January 17, 2006
Welcome to a New Season!
Welcome to our 2006 Eagle Cam Web Log! As our cam watchers from last year know, the Friends of Blackwater use this web log -- or blog -- to keep our cam watchers updated once the nesting season officially starts. Now that we have an egg, we thought we'd start the 2006 web log. If you missed last year's Eagle Cam season, be sure to visit the 2005 web log as it chronicles our fantastic adventure of watching three eaglets grow and fledge last year.
As for our new year: First we want to apologize to our faithful cam watchers for the camera moving again. While we thought we had worked out the problems from last year regarding the camera moving on us, we clearly are still struggling with that problem. The difference between the Eagle Cam and the Osprey Cam is that the ospreys are in a nest we designed and so we have greater control over their setup. The eagles, on the other hand, are near the top of an 80-foot loblolly pine tree in a nest they made themselves, and so the conditions are not ours to control. Also, the eagles are much more sensitive than the ospreys, and they don't appreciate human visitors once the eggs are in the nest.
I can promise that we are now in the process of seeking out a professional camera mount design for next season to ensure that we do not have this problem again. We feel as frustrated as our cam watchers because we did not want to disappoint our viewers this year with another compromised view. But we are actively seeking out technical assistance now, so we hope that this will be our last time of watching the camera slide out of position.
Over the weekend we had discussed making one more trip up to adjust the cam, but this morning the mother eagle laid her egg early before we could make a move. She is eight days ahead of her first egg from last year, which was laid on January 25. Normally experienced raptor couples will lay their eggs early, while inexperienced couples will lay them late, so we don't think it's a bad sign that she's starting her family early. Based on last year's nest, it's clear these parents know what they're doing.
To celebrate the arrival of our new egg, we're posting an Eagle Watchers' Guide for all our cam watchers. This 25-page guide recaps all the highlights from last season, and it's a handy file to have for anyone who has questions about what happened last year or what we can expect to see this year, if we're lucky. The guide is also enjoyable if you'd just like to relive the fond memories of last season's successful brood of three eaglets.
The Eagle Watchers' Guide is a 2.5 MB PDF file. It will be easier to read if you download it to your computer. Right-click the link below and choose "Save Target As."
You'll need the free Adobe Reader to view it, but most folks have that on their computers already. If you don't, you can download it here.
A couple additional thoughts: If you're new to our web cams, be sure to look for the “Submit” link at the top of the cam pages -- that link contains information about submitting images to our galleries. Also be sure to locate the “Weather” and “Moon Phase” links on the cam pages as well. These will tell you what type of weather the eagles are experiencing at the Refuge and will also tell you how much light they are getting from the moon during the evening hours.
And if you'd like more general information on the eagles at Blackwater Refuge, be sure to check out the Eagle page on our website.
Until next time,
Lisa - webmaster
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