White object in nest
Hi All, many of you probably observed the white object that was visible in the nest for about the past week. It is no longer visible as of about 11:00 am this morning. I think this is a great chance to point out that many different items, natural and unnatural, find their way into eagles nest. In visits to nearly 200 eagle nests in Maine, New Hampshire, and New York BRI scientists have observed unnatural 'trash' in roughly half the nests. The wide variety of items found range from paper wrappers to fish hooks and line to pieces of plastic. The item that was brought to the nest on October 8th appears to be very lightweight as it waffled int he wind. I could only guess at what it could be. However, it is notable that the eagle spent quite a bit of time 'working' the object and appeared to tear it to smaller pieces so it is possible that it was a prey item of some type. It would be interesting to hear about anything specific that you all see that might help us figure out what this item was. I recommend watching the video at the address that GG posted for a good look at the object and the eagle manipulating it.
All the best,
Patrick Keenan
BioDiversity Research Institute
All the best,
Patrick Keenan
BioDiversity Research Institute
posted by Bald Eaglecam at 1:00 PM
11 Comments:
Patrick, I was wondering what that thing was as well. But darn it I keep missing the Eagle visits.
Last year they brought in one of those face masks like what a carpenter wears. It was pretty comical.
Patrick, As we discussed I still feel that it was something like a dryer sheet. Not sure if the nest is around a neighborhood where it might be taken!! Thanks, Bev
Hello everyone … 10/14/08 5:15 PM
It’s been a long holiday weekend for me. I really haven’t seen much of the Eagles lately as there is some construction going on. Here are 2 videos of their visits. It has been a pretty windy day today and this morning that white object in the nest lifted up and back down so carefree. The first video is 10/08/08 second video is 10/12/08
Have a wonderful evening ...
Maine Bald Eagle Visit ... 10/08/08 ... 3:45 PM
Maine Bald Eagle visit 10/12/08 8:18am
Peggy
BRI BLOG
Evening everyone 10/14/08 10:30 PM
Maine Bald Eagle White Thing Leaves the Nest VIDEO
Just so long as it isn't a dust mask! I still think they thought the dust mask was a broken egg and it confused them and frighened them off from egg laying this past season.
15 Oct 08
GG,
Great video! I agree with your assessment that the eagle seemed to be eating at the object, but that it looked more like a piece of paper.
One thing I did notice was that the first time the eagle heard the nail gun from the construction site, he perked up his head as if to notice, but for the rest of the clip, the noise was totally ignored. We can't be sure it's close by either, because with the nest being over the water, sound carries a long way.
Bill in Conn.
Thanks for all these comments. Bill, I tend to agree that noises are probably not a major disturbance to these eagles especially when they are outside of the actual nest site area itself. Also a good point about noise carrying. Peggy thanks for the take off video, good evidence that it was not a prey item but paper or dryer sheet or...who knows maybe it was a fish flavored wrapper.
It looks like another breezy day.
Best,
Patrick
Live cam not working this morning. Wonder if you, Patrick, have access to the controls from your personal computer.
Lots of noises last night on or very near the camera. Curious about what the camera looks like. Is the audio separate from the cam? I assume there is a housing around it. Would think we would see whatever keeps playing around. I do know that any sound would be amplified but sometimes it sounds as if an animal or bird is on it or in it. Hope nothing is destroyed. Curious if you all fixed the infrared bulb that went out at the beginning of the summer when you all went up there.
Anxiously waiting for the live feed to come back this morning. Thanks.
Sorry meant to put date in above post.
10/15/08
And also I think the "white thing" was a piece of butcher's wrap. Pretty large piece.
Unable to connect to live feed...any suggestions? Thanx
Hi all, to address your questions about the cam. It is a durably encased camera with a hardcased microphone mounted seperately. We have not reinstalled the IR bulb yet because we want it to last through the season, bulb life runs about six months so we decide to replace it closer to the start of the breeding season. thanks for the questions and enjoy the cam.
Best,
Patrick Keenan
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