Besides the fact that Redding is a beautiful place to live and a great place to watch eagles on a daily basis, we are pretty darn lucky to have a local newspaper who supports and appreciates our eagles as much as we all do!
Sunday's Record Searchlight has an article about our book winning the Gelett Burgess Award...

http://www.redding.com/news/2012/jun/30 ... cling-for/

Shasta was able to land on Bluff Branch!!!

I found her there this morning around 10am, followed shortly by her Mama and Papa! It was so great seeing all 3 of them sitting up there together! Shasta was as vocal as ever! It made me wonder if female juveniles are more vocal than males? The past 2 years, the females have vocalized much more than their male siblings. They were both first-borns, too, not sure if that makes a difference?
Here are some pictures of the family...

Evening Friends

2012 Fundraising Drive & Update

Many of you are aware that Hancock Wildlife Foundation (HWF) is currently conducting their 2012 Fundraising Drive and I have offered to lend a hand and update everyone on our Fundraising efforts thus far ... where we are now and how far we have to go yet.

First and foremost on behalf of David Hancock and the entire Hancock Wildlife Foundation family it is my pleasure to extend our warmest thanks to each and everyone of you for your continued support .... your contributions in time and in donations keep this forum family thriving and without your support we would surely have to close its doors.

The forum and the cams provides all of us with a unique opportunity to share in the wonder of wildlife and to visit with our friends both feathered and human :-) here on the forum. So thanks again for all that you do to support Hancock Wildlife Foundation you truely are the heart and soul of our HWF community.

There are some amazing things planned for 2012 and if you have not yet seen the Needs List yet here is the link to the list:

forum/viewtopic.php?topic=356429#356429

As you can see HWF really needs $100,000 to make all those dreams realities!

Currently we have raised about $11,000 that means we still have a shortfall of $89,000 for 2012

The funds raised to-date includes all donations received between November 2011 to June 2012 so you can see although we have made some pretty good progress we still need to raise $89,000 to achieve our fundraising goal for this year.

I am not sure if you are aware of this ...but HWF is a not for profit organization; they do not receive any grants or government funding they rely purely on donations to keep the forum and cams streaming so your support is truely needed.

There are efforts underway to secure some corporate sponsors to help us meet our financial targets but it's a work in progress. If you have any corporate contacts that you believe would be willing to donate or sponsor HWF please contact me or anyone of our volunteers and we will certainly ensure that your tip or referral is followed up on. Please include all contact information to facilitate that process.

The birds will soon be leaving their nesting areas providing David with a very short window of opportunity to visit each site and perform cam maintenance and do any upgrades and/or installations, which must be completed before the birds return. So if you have not yet made your donation or if you can donate a bit more please consider making it asap so that the equipment can be ordered and delivered to meet this short timeline.

To make your donation click on the link below

staticpages/index.php/HowToDonateToHWF_Fast

Thank you to those of you that have donated already. To those of you that cannot afford to make a donation right now we thank you for your continued support.

Together we make a difference and as a team we create magic and keep our HWF family united

In closing on behalf of our forum family I would also like to extend our warmest thanks to David Hancock for his dream brought us all together and David is responsible for keeping us connected and for educating so many ... warmest thanks David from all of us here...you are the best.

As donations come in we will keep you updated so that we can celebrate our progress together as a family!

Now lets create some magic together ...... Lets Go Team Lets Go



PS Sorry for being long winded...next update will be shorter I promise!

Debs for that information! And, all of us here extend a big thank you to David Hancock and all of the tremendous folks at Hancock Wildlife who have inspired, educated, and shared our passion for eagles with us!

I am currently on a trip to North Carolina and Virginia, so have not been able to post for the past week and a half!!!
I had a wonderful send-off the day I left! Patriot and Liberty were chasing each other around like teenagers in love! I had not heard them sing this much since courtship days earlier in the season! It was as if they were celebrating another successful nesting season together! They brought 2 more eagles into the world!!! Here is a video of the lovebirds singing to each other on Bluff Branch...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIbqN3ydizI

As another successful nesting season comes to a close, we begin to look forward to our 7th season with our beloved pair, Patriot & Liberty! It has been a long year for many of us as we had to do without the close-up views into the nest that we had grown accustomed to these past 3 years. However, with the help and generosity of this wonderful community we live in, the Friends of the Redding Eagles group has raised $2,000 toward the installation of a new eaglecam. We are hopeful that Turtle Bay will be able to use existing equipment to keep the costs down as they begin preparations to install an eaglecam above Patriot & Liberty's new nest.

So, keep your fingers crossed that everything goes well and that we will once again be treated to those spectacular views of eggs being laid, chicks hatching, and eaglets growing! Personally, I love watching how these majestic birds of prey so tenderly feed and care for their young. That gets me every time!

The Record Searchlight ran an article about the current situation in Thursday's paper...

http://www.redding.com/news/2012/jul/19 ... sful-fans/