the male adult (I think it is the male) flew to the front branch of the nest tree about 4:15, but sat there for only a minute. I did a search with the camera and located him sitting directly below the camera, where he stayed for over two hours. Gave me an opportunity to get some closeup photos. Note that his crop if very full and that he has molted a lot of his head feathers. Spring and summer are prime time for replacing old feathers. At the beginning of his stay below the camera he was very alert and looking all around, but towards the end of his visit he took a nap.

Camellia (NC) has sat on the front branch of the nest tree for the past three afternoons. Yesterday, July 9, he sat there from about 11:50am until 7:05pm. Neither ND or NE have been seen at the nest tree or camera tree for more than a week.

This morning a young Yellow-Crowned Night Heron sunned itself on the nest tree front branch for a few minutes.

On Friday July 2 Joe Foreman and I were witness to an extraordinary aerial display over Norfolk Botanical Garden by the two bald eagle fledglings banded ND and NE. I urge you to look at the photos that Joe posted July 2 on www.norfolkeagles.com under Photographer’s Nest as they add to the photos posted here.

So just what was going on? What was this spectular aerial display all about? The life of a bald eagle is challenging. That life is all about survival. Those most prepared to face the challenges of finding food, weather conditions, competition from other eagles and defending one’s self and territory are most likely going to survive. I have been fortunate to travel to the arctic several times. Yesterday’s bald eagle aerial jousting reminded me of watching young polar bears “sparring” – engaging in mock battle – training to defend themselves – survival of the fittest.

In the photos above, you first see ND being the aggressor and attacking NE. Then NE returns the favor and goes after ND (notice in photo 4 that the crop of NE is very full). In the last two ND is again the aggressor, but in the end it was ND that turned tail and flew off toward Shore Drive and NE flew to a tree at “the dump”. It is as important to know when to call it quits as it is to know when to engage in battle. During this 10-minute engagement, valuable survival skills were learned.

The WVEC web cam feed was down this evening so here are 4 up close photos of Camellia. For the first time in several days he sat right next to the camera and the light was fairly good. May not get this chance again. Believe it or not, but Camellia fledged 4 weeks ago today. Both Camellia and time are flying.

NE was alert and ready to go. He jumped out of the arms of Lisa Barlow up onto the perch. After a few seconds to look about and see where he was he launched, turned to his left and flew low but gaining height and crossed the Rose Garden and flew toward his nest tree about 500 yards away. NBG staff had been placed to stop foot traffic for a few minutes so that he would have a clear flight path. Could not have been a better release. Perfect! – Photos – Reese F Lukei Jr

After spending the night in the care of raptor rehabilator Lisa Barlow in Virginia Beach, NE was taken to Midway Veterinary Hospital and examined this morning by Dr. Ruth McQueen. NE was found to be in excellent health with no injuries. At 1:00pm today NE was returned by Lisa Barlow to Norfolk Botanical Garden and released back into the wild. He was placed on a six-foot high T-bar perch to get him off the ground and after a few seconds of looking around and orienting himself he launched into the air and flew directly toward his nest which was about 500 yards away. He flew past the nest tree and landed in a gum tree close to the picnic area. About 3:00 NE flew to the 2008 camera tree and then at 3:30 flew to the nest tree and sat on the front branch (love branch) next to Camellia (NC). Back home and all is well.

For Chapter One of this story refer to Virginia Dept of Game and Inland Fisheries (DGIF) web page http://eaglecam.tumblr.com.

At 9:55am June 13 I received an urgent phone call from photographer Shelly Fowler telling me that one of the Norfolk Botanical Garden juveniles was in the water in the canal in front of the nest tree and that another photographer, Duane Noblick, had jumped in the canal to rescue the eagle. I was watching the cam at the time and had just seen 3 juveniles and both adults in the nest. See DGIF site for this part of the event.

I rushed to NBG and phoned Lisa Barlow, a licensed raptor rehabilator with whom I have worked for many years. Upon arrival at NBG I was assisted by NBG security guard JC and Shelly in locating the juvenile eagle under some bushes. The eagle made a short run to a denser patch of underbrush where I was able to capture him (Bill Bauer photo). It was the youngest of the three NBG eagles banded NE. He was still soaking wet. Lisa met me at NBG and we gave NE a very close exam and found no injuries (Duane Noblick photo). It is most usually best to get wildlife back in their natural habitat as soon as possible. and Lisa and I determined that NE needed to dry off and rest for a few hours. With the assistance of Scott at NBG, we located a wire cage and placed NE in a windy spot out of public view to rest and dry off (Reese Lukei photo). After another exam by Lisa about 2:45 (Reese Lukei photo), NE was released behind his nest tree but never made it far off the ground (Reese Lukei photo). NE made a couple more trips under the bushes, but was recaptured and we determined it best to let him rest more (Reese Lukei photo) before another attempt to release. Lisa Barlow kept NE overnight for him to eat and rest and will take him to a veternarian this morning for an exam. Plan to release NE at NBG sometime later today. Stay tuned.

All three of the NBG fledglings have located the camera tree. There are several branches that they can sit on and in the first two photos above ND is sitting right beside the camera about 3 feet away allowing for excellent closeups. In photos 3 and 4, NE sits directly below the camera but on a different branch that the one NC sat on. NE is resting his left foot that holds his purple band. This is normal behavior for eagles and all birds but, it does make for a strange view when seen from directly above.