Without commentary, today's message from the National Zoo...

April 23, 2010

We are closely observing Mei Xiang, our female giant panda, for signs of pregnancy. We have not confirmed that she is pregnant, but are happy to announce that if she gives birth, our web cams will live stream the event. Beginning tonight, Friends of the National Zoo volunteer behavior watchers will be observing Mei 24 hours a day to monitor her behavior, and our scientists will continue analyzing her hormones so we can better estimate when she might give birth.

We remain hopeful that Mei is pregnant and invite you to stay tuned to our panda cams for the latest news. Please be aware that we are limiting viewing sessions to five minutes, which will allow for more people to view the pandas via the cam. After five minutes, you can refresh the page to reconnect. If you are unable to connect, try the other cam or try again later. Read our panda updates and follow our Twitter feed.

Thanks for your continued interest and for supporting wildlife conservation around the world.

Sincerely,
Bob Lamb
Executive Director
Friends of the National Zoo

Whatchudoinoverthere? ? ?

Did anyone see what Mmme. Owl left at the camera end of the box?  Breakfast leftovers for later? 

Hey Jeanne.  Did they say where they spotted Nebesney with a mate?

As with most Michigan sightings, the original news was a bit vague.  I found this over on the CMNH board...

"Zeus, black/red 73/B, banded at this (ArcelorMittal Steel Nest Site, Cleveland, OH) site last year was spotted about 10 days ago at the Campbell-Ewald building in Warren, Michigan.
Employees have watched him bringing food to Nebesny, black 29 over black X from the Burlington Lift Bridge site in Ontario. Considering the young age of Zeus, we hope they will stay together and reproduce next year. Here is a photo of him taken yesterday...

"

I haven't seen a picture yet of Nebesny

  6 eggs




Mariah before she was rescued by Carol & Brian

Funny-I was cleaning up my work computer & found this stashed in a temp folder I hadn't cleaned out...

Thanks everyone...I just needed to get it off my chest...solutions will have to wait for daylight...

The trooper suggested I take some pictures in case they catch the guy...I didn't realize just how much of a hack job until now.  This is just one of the bushes...there are 2 others just as huge...this morning it was full of leaves & flowers...



It's just boggling my mind

I think there may be more than one owlet hatched!

I got home from work to discover someone had cut most of the flowers off my lilac bushes!  And my neighbor saw someone in a white van pull into my driveway & do it!  And thought nothing of it!  And said he'd seen him in my driveway before! (Yes, I always tell the neighbor when I have work being done when I'm not home)

The nice young trooper of course said there's nothing to be done unless he shows up again...and told the neighbor to call 911 if he does.  Said there's actually a better chance than usual of catching them since someone saw him-usually doesn't happen that way.

The $(&^% just took loppers & cut the flowers off!  There's nothing but bare naked stems sticking up in the middle of the bushes!  And he didn't even take everything he chopped!  Left cut branches with flowers everywhere-which I can't even put in a vase now 'cause they've been laying on the ground all day.   The bushes were big when I moved here 30 years ago-you can only imagine the size now.  I had a lot of old branches damaged this winter...now this *&^%!$## chopped off all the young growth!  I hope they survive.

I think my blood pressure is down out of the stratosphere but still not very pretty.  How could somebody do this?  I always felt safe here since so many of my neighbors are retired & home all day.  I guess that's shot right to heck.

Thanks for listening...now back to our regular programming...

It just seems to be our luck that every time she's maybe spotted for sure (since her Cape Cod region excursions)...the guys at Lennox didn't want to disturb Lennox man...our watchers got there a day late...excellent signals from her transmitter-except for the day we're pretty sure someone actually saw her...  AARRGH!!!

And, yes, the most important thing is that Quest is OK.

(movie)

Looks like Beauty got in on the action...

From Chris' website-
Start of Nesting: March 18 • Eggs: 4 • Weather
Daily News
April 20 - No egg hatched today, but I'll let you in on a secret that I just discovered: An egg hatched somewhere between midnight and 3:30 AM on the 21st. I haven't seen the hatchling yet, but I can report that it has a good, strong voice.

 

And a ceiling view of the sleeping baby!

From Chris' website-
Start of Nesting: March 18 • Eggs: 4 • Weather
Daily News
April 20 - No egg hatched today, but I'll let you in on a secret that I just discovered: An egg hatched somewhere between midnight and 3:30 AM on the 21st. I haven't seen the hatchling yet, but I can report that it has a good, strong voice.

 

Thanks...though she can keep an eye on it and watch the sky at the same time...probably all she needs from a favorite perch.

It's definitely lower than the nestbox.

I think she can, but I'll have to check that out.

The view is quite nice from Mercury's foot and it's much more comfortable than the money bag.   

I imagine to would be...more contoured and all that 

Still trying to get a picture in my head...can Beauty see into the nestbox from Mercury?  Or is he down lower?

The view is quite nice from Mercury's foot and it's much more comfortable than the money bag.   

I imagine to would be...more contoured and all that 

Still trying to get a picture in my head...can Beauty see into the nestbox from Mercury?  Or is he down lower?