... has begun and heaven help us all.
Ya know, I thought it was bad enough last year but this year it's begun already. Let me give you a little bit of history on how eagles became my obsession. It all started so innocently.
Those of you that hadn't witnessed it, had certainly heard me talking about it. There was a cam put up on a bald eagle's nest on Hornby Island, British Columbia last year. It was amazing. An up close and personal view of the day to day operations of a breeding pair of bald eagles. I watched them diligently turning those eggs and taking turns, giving each other breaks. What a beautiful pair they were. I was saddened when we reached around the 40th day and no little 'lets hatched. It turns out they were an older breeding pair and the eggs were infertile, hence the no hatching, there was nothing in them to hatch.
Sad days for a bit but thankfully, David Hancock and his team got a camera up and running on a nest that had two eaglets in Saanich, BC. As sad as it was for the Hornby pair, these guys turned surrogate for me and helped me see what I otherwise would have missed with the elder eagles, the raising to fledglings. Those two little 'lets were quite the characters to watch. At different points they were; marbly looking, looked like they were about to explode due to tumours (turned out to be crops), resembled Mini Don Kings and later developed personalities. I never would have thought that possible.
They affectionately became, "Big," (older of the two an most likely female) and, "Lil," (total underdog and likely male) to me and forever will be. Real original, eh? Lil probably wouldn't have made it if a few fellow viewers who lived in the area, hadn't gone out and left food for them. There were many tears, tantrums, laughs and heart stopping moments to be had. I watched those 'lets do everything from pooping to taking their maiden voyage and falling from branch to branch on some rough landings. I also got to see the day to day struggle of survival of the fittest, even though it was hard by times particularly when the Lil one was clearly not the fittest. Nature can be a cruel force.
On this day that I write this, it looks like we've got the first egg of '07 in the nest bowl. Three or four eggs are generally laid 3 days apart. They'll be incubated for about 35 days. So for the next couple of weeks you can tune in and expect to see Ma (or Pa, as they share incubation) in this position. This is Ma on the wide angle camera...
The easiest way to tell them apart is by their size, number one. The females are much larger than the males. Sometimes when it's only one in the nest though, this can be tough. I tend to go by their heads. This'll take more of a trained eye but Ma's head is much broader from eye to eye and front to back. Her beak is also much thicker and with a more pronounced hook.
If you click on the close up camera, this might be what you'll see. Ma loves to keep her eye on the camera. This picture really shows how broad her head is...
This next pic gives you an idea of what her beak's like. It could snap your finger off in the blink of an eye. These guys can have wing spans up to six feet...
The egg is placed wayyy down deep within the nest, so deep that the cameras haven't picked up on them yet. The nest is about 5' across. The parents seldom leave the nest unattended and if they do, it's usually no longer than 15min. Here they are on the close up cam, looking down on the eggs in what's known as the, "bowl..."
Even though things have been quiet with all the incubating, something exciting always happens when you go to the bathroom, even though you just had your arse plunked there for an hour with nothing going on. I got to see Pa come in, bringing Ma a fish, watched her mantle over it, driving him off and even got to hear her tearing apart the fish. All the while, the both of them screeching at each other. Now that's reality TV at it's finest...
Look at that wingspan...
There's also been past eaglets stopping in to visit the nest. This was likely one of the previous year's baby's coming in for a visit. Looks too mature for last year's (too much white, takes them about 5yrs.) but cool just the same...
If anybody's interested in checking it out, feel free to follow this link to go to the webcam. Scroll down. You're going to see a video loop of the two adults until you click on a choice on the right. One's the close-up camera and the other's the wide angle camera, same views that the above pictures are taken from. Feel free to click the advertisements you see as they're currently seeking sponsors (donate if you can) but also take in money for each hit the ads take in. You don't have to buy. Hey, any little bit helps when this is being offered for free.
Also, if anything I've said has left you a little confused, feel free to follow this link and you'll see our nest map and also a vocabulary of what things are called, no not all of them are technical terms, lots of slang we came up with on our own. This is also a website I go to. Observations are kept on nest happenings, with times, that'll help you catch up on what you've missed and also helps out with research.
No, not mating, just a changing of the guards...
Right about the time I was just figuring out we had an egg, I went out for a smoke break. While out on the step (which faces the river) I saw an eagle soar from one end of the neighbourhood to the other. It appears they're back around here too. That's cool, I haven't seen any in over two months. Now, if the snow'll go away it'll be much easier for me to chase them.
Hopefully I've been able to educate you a little on the life of an eagle. I knew nothing before I joined this website. Heck, I didn't even know we had any around here! It's opened my eyes to a whole new world and if I can get someone else as hooked on this crazy thing as I am, my job is done.
'Til next time...
Hey All, it's been awhile. Not much has been going on, with, "Franken-Liss," (Scott's new nickname since she'll be a donor recipient) incapacitated, we've been a little grounded. Our usual excitement consists of doing something immature (see post of us running up and down sliding hill) or trips back to the camp. Needless to say, crutches aren't condusive to any of that activity.
I did manage to go on a bit of a shopping spree in Moncton last week. After trying to find an external hardrive around here to hold my pictures and massive amounts of music, finding that I'd have to pay almost $200 when I knew full well they were cheaper, I figured the gas'd pay for itself. Caprice had also been talking about Moncton as she was now excited about buying bras off the rack as opposed to having to special order. A perfect excuse for a roadtrip, right?
That's the first time I've gone specifically for shopping in Monton in ages. I try to keep my shopping on the river for the most part but a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do. Going the Rogersville way opened up a whole new load of shopping down that end. Five hours later, we finally made it to the mall. Tore the place upside down and only found one shirt for Caprice. Hey, when you go from a size G, to a C, your bras ain't the only thing that don't fit anymore.
We managed to end the day with 3 bras and 3 shirts for Caprice and I was thrilled with my purchases. I'm not exactly your typical girl, I guess you could say a bit of a technology geek as I was skipping out of Future Shop with a 250Gb external hardrive and a new polarizing lens for my camera. I ended the day with those two things and a shirt, all for less than what I would have paid for an 80Gb (more than 2/3rds less storage) at Staples on the river. Sheesh, and they wonder why we take our shopping away!
Work has also been going smashingly. I was starting to get discouraged, second guessing my decision to getting back to hair. I was slower than I'd expected, although still very busy. Holy, nothing like an ego burst. This week alone though I had three of my old clients show up back in my chair. Don't get me wrong, I guess they've been slowly trickling back all along but this week just re-affirmed it. I guess that's what I get for not calling any of them, even though I had their numbers. After having abandoned them for five years, I didn't want them to feel obligated though. The river can be a very small place when it comes to that sort of thing. Politics on any level aren't fun!
Also got some interesting news about my car. I'd been smelling prestone every now and then so I took it in to Girouard's Repair Centre (love Ronnie and Alan, never do me wrong or treat me like a stupid girl) on friday. Smelling prestone's never a good thing as that usually rules out lines 'cause it means it's higher up. Ever the optimist, I hoped for the best but prepared for the worst. I called them back today as I got the news at work when I had 1min. to talk with my next client sitting 10ft. away. Turns out it's the head gasket (sucks 'cause a re-built head would be cheaper) but nothing too serious... yet! It's now being sealed with a leak sealant but it's something I'll have to keep an eye on (watch prestone level and temp. gauge) and get replaced before too long. At least the oil changes have been looking good and nothing's getting in the cylinders... phew!
Guess it's a good thing we're not going to the camp as I'll be looking at about $500 in repairs. At least Girouard's is willing to do it as most aren't. Considering I just spent $300 last month (dang Wellington St. making me need shocks sooner), I'm now debating whether it's worth keeping this sinking ship afloat. It'll be a brand new car before too long if I keep replacing parts! At this rate, it'll be cheaper to buy a new car as those repairs would just about cover a payment and insurance. Might be time to start looking for the 4X4 I really need.
Speaking of Wellington St., not long after my last rant about it, I went out, with tripod, to capture some of this nonsense that's considered a road. Notice the shadows?
Right up the road from me is one of the worst spots so I got a few pictures there but the pictures don't sum it up quite as well as video. This video shows how much of a roller coaster this road is. Check out the neverending bounce of the headlights! This video shows a car hitting the above pictured bump. I wish I hadn't zoomed in so tight as you can't see how it truly launches on the off side. This street is such a friggin' mess. There's two other spots on it between here and the Irving that are a nightmare. The rest of the points in between aren't as bad but still enough to make me stick to the shore road.
We've been getting hit with lots of snow this winter and this weekend was no exception. Friday night we got hammered with about 20cm. but it stopped long enough to leave a beautiful day on saturday. They were calling for scattered flurries (5-10cm.) throughout saturday but then we ended up getting wailed again. I've now lost all faith in weathermen as they don't have a clue what's coming in! One storm came from the west (friday's) and the second one came up the eastern seaboard. We must've got about a foot of snow in that one but it's sorta hard to tell exactly how much as it was quite wet and packed down.
Thankfully the clouds stayed clear long enough on saturday to get to see the lunar eclipse. I didn't watch that much of it at night as I've seen (and photographed) them before. The cool thing about this one though was that I got to see it in the daylight. It was beginning when the moon was first coming up (and huge) on the horizon and I saw it on my way home from work. I must say, that was aweseome. For fun, here's a pic of a lunar eclipse I photographed in TN in 2003. This was pre-tripod days so I had my camera set up on a sawhorse at a construction sight. I also cut/copied/pasted all the individual moons in to create this collage. Unfortunately, the second half got rained out.
One good thing about taking the shore road on my Wellington St. boycott though, is that it presents me with nice night shots. This is similar to the other winter picture I took a while back at the first of the season. Quite a bit more snow now! Pardon the lack of tripod.
Forever the sunset chaser that I am, the Napan Bridge provided a perfect backdrop for these winter sunset scenes. For anybody that loves taking sunset pictures, this is a perfect place to do it.
Something that's a familiar winter sight around here is snowmobile trail groomers. I got lucky that this guy happened to be there for this picture. Once again, pardon the lack of tripod. I really need to start carrying it in my car.
This picture cracks me up as it's typical for animals to hang around looking for people food droppings. Darcy doesn't usually put up with it but I asked him to wait so I could get a picture of this. It's not too often you get to see a cat doing this but then again, Teddy isn't your typical cat. Gotta give him credit for smarts, he's the only cat I know that looks both ways before crossing the street.
Of course, what would Skidd animal pictures be without pictures of Jake. Ya know, it's hard not to make him a subject when he's such a goof. This picture was taken within days of Liss' incident. The animals were somewhat displaced as her new bed was then the couch, which was their usual bed. He did this after he tried getting up on the couch and we wouldln't let him. The lengths he'll go to find a nice sunbeam...
Other than that, not much going on for fun and excitement on the good ol' Mystical Magical. Liss is rolling along on her road to recovery and keeping up her great attitude. Her second surgery's been bumped up to March 16th which is 10 days earlier than once planned. She's started her physio and doesn't even hate the therapists yet, which I hear is a common side effect of physiotherapy. The bathroom's also been put back in downstairs to make life much easier for Liss, which I know I'm also thrilled about as I growled Darcy for years for taking it out. Comes in handy during kitchen parties. ;)
Oh, I've also joined an online dating site, Plenty Of Fish. Other than Mr. Bodybuild NB in his pink loin cloth, who lists one of his interests as, "tanning," and a really cute biker dude who has an interest in, "electromusic," (what the hell is that exactly?) there's been not much more there of appeal. So far, a new way to waste time and if nothing else, maybe I'll find, "Mr. Right Now."
'Til next time...
