OOPS, here's the pic of the release.

As Mary Martin of California and Michael Kerr of Valley Lee unloaded her cardboard carrying box from a pickup truck last month at the old Cedar Point Officers' Club at Patuxent River Naval Air Station, the female bald eagle flapped and scratched violently inside.

Martin and Kerr gingerly carried the box across the road, closer to the Patuxent River shore. There, they carefully removed the duct tape -- lots of it -- from the top of the box and gently tilted it on its side.

As Martin slowly opened the flaps, the eagle exploded from the box, swiftly opened her 6-foot wingspan, caught the stiff breeze and shot into the sky. Cheers erupted from nearly a dozen onlookers.

"It happens so fast," Martin said. "They think you're going to eat them."

The brief moment was the culmination of a nearly two-week effort by base personnel and local animal rescue groups to return the bird to health after it barely survived a disastrous splashdown in the Chesapeake Bay.

Kerr, an engineering technician with the U.S. Navy's Atlantic Test Ranges' optical section at Patuxent River, found the eagle and her mate floating in the water during an April 15 inspection of a Navy tracking station five miles south of the base.

"When I first saw them, I thought they were tangled in something," Kerr said. The male managed to swim ashore and fly away, but the other bird did not. "She was basically pancaked in the water."

The birds indeed had been tangled -- in each other. Martin explained that eagles climb to a high altitude, lock their talons together and freefall as they mate. Most of the time, they disconnect in time before they hit the ground or water.

When Kerr found the struggling bird, he placed a call to Ron Glockner, division deputy for Atlantic Targets and Marine Operations, which maintains a fleet of small boats for recovering test ordnance.
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Glockner said he and his team recovered the eagle. The exhausted bird didn't put up much resistance.

The eagle was transferred to Martin's care. Martin runs the Back to the Wild Rescue & Rehab organization and is federally licensed to take custody of injured bald eagles. She took the bird to All Kinds Veterinary Hospital in Callaway, where Dr. Adam Terry stabilized it and diagnosed puncture wounds, abrasions and internal bleeding on the eagle's wing.

The bird then was transferred to Tri-State Bird Rescue & Research, in Newark, Del., which specializes in rehabilitating orphaned and injured wild birds.

The eagle arrived, quiet and subdued, wheezing from the inhaled seawater and suffering from extensive bruising, Tri-State Director Sally Welte said. By the second day, however, she managed to escape from her cage, but, fortunately, not her room.

"She was ready to go," Welte said. "The captivity is very stressful for them."

The facility kept the bird for a week, putting her in a flight cage to make sure she could fly and balance on a perch.

Martin said she got the call to retrieve the eagle April 19.

"They said she was feisty and ready to go," Martin said.

Using a three-driver relay, the eagle was transported from Delaware to Southern Maryland, with Martin picking up the last leg of the journey.

"She was, I don't think, too extremely stressed," Martin said.

After rocketing out of her box, the eagle made a broad sweep of the area, got her bearings and glided off to the south.

"They don't look back, and that's the way you want it," Welte said.

 

Sounds like the storm is finally making its' way into Rochester.  I can hear thunder in the distance.  A cold front is moving in and we have a high wind warning for tomorrow with gusts over 55 mph.  It's going to be a windy one tomorrow. 

Imagine up in the nest box? Were suppose to have that weather tomorrow sometime...gonna get cold again.

  UB falconcam now Live Streaming Video!

SWEET!! 

Buffalo's latest reality stars are a pair of peregrine falcons being viewed over the Web, as they nest on a chimney stack high above the University at Buffalo South Campus.

UB installed a small camera atop the 135-foot smokestack at the Mackay Heating Plant, where the endangered species first showed up three years ago.

Viewers are logging onto the webcam, which refreshes every six seconds, to follow UB's two resident peregrines, BB and Yankee.

It's a regular soap opera.

You want drama?

How about Tuesday, when viewers saw the couple's three chicks hatch.

You want scandal?

How about when BB's mate from last year returned to the nest to find he had been replaced.

"The camera helps us tremendously to be able to watch the progress of the nest," said Mark Kandel, a regional wildlife manager with the state Department of Environmental Conservation, which is responsible for protecting and managing peregrine falcons.

"But probably equally as important, or more so, is for the public to enjoy the birds," Kandel said. "It's a tremendous educational tool at all levels."

A falcon cam had been installed at the top of the Statler building, which for years has been a nesting ground for what were the only two peregrines known in these parts.

But that webcam was shut down when the Statler was, so the DEC asked UB to consider installing a camera at the Mackay Plant, where a man-made nesting box had been placed after peregrines were first spotted there in 2008.

UB was happy to oblige, installing the camera in March.


"It's a real popular site," said Al Gilewicz, UB's assistant director of utility operations. "It's a great resource for Western New York, and the university is part of Western New York and should do things like this."

Four chicks — Kevin, Tori, Athos and Zephyr — hatched when two peregrines returned to UB last spring, Gilewicz said.

But when BB arrived at the nest this season, observers discovered she had linked up with a different male — Yankee.

After she produced three eggs, last year's male, Smokey, returned.

He wasn't happy.

There was a big fight, but in the end, Yankee, showed the old beau the door.

It's actually a good sign for the recovery of peregrines, said Connie Adams, a wildlife biologist with the DEC.

"You have more peregrines than you do nests, which leads to fights," Adams said.

And all the action was caught on the webcam.

One of the eggs broke during the lovers' quarrel, but BB soon laid another, Gilewicz said.

"Over the last couple [of] weeks, people were wondering when they were going to hatch," Gilewicz said, "and it happened early this week."

Once again, the webcam captured the moment.

In a few weeks, when the three little peregrines are a little older, someone from the DEC will climb to the top of the UB chimney and band the chicks to help track them once they leave the nest.

They are amazing birds, Kandel said.

When a peregrine falcon locks in on its prey — other birds — it dives in the sky at speeds in excess of 100 mph and uses its talons to stun its prey or pluck it out of midair, Kandel said.

"I've only actually seen it happen twice in all these years," Kandel said, "but it's really something dramatic to see."

And while peregrine falcons are still on the endangered species list in New York, they are making a comeback.

In 1965, there were no peregrines nesting in New York, but after many years of preservationists protecting the birds and hatching eggs while in captivity, there are now more than 60 nests around the state, Kandel said.

While the birds are known to make their homes on high cliffs and peaks, the peregrine falcons have fast become urban dwellers, as they have taken a liking to tall city buildings and structures.

There are several in the Buffalo area now, Kandel said.

Besides the pairs at UB and the Statler, there is a pair each in the Niagara Gorge, the Central Terminal and an old grain elevator along the Buffalo waterfront, as well as two pairs nesting under the Grand Island bridges, Kandel said.

Adams just heard about a pair at the Park Lane condominiums on Gates Circle.

Kandel said the federal government has taken the peregrine falcon off the endangered list, because of the growing numbers around the nation, particularly in the West.

"It's been a long road," Kandel said. "This recovery project has been going on for over 30 years, and for about 12 or 13 years, we've had just the pair in Buffalo. Now, they're starting to mushroom."

ANTI-TERROR police arrested an alleged thief trying to smuggle rare birds eggs from Wales to Dubai at Birmingham Airport on Bank Holiday Monday.

Jeffrey Lendrum was charged with climbing a mountain in south Wales to steal peregrine falcon eggs from their nest at Solihull Magistrates’ Court.

West Midlands Police said it is the first case of its kind for 20 years.

The 48-year-old, who has dual Zimbabwean and Irish nationality, was said to have the eggs strapped to his body to keep them warm.

He was charged with four offences involving the taking of the eggs from a peak in the Rhondda and hiding them to evade export restrictions.

He was also charged with the possession of climbing gear, an incubator and other equipment to take and keep wild bird eggs.

Twelve of the 14 eggs are believed to be alive.

Officers said they kept them safe by nesting them on their office computers and turning them regularly until wildlife rescue centre staff arrived to collect them. It is hoped they will eventually be returned to the wild once they are hatched.

Lendrum was remanded in custody on May 5 and he is due to appear at Warwick Crown Court later this month.

NON-HUMAN!

I don't get it....did Polly just go in and take? Wow, this is bugging me...I can see if it was another Raptor taking 1...and yeah....it's nature but unnatural.. or a first for this to happen. I'm not sure I can watch this cam now. Polly needs a spanking! Dad and mom need to put their talons down on her. 

Polly stole a baby in his mother about 18:30 tonight. I went outside and looked over the rooftops to see if the small would not have fallen and still alive but no luck ... How sad! Hoping it does not reserve the same to others.

Do not blame him, it has no instinct that tells him that something other than food. What is surprising is that Spirit has not been more aggressive with his daughter. Finally, hope it never happens again ...

This is the translation! 

Tragic news here tonight.  Looks like Polly may have taken one of the babies and they suspect she ate it.  Eve has just posted it on her blog. 

OMG!!! NO Polly! Oh please don't let her take another. 

An update from Linda...

 Eating Well.
May 07, 2010 - Toronto - Sheraton Centre
Linda Woods Reports:

The three Sheraton Centre peregrine chicks are eating well and sleeping lots.  The fourth egg is still unhatched and at this time, I’m not sure it will. If it is going to hatch, it should be with in the next day or two.

Rhea Mae and Tiago continue to be good parents.
Posted on May 7, 2010 7:05 pm
Observation for Toronto - Sheraton Centre

   

Thanks Ei. I just love the colored pics of her babies. They just look so CLEAN!!

http://www.wvec.com/news/Eagle-Banding-92895344.html  Story and video

NORFOLK -- The eaglets at Norfolk Botanical Garden are about two months old.

On Wednesday, the little ones were ID banded and the oldest, named Camellia, had a transmitter fitter to her.

It was a real team effort by folks at the Garden, the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, the Center for Conservation Biology and Nuckols Tree Service.

The three eaglets weigh nearly eight pounds.

Maybe they didn't like the main cam moving.   

  

These are the goofiest lookin' birds I've ever seen!       

Agreed...but addicting. 

[Maybe that was what Mark was talking about this afternoon. Lots of flying in and out of nest box. Any watchers catch that? There were no tweets about it. Hmmm]

From the "Large White Building" downtown I could see a lot of activity.  Many birds flying around the Times Square Building.  This was mid-morning.  No way without binoculars could I tell if there were some battles going on, but a very large concentration of birds for sure today.

Maybe that was what Mark was talking about this afternoon. Lots of flying in and out of nest box. Any watchers catch that? There were no tweets about it. Hmmm

Archer out, Beauty in @ 6:14