I so wish we had that storm....what beautiful pics Paul. We got NADA!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQ50PYMXDCQ  This is actually amazing

When the NCTC eagle momma got up, I saw no eggs. I think they are under the snow but yet she continues to sit and sit. The overwhelming amount of snow was just too much for her. She could possibly lay more....but WHERE?? 

Eight endangered whooping cranes — roughly 7 percent of their wild population in the eastern United States — have taken up residence in eastern Jefferson County.

The arrival of these rare, large birds — they stand 5 feet tall with wingspans of 7 feet — has delighted Louisville conservationists and bird-watchers who have seen them.

But the birds' choice to roost in an urban area has also triggered concerns for their safety and calls for people to leave them alone.

“We want to keep the birds as safe as possible,� said Eva Szyszkoski, who tracks cranes for the International Crane Foundation, a partner in a national crane recovery project. “We want to keep people as safe as possible.�

Seven of the eight birds are less than a year old and on their first migration from Wisconsin, she said. Because they are young and impressionable, they are more susceptible to becoming overly accustomed to people, she said.

They could be drawn in too close to homes, businesses or roads, and the threats posed by people, pets, cars, trucks or industrial activities.

Officials say each exposure to humans lessens the whooping cranes' fear of people, an important survival mechanism. In raising the juveniles, biologists, veterinarians and others go to extreme lengths — including wearing costumes around the birds and not talking — to try to keep them wild.

Crane advocates are especially sensitive now, because the wild population has fallen off in recent years. There's been a food shortage in the West, and a storm in Florida killed 17 in 2007.

Authorities are still looking for someone in southwestern Indiana who last fall shot and killed the only wild female crane in the eastern United States that had been successfully reproducing.

“This was a terrible loss for our population,� Szyszkoski said.

The wild population, as of last count, is about 260, she said. Of those, as many as 105 are living in the eastern United States. There were just 16 in 1950, according to federal biologists.

Since 2001, Operation Migration, another member of the whooping crane partnership, has led small flocks of juvenile birds, using ultralight aircraft and pilots dressed as birds, on their first migration from Wisconsin to Florida, so they can learn the route.

“This was a terrible loss for our population,� Szyszkoski said.

The wild population, as of last count, is about 260, she said. Of those, as many as 105 are living in the eastern United States. There were just 16 in 1950, according to federal biologists.

The group in Louisville is part of another strategy, where young birds are paired with adults who have made the trip before, said Tom MacKenzie, the regional U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service spokesman based in Atlanta.

Not all cranes on their own go all the way to Florida. This group went as far south as Chattanooga, Tenn., then turned back.

One early morning last week, the birds stood together in a large wheat field illuminated by a low-hanging moon and the early light of dawn. A small group of bird-watchers with spotting scopes and cameras observed them at a safe distance as they began to stretch their legs and wings.

“It's so neat they would choose Jefferson County as their overwintering grounds,� said a bundled up Jane Bell, past president of the Beckham Bird Club.


Because they appear to get their needs met here, she said she thinks they might come back next year.

“Birds, like people, are creatures of habit,� she said.

The bird-watchers included Jeff Frank, executive director of Future Fund Inc., a group working to save open spaces in the area. He said he first heard about the cranes more than two weeks ago when a friend called to say he thought he had seen “giant snow geese.�

Frank has been watching the cranes on and off. He called them “some of the most extensively monitored and protected birds in the nation,� noting that some are equipped with devices that allow biologists to pinpoint their location via satellite.

Future Fund, the Beckham Bird Club and other birding groups urged their members and others to avoid telling anyone where to find them. “The birds are using private lands with no public access,� Frank said.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service also asked The Courier-Journal to avoid describing their precise location.

“If you end up with 50 people out there, their lives could be in danger,� MacKenzie said.

At the same time, officials acknowledged it's hard to keep a secret of such spectacular birds, the tallest in North America. And Frank said it says something good about Louisville that there's apparently enough nature left to sustain them.

Officials don't know what's next for the cranes in Jefferson County, but some speculated they may be waiting for the weather to warm to fly north to the Muscatatuck National Wildlife Refuge in Indiana.

Back at the wheat field, at 7:57 a.m., with the sun almost shining, the eight sprung from their long legs and took flight, soaring over the farm then heading north and out of sight.

“Oh my,� Bell said. “There they go, above the tree line. Isn't that neat.�

[We hear the Norfolk Eagle Cam in VA got their 3rd egg and the NCTC Eagle Cam in WV, which received a huge amount of snow, may have lost their eggs.]

 Eagle Nest Updates
Winter Update #2 - February 3, 2010

We had a moderate snow event overnight, and this morning our viewers noticed that the first egg had been laid. Not the best weather, but these adults are diligent and know what it takes to keep the egg dry and warm.

Look for up to two additional eggs over the next several days separated by at least 24 hours.

More snow is forecasted for Friday and Saturday, which will prove to be a challenge to the eagles.

This was posted on the Blackwater site:

We hear the Norfolk Eagle Cam in VA got their 3rd egg and the NCTC Eagle Cam in WV, which received a huge amount of snow, may have lost their eggs.


Oh I hope not....poor momma. 

[This article was in the Scotsman.]

This article was in the Scotsman.

A FEROCIOUS storm pummelled the US mid-Atlantic yesterday, dumping huge amounts of snow, killing two people and forcing traffic to a grinding halt.

Washington DC, already practically shut down after it was hit by 50cm of snow before dawn yesterday, was bracing itself for what forecasters said could be its toughest winter conditions in 90 years.

Jane Lubchenco, administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, called the blizzard "a potentially epic snowstorm" that could rival the 71cm of snow that a January 1922 storm dropped on the US capital.

Another forecaster, in a widely distributed e-mail alert, said travel conditions would be "extremely dangerous and life-threatening" and that the winter was as "bad as it gets around here".

Up to 90cm of snow was forecast for more hilly parts of the region.

Tabloid newspapers in the US were last night dubbing the blizzard "Snowmageddon" or "Snowpocalypse".

Authorities quickly responded to the freak weather conditions.

Most flights were cancelled yesterday out of the main airports in and around Washington DC, Baltimore and Philadelphia and many train services were suspended too. Road conditions were said to be treacherous, and the governor of Delaware, another affected state, ordered all cars off the roads from 10pm Friday night, local time.

A father and son were killed in Virginia when they were hit by a truck as they tried to help a car stuck in a snowdrift.

Schools across the region were shut. Supermarkets, meanwhile, faced long queues late on Friday and early yesterday as shoppers stocked up for what one of the biggest weekends of the year for US sports fans. More than 100 million Americans are expected to stay at home today to watch the American football Superbowl game.

The heavy, wet snow caused chaos as it brought down power lines. Around 120,000 homes yesterday lost electricity supplies.

Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia each declared snow emergencies, allowing them to deploy reserve agencies, including the National Guard, to help prepare for the wintry onslaught and cope with its aftermath.

Government offices closed early on Friday and museums and zoos were closed yesterday in the DC area.

Unseasonably cold temperatures are expected in the storm's wake next week in the north-east and Midwest.

"Once we get through the weekend storm, much colder air will invade the north-east and mid-Atlantic. The outlook for the north-east third of the country next week is looking much colder than normal," said Jim Rouiller, a senior energy meteorologist at private weather forecaster Planalytics.

The same weather system brought heavy rains to parts of south-eastern US, including North and South Carolina and Georgia, fuelling itself with fresh moist air blowing in from the Gulf of Mexico and South Atlantic.

I've reported this Donna.  It was another cold, windy day.  I have to wonder if this is affecting pancam.  Hopefully it will be back soon.

Thanks Carol.

The Bills!!!!  Go Bills!

OK, I'm still in denial.   

I would have liked to see the  but I'll go with the Colts.

Oh, and we're pretty sure that it was Beauty on the Kodak Tower.  I was able to get there with the Falcon Watchers Scope just before she took off and flew towards downtown.  Dana found her on Times Square.

Two Long-lenses are pointed at the Falcon on the apartment building.  Let's hope that they will be able to see if this Falcon has bands or not.

Maybe Archer's back!

[WanderingFalcon (Carol P.):]

Dana reports that the Falcon is still there at 3:05 pm.  She and Joyce are waiting for that take-off shot. 

WanderingFalcon (Carol P.): Falcon Watch 2/6/10 2:15 pm - Dana reports a Peregrine on the Kodak Tower on the arch ledge above where the old nest box used to be.

Link:
http://twitter.com/WanderingFalcon/statuses/8733913157

Oh boy...hope not Mariah.....or just for a second, I had a flash of Kaver....but it's probably Beauty.

http://www.fws.gov/nctc/cam/stillimage.html

I see snow

The one with the twig, trying to build a nest inside???  Maybe??

Yes, I wish they posted more about it. They did say it was trying to build a nest in the guitar.

  Good Grief!  The plows have been at it night and are loosing the battle!  Can't find our driveway and my lawn flamingo is buried.  Many pictures will follow...