Category: Colorado Mileposts
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Say’s Phoebe at the Feeder
The weather the last few days has been rotten — hovering right around freezing, enough snow to break branches off trees that thought it was spring, for crying out loud, and put out leaves. The cold and wet has driven lots of birds to our feeders, too. This is one I have never recognized in…
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Spring storm brings cold, wet; hummers come to feeder
As a violent spring storm crosses the country, the temperatures along the Front Range of Colorado are hovering in the low 40 degree range, and may dip below freezing tonight, and the drizzle we’ve had all day may turn to snow. Yet hummingbirds have been in the area for a month. These little guys have…
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Prepping for Take-off
The day after I last posted, I noticed new behaviors with the Bald Eagle chicks — they began stretching and flapping their wings… …and they began feeding themselves — just a little at first, but it’s a milestone. As with all new skills, wing-flapping takes a lot of practice, and the willingness to fail. They…
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Birds coming back
We’ve been following the Bald Eagles at Fort St. Vrain power plant closely this spring. But other birds are showing up, too. Spotted Towhees scratch in the soil for insects. But in the spring, you can hear the males calling “tche-tche-tche-cheee!”as they perch on the tips of trees. (https://amylaw.blog/2014/06/02/spotted-towhee/) A pair of black-capped chickadees spent…
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One month old
This is one of the few times I have seen both the chicks go after the same morsel of food. Notice that the unhatched egg is no longer visible. I don’t know if they carried off, or if it just finally got buried in nest material. One of the things that has really surprised me…
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Ten days of growth…
Mama eagle shades the chicks. At this point, they are 9 days old. Up until this day, I hadn’t seen them out of the central depression, where the failed egg remains. But once they started exploring, they rambled all over. I’m a little annoyed, because Mama eagle is in the way of a nice shot…
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Two out of Three
It’s been ten days or so since the first two eagle chicks have hatched. They have grown and become much more active. The third egg, though, is probably not going to hatch. Today, the mother eagle stopped brooding the egg entirely. Even if the last egg did hatch, the chicks get fed on the basis…
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Two eaglets are doing fine; waiting on the third.
Two of the bald eaglets seem to be doing fine. Mom and dad take turns feeding them. But if the third egg is going to hatch, it needs to do it soon.
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Not one, but two eagle chicks!
When I checked in on the bald eagles this afternoon, I thought I saw two balls of fuzz. But it was really hard to tell. Then the mother eagle stepped back, and I could see a bit better. Two little heads, one egg!
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First Bald Eagle Chick at Fort St. Vrain Nest!
The first bald eagle chick at the Fort St. Vrain nest has just hatched! In the first screen shots I took this morning, the eagles hadn’t even moved the egg shell out from under the adult! According to the Excel website, the chick made it’s way into the world about 10:00 last night. Father cleaning…
Amy Law, Science Geek 