The Sidney BC Bald Eagle Cams (click here for Links to cams) are providing an excellent opportunity to watch this pair of Eagles raise their Eaglet. Viewers are posting screen captures, observations and discussing the activities of this nest in the Discussion Forum

The Observation Log thread contains written observations viewers post, tracking activities at the nest. Lyndabird is heading up the data collection project and taking these observations and compiling them into categories and graphs which will be given to David Hancock and other interested Wildlife Biologists. The Screenshots and Videos thread contains screenshots and videos taken by viewers.

We need as many viewers as possible to assist in documenting the activities at this nest.

Information that is particularly important to post:

Start the post with the 'nest time' (Pacific Daylight Time)

Male or female on nest (if you're unsure, then note 'parent')

Switch of male and female

Food delivery - who delivered it, what it might be and who fed it to the eaglet.

Feeding time ie 10 minutes.

Anything unusual about the eaglet's behavior

Growth of eaglet

Any other unusual happenings.

We would like to invite all viewers to post their observations and participate in documenting the behavior and activities of the Sidney Bald Eagles.

The Sidney Bald Eagle Nest cams are giving some insights into Bald Eagle behaviors that were pretty much impossible to observe before the introduction of streaming videos of a Bald Eagle's nest. One such observation that has been recently discussed in the Hancock Wildlife Discussion Forum is characteristics of the eaglet's resting and sleeping behavior. The Sidney Eaglet seems to prefer to nap and sleep directly in front of the close up camera, giving us a great opportunity to observe in detail.

Ostrich has noted that when the eaglet first settles down to rest, he will repeatedly put his head down on the nest bowl but rise and look around after only a couple of seconds. This pattern will repeat a number of times. After gradually settling down the eagle will finally appear to go into a sleeping mode for much more extended periods however, will still seem to be quite alert if a sudden sound is heard and will cause him to rise and look around instantly. Naturally the question comes to mind - is this behavior the result of needing to be alert to dangers?

Ostrich posed the question, "I wonder if there are any general differences in sleep patterns between birds and mammals"?

AJL answered saying, "One comparative study found differences in rapid eye movement sleep (in the study birds, REM sleep time was 10 to 25% lower than in mammals). When the eagles were incubating, some viewers mentioned Dad sleeping with one eye open; I don't know that regular "one eye open" sleep has been confirmed in eagles, but it has in avian species that sleep on the ground. A paper in the Journal of Behavioral Brain Research presented evidence that birds control sleep and wakefulness simultaneously in different regions of the brain. Only birds and aquatic mammals (presumably so they won't drown while sleeping) do this."

Soundguy posted a video which illustrates some of the sleeping behaviors. Ostrich explains that at the start of the video the eaglet appears to be fully asleep. However, once the parent vocalizes nearby he reacts very quickly, going from a sleeping state to an alert state almost immediately. Video can be viewed at:

Skipper has posted a Video named "The Siesta" which captures napping behavior

For more fascinating insights into the activities in the nest take a look at the Discussion Forum - Sidney Bald Eagle Nest topic

*Sounds of a Bald Eagles Nest*

The Bald Eagles Nest near Sidney has not only two camera's which provide streaming Live Video but also a microphone which is allowing detailed sound recordings of the Eagles' various calls and other sounds in and close to the nest.

Soundguy, one of our moderators on the discussion forum, is monitoring and recording these sounds and has posted voice prints, video/sound clips from this nest and also comparison sound clips from other nests.

*First recorded Feeding of a newly hatched chick * can be heard in this two minute edited clip

*Comparison of the Hornby Eagles Chatter with the Sidney Eagles*:

*Sounds of The Intrusion, where the Sidney Eagle pair protect their nest*. As many as four eagles are involved in a very loud battle at the nest:

*Three waves of Canada Geese fly very close to the nest, and the brooding eagle screeches many warnings*:

*Sounds of a Woodpecker near the nest*:

*Female Eagle communicating with her young eaglet*. This vocal fingerprint is unique. We've not heard an exact duplication anywhere, anytime from the female. Now we have a positive make on the female talking directly to her young eaglet, which will aid immensely in the study of eagle language and communication.

The above is just a sampling of some of the recordings captured so far this season. Recordings of the sounds from the Sidney Nest will continue throughout this nesting season. To read the full discussion and see other links to the recordings go to the Hancock Wildlife Discussion Forum, Sounds At The Sidney Nest

Following the fledge and departure of the Sidney Eagles this fall, we plan to create CD's and/or DVD's to store the eagle communication audio from this years as well as last years activity. These will be dated, and run chronologically.

We need a name! Fuzzy, Bobblehead, Fluffy - None of these are acceptable, neither is any name scatological or otherwise objectionable.

Contest Rules

* Each entry must contain only one name. It is suggested that you write one or two sentences as to why you chose this name.

* All entries must be individually and personally sent (i.e. not machine generated).

* Entries must be received by 23:59 (11:59PM) Pacific Daylight Time June 4, 2007.

* All submissions must be sent by e-mail to NameTheEaglet@HancockWildlife.org

* Decision of the judges is final.

* Announcement will be made June 10, 2007 - notification to First and Second place winners will be by return e-mail and posted in the Discussion Forum.

* Not open to employees or associates of Hancock House Publishing Inc., Hancock Wildlife, Insinc , or any associated companies.

Prizes:

First Prize: (Given to the first submission with the chosen name)

1. Autographed copy of "The Bald Eagle" by David Hancock, and

2. US$100 credit towards purchase of any other titles from Hancock House (shipping included within North America)

Second Prizes: Awarded to up to 10 more entries that submit the same winning name - awarded based upon receipt date/time; each receives an autographed copy of "The Bald Eagle" by David Hancock

Void where prohibited by law. Recipient is responsible for all taxes and fees imposed by their local jurisdiction. Rules subject to change without notice

It has taken far longer than anyone ever expected, but we finally have the Sidney nest cameras online in full motion video and audio. Thanks very much to the people at Insinc for giving us a hand with our own Windows streaming media server - getting it to the point where it is up and running and serving up beautiful video from all our cameras.

We'll continue to serve up the smaller 2-frames/second versions on the various sites' main pages so you can quickly see if there is anything happening on the nest - and because so many more people can watch them than can currently watch the full feeds. I'll be adding the Goldstream cameras to their page shortly.

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David Hancock and I just got back from visiting the site of another nest - this one of an osprey on the docks in Esquimalt, near Victoria.

While over on Vancouver Island, we visited the Sidney nest site where I did some minor maintenance on one of the servers and David took some photos. I've been watching the feed off and on for the past couple of weeks while working on getting one version of our free streaming working (or not... seems I'm still learning that anything that can go wrong, does). Most times I've been watching the birds have not been there, or have not been doing anything. Only one time in over two weeks ago did I see them building.

Today they were both in the nest and I grabbed some of the high-res from the archive server to show you.

Read on for more on what has been happening and why

This was originally posted to the Discussion Forum's Sidney BC Bald Eagle Nest section yesterday.

The cameras at Sidney are not yet available to the public for a number of reasons, some of them technical, some of them contractual, and some of them just plain bad luck.

The cameras are in - and have been seen to be working to the encoders at the Epicure offices, but the ADSL lines were not in to start with. Then they were finally in, and one of the cameras doesn't want to show up at the distribution point, and we have no audio.

I have spent a couple of days with eagles in saanich, the 13th and 16th. i arrived at about 8:30 on the 13th. and stopped at the airport or south end of the beach. Glassed the area and didn't see any eagles. There were a couple of blue herons feeding, and some geese. I drove down to the nest site and sat watching the nest. There were the usual crowes flitting about. Then, a large red tailed hawk landed in the top of a fir tree in the field. Most have migrated south by this time, but the weather here has been extremely mild. He left after about half an hour.

Next to arrive in the tree top was a small hawk. The crowes buz bombed him and then he buzzed them. He left, shortly there after. I then heard the familiar chirp of an eagle. It was the adults. They both arrived and sat in the viewing tree in the field. They flew to the nest and then pa started to gather branches and take them to the nest. Ma would then place them while pa satup on a branch and watched. He would then go and get more branches and twigs.

They did this for two hours and then flew south. They landed in various perch trees along the beach. When i left, they were both in the same tree at the south end of the beach. They have staked out their territory for another year.

Hier volgt de vertaling van het bericht van David Hancock. (Zie post hierboven)

Verslag van het bezoek van David Hancock aan het nest van Vic en Sid oftewel Big en Lil.

Op woensdag 6 september ben ik met de eerste veerboot naar Vancouver Eiland gegaan om het Vic-Sid nest te bezoeken, het te bekijken en voorbereidingen te treffen om de nieuwe camera's te installeren. Bij aankomst waren er uiteraard geen adelaars meer in de buurt maar de visarenden waren er nog aan het jagen en twee kalkoengieren zochten het strand nabij het dorp af naar voedsel.

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