#2 hatched sometime overnight...

How cute... Thanks Ei.

[I sure pray this one hatches. They've been through enough.]

I sure pray this one hatches. They've been through enough.

Winter Update #7 - March 11, 2010

Spring has sprung here in the eastern panhandle of WV. While there are still big snowdrifts to melt in the region, most of the surface snow has melted; the temps have warmed; and the red winged black birds are back--a sure sign of Spring. The eagles continue to keep their solitary egg warm and dry. They will be tested in the next few days as we have a rain event that promises to be a strong storm, but the temperatures will be in the fifties and sixties. In the event of heavy rain, watch how the eagles will extend their wings to "tent" the area of the nest with the egg. We are expecting that this egg will hatch in about ten days.

Winter Update #6 - March 4, 2010

Our eagles are tending to one egg. The other egg, which we felt had questionable viability, is now not seen, likely under the layers of grass that continues to be brought into the nest. The egg that is being incubated was layed on February 13th. This would put us into a hatching trajectory of on or around March 21. Let's hope the weather gets better and does not throw any more snowy obstacles in the way. Continue to keep an eye out for fish being brought into the nest -- March is the best time to catch big walleye on our vicinity of the river, and these birds can carry in some big fish when they are hungry.

http://www.palmetto.coop/community/osprey/env_osprey.asp  5 second refresh

Friday, March 12, 2010 5:24 PM CST
The seventh aerial census of the 2009-10 whooping crane season was conducted March 9 and 193 adults and 18 juveniles were sighted, a total of 211 whooping cranes.

The flight was conducted in a Cessna 210 piloted by Gary Ritchey of Air Transit Solutions of Castroville, with USFWS observer Tom Stehn. Fog rolling in off the Gulf in the late afternoon prevented completion of the census.

No evidence of mortality was noted on the flight other than the one juvenile which died earlier in the winter. The flight again provided solid evidence of 20 family groups currently in Aransas County. With one juvenile last seen in Oklahoma Dec. 25, which apparently separated from its parents during migration and is presumably okay and wintering in an unknown location, and the S. Sundown Island chick which died in Aransas, this accounts for all 22 juveniles found in Canada during the mid-August fledging surveys.  With the one documented mortality this winter, the current flock size is estimated at 242 adults plus 21 chicks for a total of 263 whoopers.

The March 9 recap of whooping cranes (211) found at Aransas is as follows, listed by adults, young and total:

San Jose - 52 + 5 = 57.

Refuge - 46 + 5 = 51.

Lamar - 16 + 1 = 17

Matagorda - 60 + 4 = 64 *

Welder Flats - 20 + 2 = 22 *

Hynes Bay - *

* - Census incomplete due to presence of fog.

Some cranes continue to leave their marsh territories and are searching for food on the uplands. Upland areas on the barrier islands are flooded, with numerous wet swales on the uplands up to the beach dunes. Overall habitat use documented on the flight included 27 cranes on unburned uplands (13%, or half of the previous flight’s total), two in open bays, three at a game feeder at Welder Flats, none on prescribed burns, and 179 (85%) in salt marsh. Low numbers of two to three-inch blue crabs have moved into the marshes with recent high tides, and more foraging on crabs has been noted, although blue crab numbers are still low.

Flight conditions: Winds were light and flight conditions were smooth. Visibility was challenging throughout the flight due to all the moisture in the air. Late afternoon sunshine was often shining in the pilot’s and Stehn’s faces so it was only possibly to see cranes reliable heading away from the sun. Late afternoon fog rolling onto the barrier islands prevented them from completing the census. The largest group sizes observed were nine birds seen in the marsh on San Jose and seven on the uplands on Matagorda Island.

Spring Migration, 2010

The single white-plumaged whooping crane confirmed present at Salt Plains NWR in northern Oklahoma on Feb. 24 and 26 apparently moved on to the Platte River in Nebraska where it was confirmed on March 5. No other whooping cranes are believed to have left Aransas.

A dolphin was spotted Wednesday in Brooklyn's notoriously polluted Newtown Creek.

"We were just amazed," said Roy Arezzo, one of two teachers from the Urban Assembly New York Harbor School who saw the 7-foot dolphin swimming deeper into the filthy water.

"We just stood there in awe - shouting, telling it to go back the other way. ... This is a once-in-a-lifetime sighting."

The creature may have come upstream from a spot near the Brooklyn Navy Yard where fireboat captain Bill Hannan spotted two dolphins Tuesday.

"It's heartbreaking to see such a beautiful creature in such terribly polluted water," said John Lipscomb, a patrol boat captain for environmental group Riverkeeper, who said the dolphin was likely sick and disoriented.

"We hope it finds its way back to sea," he said.

Rob DiGiovanni, director of the Riverhead Foundation for Marine Research and Preservation, said the group would monitor sightings of the dolphin and could mount a rescue mission if there were signs it's in distress.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/brooklyn/2010/03/04/2010-03-04_dolphin_up_a_polluted_city_creek.html#ixzz0i3lBMorL

European flying beast threatens Wiltshire


Wiltshire police have warned locals "not to approach" an escaped European eagle owl which could, if it felt a bit peckish, make off with cats and diminutive dogs.

The animal flew its coop in Lower Stratton on Sunday. A Wiltshire Police spokeswoman summarised: “The owner went into the enclosure and the owl flew at him. He ducked and the bird flew out."

She continued: “As it has been bred in captivity, the owl is unlikely to attack humans, but it could try to carry off a cat or small dog. If anyone spots the owl they should contact police and we will send an appropriate team with the right sort of equipment to catch it.�

Any eagle-eyed Reg reader who spots the fugitive should call Wiltshire Police on 0845 408 7000 or the RSPCA North Wiltshire branch on 01793 640136 or 0300 1234 999.

The escaped European eagle owl (aka Eurasian eagle owl, Bubo bubo) has a wingspan of two metres, and is one metre tall, the Times explains.

According to a 2008 report in the Independent, several European eagle owl pairs have established themselves in England's countryside over the years, but the species is unlikely to form a self-sustaining population without further escapes or deliberate releases.

That's just as well, according to Mark Avery, director of conservation for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, who told the paper it wasn't just cats and chihuahuas who might suffer the consequences.

He said: "One of the problems is that this bird is a top predator which can eat lots of things, and we do no know which parts of our native fauna it would pick on for its prey. So it would be better if people who own captive eagle owls did not let them escape, because we don't want any nasty surprises." ®

The Blackwater kids.  So cute.

[Have a great day. Hope your not getting all that nasty weather that's going on down there now.]

  Have a great day. Hope your not getting all that nasty weather that's going on down there now.

Your not kiddin...I think a bulb burned out some where. Dark. You can just barely make out the nest box.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/southsouthwest/ct-x-s-falconer-0312-20100312,0,231037.story

An exhibit featuring peregrine falcons is the first to be completed at the Myrick Hixon EcoPark.

The educational kiosk, sponsored by Dairyland Power Cooperative, features information about the raptors through interactive computer display in a setting that mimics bluffs and natural vegetation.

Dairyland's power plant nesting sites at Alma and Genoa have seen 70 peregrine falcon chicks fledge since 1997, helping to restore the once-endangered species in the Upper Mississippi River Valley.

"The contribution to the EcoPark provided the opportunity to share an innovative and ultimately very successful stewardship story with the community," said John Thiel, senior environmental biologist at Dairyland.

The exhibit will be dedicated Saturday during Raptor Day in the EcoCenter. A live peregrine falcon and other raptors will be on hand, and Coulee Region wildlife rehabilitators will talk about their work.

"This is just our first exhibit. We want to have a room full of exhibits by the end of summer," said Jim Gallagher, EcoPark executive director. Filling the EcoCenter will complete the first phase.

Rebuilding the former Myrick Park Zoo also will begin this summer, Gallagher said.

A zoo architectural firm has been hired to create a master plan for the outdoor and indoor live animal exhibits, he said.

Twelve major outdoor animal exhibits are planned, with the river otters as the signature exhibit, Gallagher said.

Gallagher estimated $2 million to $3 million will be needed to complete the project. Final numbers will be announced when the master plan is completed, he said.

To donate, go online to www.mhecopark.org.

Chick harvest

The issue of raising the number of peregrine falcon chicks that may be harvested out of their natural nest, is from three to five.

With about 95 licensed falconers, about 60 actually possess raptors, and one in seven is a licensed breeder in Montana. Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks provides a lot of concessions to this group. The 2009 proposed budget for the peregrine survey was $40,000 ($15,000 FWP), copies of the reports with maps, GPS locations and pictures of falcon nest ledge locations are available to falconers.

No other group — the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Trout Unlimited or the Montana Wild Sheep Foundation — receive special allowances to hunt, take or access the animals in which they support. Why? In a recent article, "Plucked over" by Jeccica Mayrer, even Montana Indian Tribes are not allowed concessions to their religious or spiritual rights. Do these groups have to file litigation to receive their "right" to the species in which they are invested?

At the 2008 Montana Peregrine Falcon Working Group meeting it was reported that only seven falconers applied for the three "take" permits available. Of the three permits assigned, only two chicks were harvested, both from the BLM tower in the Centennial Valley, and turned over to a breeder in Bozeman. In 2009, with five permits available, no chicks were taken. Where is the need to increase "take" let alone why harvest at all?

Peregrine falcons, going...going...GONE.....again.

  We have the same weather here...all weekend too! 

[Egg Lady! You "CRACK" me up!]

I just found another empty egg!!!!
greetings Aafke

Egg Lady! You "CRACK" me up!

OH and LOVE the names too..Molly & McGee...