Ground Observations - 2012-2013 Season

[boonibarb]

This is the Ground Observations discussion thread for the 2012-2013 season of the Hornby webcam Eagles!
It is a place to post observations, fotos & videos of Mum Dad & their Eaglets, as observed from the ground.

To read all about what happened a year ago today, the Eaglet Hali, & the whole year that followed,

Click here

To read what happened from the ground for the David & Alexandra season,

Click here


Here is the link to Ground Observations 2008-2009-The Hope & Echo season

Click here for Ground Observations 2008-2009-The Hope season

Here is the link to Ground Observations 2009-2010-The Phoenix Season

Click here for Ground Observations 2009-2010

Here is the link to Ground Observations 2010 - 2011 - the Alexandra & David season.

Click here for Ground Observations 2010 - 2011

[boonibarb]

 
october 5 2012 13:55 - Eagle near the top of the Babysitting Tree
 

 
http://www.flickr.com/photos/43214021@N08/8057762847/#

[boonibarb]

Thanks to Cali for letting me know there were Eagles in the Babysitting Tree!
By the time i got there, only one was still perched there.
 
october 5 2012 14:02 - Eagle near the top of the Babysitting Tree
 

 
http://www.flickr.com/photos/43214021@N08/8057778279/#

[boonibarb]

Back of head view.
 
october 5 2012 14:02:50 - Eagle near the top of the Babysitting Tree
 

 
http://www.flickr.com/photos/43214021@N08/8057789332/#

[jungleland]

What a wonderful sight!!!  Thank-you Booni!

[winterwren]

After two visits to the area, I'm now convinced that this eagle is indeed MOM!  

Here she is, trilling her heart out on the Babysitting tree...
I still haven't seen her part at this point, and I haven't heard her cachunking, so I'm not quite sure...

October 5, 2:05 pm

[winterwren]

Still on the Babysitting Tree.

October 5, 2:07

[NancyM]

Booni and wren, THANK YOU so much for the pictures! So exciting to see the eagles back and to hear them on the cam!

The pictures have all been teasers for me, I need to see the front view! The way the neck feathers are arranged is very consistently different between Mom and Dad - he has that deep wedge-shaped "split" as seen in the cam photo below.

(from our Reference Center article on how to tell Mom and Dad apart [http://www.ournaturezone.com/index.php?topic=225.0]
- we have seen these neck feather patterns for at least the past 3-4 years)

22 March 2010.

[winterwren]

More pics coming up soon, Nancy!

Edited to add: Mom had a big moult of her head feathers last fall... I don't know if that shape would have remained the same or not.

[Donnae]

Booni and Wren thank you so much for the ground pics.... what a wonderful day it is !!!!!!

[winterwren]

Same eagle has moved to the Peters' tree.
Click on the pictures and notice how you can see the light right through her tail...

October 5, 2:29


2:30


The primaries do not extend right past the end of her tail... But then, that does not show on all Mom's pictures, it seems to depend partly on how she stands.
In this second picture, we can see a bit of dried blood on one of her toes.

Around that time, she makes a brief "buck-buck" sound, like Semi did... So who on earth is this?

[winterwren]

Two hours later, I return to the area because people are saying we haven't seen Mom's part yet!

She's still on the Peters' tree... If it's her.
She isn't nervous about me moving around with my tripod, that's for sure...

We don't see her part here, but there is a flat spot at the back of her head that forms ridges of feathers on both sides.

October 5, 4:38



A good view of her toes here... Looks like a surface stain. So probably not her own blood.

4:40



Cachunk! Cachunk!
Now THAT sounds like Mom.
Only a few females cachunk, and none have that deep gravelly sound... Except MOM! 
4:42


Another attempt at photographing the back of her head... Again no part, but two distinct ridges and a hollow in between.
4:56

[BBE]

Oh how wonderful to see our friends back for another season.       I am looking forward to being able to watching them a little more this upcoming season.

Booni and Wren, hello, I hope you are both well and ready for more adventures    Many thanks for the awesome photos from today.

[winterwren]

Off she goes!

Look! She's moulted out her first two primaries on each side... That would be why her wing feathers don't stick out past her tail!
(She moulted #1 and 4 at this time last year... So she's moulting the first one twice in a row?)

Also, I think she's having a tail moult! Every second feather has dropped off and the replacements are still short (we see two of them). That is why we could see the light through her tail earlier.
Click on the picture, then click again, and you can also see the stain on the third toe of her left foot.
October 5, 4:56



Better view of her regrowing tail feathers here. We can see the blue of the sky right through the single row of long feathers.
4:56

[jeavverhey]

(((((Wren)))))
Thank you so much for both the pics and the explanations - you and Booni are my eyes and ears on Hornby~