Way OT But SOOOOO Cool

[Nanci]

(From my pigeon list)

This is so cool, you probably need a high speed connection to see it
though. Someone has a camera on this pair of eagles with their eggs,
they intend to keep streaming it until the babies leave the nest. The
quality is great, its like watching it on tv. Hope you all like it.

http://www.infotecbusinesssystems.com/index.asp?op=company.videoUpdate

Geez! It's like being in the nest with her!! I just saw her making adjustments to the egg!!!

Nanci

[maillotpois]

Wow - thanks. That is so cool. My daughter is fascinated by it.

[Nanci]

I don't feel like I can leave my computer until dark!!!

Nanci

[Nanci]

Nice! She turned around when I wasn't looking...

Nanci

[maillotpois]

Nice! She turned around when I wasn't looking...

Nanci

We saw it!! She's been making adjustments to the branches also.

[solobiker]

That is totally awesome. Thanks for sharing:)

[Nanci]

Did you see how many eggs she has? I only saw one when I first started watching, but she wasn't completely standing up.

Nanci

[Nanci]

She is very "busy." I have a male pigeon, Milly, on fake eggs right now, and he stays frozen like a statue for hours at a time. The eagle is very different. I suppose she doesn't have as much to fear.

Nanci

[Brandi]

I saw them the other day. My husband found them as well on line. Awsome!

[maillotpois]

We saw 2 eggs. I don't think there were any more.

So you really are a "pigeon lover"? I was wondering about that! Cool.

[Nanci]

http://home.alltel.net/nlevake/Welcome/welcome.htm

Needs to be updated!

[maillotpois]

OMG! You took a pigeon backpacking!! Excellent!

Are you taking one of them on your next brevet? ;)

[Nanci]

If there were a safe way to do it. It's more stressful, almost, to think about him home being babysat than thinking about a 374 mile ride!

Nanci

[maillotpois]

Well, if he is occupied on his fake eggs, at least he's not getting into any trouble. Good luck Saturday. I guess it should be "good luck Saturday and Sunday," right?

By the way, go over to the racing thread and respond to the woman who asked about ultracycling and brevets. You're really the sage.

[Nanci]

It's my first season. I am definitely not a sage. I am just muddling through. After Sunday, though, I _might_ be a sage. ;-)

Nanci

[Nanci]

PS, it isn't Milly on the eggs I worry about, it's poor fragile Dill, with his one (and only) paralyzed leg.

Nanci

[maillotpois]

PS, it isn't Milly on the eggs I worry about, it's poor fragile Dill, with his one (and only) paralyzed leg.

Nanci

Oh my gosh. Poor Dill! Well, I am sure he's fine when you're gone. Don't let that stress you out.

On the sage thing - you've at least done some of these rides, and your reports have been great. So you should throw in your 2 cents.

[Pax]

That eagle is just awesome...where is Hornby Island?

Nanci, your pigeon is very cool, I love how you saved him...not many would've taken the time.

[BikeMomma]

Very cool link, Nanci! I love nature stuff! :)
~BikeMomma

[im4smiley]

Our local cable access channel has had a camera on an eagles nest in our area for many years now. It is so fasinating to watch, and when the eggs hatch, soo cool. But when the babies get a bigger it is scary to see them run around the nest, I'm so afraid they will fall off the edge!

[Lise]

Oh. My. Goodness. That is a thrill, and I only had time to watch her turn her head back and forth. Thank you so much for posting it, Nanci.

Did you put Milly on fake eggs to keep him occupied while you're gone? You're a great bird mom.

Will you take a sleep break over the weekend? How does that work? Lise

[Nanci]

A friend of mine in Tampa sent me a nest bowl and a pair of fake eggs for Milly when he started displaying nesting behaviour- I guess he was about six months old? He wouldn't go in the bowl for a year maybe, but he makes nests on the floor of his cage- just a couple strips of newspaper. Then he sits there and coos for a mate. I put in one egg one day, and one the next, and he sits on them more or less round the clock for the next 21 days. Then he loses interest, and I take the eggs away, and a while later he builds a new nest in a different spot. I believe he operates on instinct- he knows to build a nest, because that's what male pigeons do. If eggs appear in the nest, he sits on the eggs, because that's what male pigeons do. (If he had a mate, they would take turns, and he would probably only have a turn from after lunch until dinner time). I don't believe he's pining away for babies, because he hasn't experienced that, but if an egg hatched, he would then know what to do with the baby.

About the ride: There is a 40 hour limit. How I spend that time is up to me. I am staying at the host hotel Friday and Saturday night. It starts at 3AM. I plan on riding at a 15 mph pace for 400k, ending up back at the hotel sometime between 9PM and midnight. It all depends on how well things go- how I feel. Then I will leave again at 4AM- I want to allow plenty of time for painfully slow riding, if it comes to that. Some people will ride straight through- that is recommended for experience if you are going on to longer 1200k rides. Some people figure any time left before the 40 hour limit is time they should have spent sleeping. I'm not going to be that cocky, especially on my first one, but I think four hours of bath tub and sleep will greatly restore things.

Nanci

[DrBee]

The eagle is awesome! Too bad I can't watch it all day. My kids will love it, though!

The pigeons - how cool! I can honestly say that I've never heard of anyone backpacking with a pigeon before. Amazing! Now that's committment! :)

Good luck with the ride!

[AuntieK]

This is SO cool, Nanci! Thanks for sharing!
I have another site where I watch a pair Peregrine Falcons who hatch and raise their babies every year. I just checked and it looks like the eggs are there!
It's not a live feed like your site (it reloads the pics every few minutes), but it's still fun to watch. You can see it at:
www.kodak.com/go/birdcam

[allabouteva]

That's an awesome site! Thx for sharing. I wonder how they got the camera up there in the first place?

Milly sounds like a really sweet pigeon. I like the way he believes in sharing the nesting duties. Now if all men were the same!:p

Re the ride, so how many kms do you think you'll end up doing in the 40 hours, and also how many people participate in the ride? It sounds very adventurous.

e

[Nanci]

I will be riding 374 miles, or more if I have any cue sheet reading errors! I hope to not have to use the entire 40 hours.

For the 400k ride, there were about 20 or 25 people. I'm sure there will be less. I don't think there will be many drop-outs at this stage, but just people who are doing the 600k someplace else.

I have everyone at work hooked on the nesting eagles now. We even got to see one fly away and the other come take over!!!

I think Hornby Island is in British Columbia.

Nanci

[Lise]

Nanci, thanks for the 411. I'm glad you'll be getting some sleep. I know how clumsy I become when I've been up for 24 hours, and how my judgement becomes slow and sometimes distorted. I was a bit worried about you riding a bike with that level of fatigue. Very much looking forward to the ride report!

[DrBee]

Looks like it's getting windy!

Nanci was correct - Hornby Island is in BC:

http://www.hornbyisland.net/

[bikerchick68]

wow nanci... that is just amazing... thanks so much for the link... I'm going to add it to the wildlife page of a garden board I'm on too! They'll love it as well... just amazing... I LOVE to bird watch! When I'm riding and see cool birds I always stop to watch and listen for a few minutes... it can drive "serious" riders a little nuts...:D

[Duck on Wheels]

Wow! Even just watching the eagle sit there and turn its head ... what dignity! Of course, the camera probably isn't just there for our edutainment, or even for research. Very likely it's there primarily as protection against egg and chick thieves. Raptor eggs and chicks are Big Business. Having a video running constantly discourages egg/chick traders from snatching them.

BTW, on our recovery hike last Sunday (day after the Cindy) Trek420 and I watched a falcon at work, swooping and hovering over ground squirrel trails. Pretty thrilling to watch, but the pictures of squirrels (and egret, and sandpiper, and mallards, and Trek's dog) turned out better.

[gromit68]

I love birds. Started with raptors(why I love the site) and recently started volunteering with a hummingbird bander. They are so cool.

[snapdragen]

Hummingbird bander! That can't be easy. I remember once there was a hummer who had found his way into the garage. He headed for the window and couldn't figure out how to get back out. I managed to catch him and take him back out of the garage. Those few seconds, couldn't have been more than a minute, of holding that tiny bird were so cool. It was an amazing feeling.:cool:

[wavedancer]

This is soooo coool!! I just saw the female fly in to take over nesting duty from the male. Thanks so much for posting this link. I am totally hooked. I heard the chicks are due to hatch April 26-30. Stay tuned!

This a forum about the nest and the eagles: http://forum.hancockhouse.com/article.php/20060321210558763

Linda

[Trekhawk]

Hey Wavedancer thanks for the other link. Cool to read all about the guy that set it up. I just saw the other bird fly in to take over duty too. The kids think its awesome. The sound is great too. Heard them calling to each other before the mate landed.

[gromit68]

Hummingbird bander! That can't be easy. I remember once there was a hummer who had found his way into the garage. He headed for the window and couldn't figure out how to get back out. I managed to catch him and take him back out of the garage. Those few seconds, couldn't have been more than a minute, of holding that tiny bird were so cool. It was an amazing feeling.:cool:


I've held 2 and it is so neat. Not many people are licensed to band so it has been an awesome experience.

[Nanci]

I have the eagle cam on at work, most of the time. I had the volume turned up so I could be alerted to potential shift changes, which are preceeded by gentle chirping. Well, this ear-splitting shriek comes out of the speaker! It was the first bird, who had just received a luncheon gift from the other bird!!! S/He got off the eggs and went and stood over at the side to eat.

Nanci

[AuntieK]

Waaaa! I can't view the eagle anymore!! :(
The link now just takes me to some guy yapping about Infotech Business Systems. Important (to some), I know, but not what I want to see! :mad:
Can anyone still see the eagle?

[Lifesgreat]

Don't fret, AuntieK, here is where you need to go:

http://www.infotecbsi.com/wildlife/

OR

click on the original link and look below the screen. You will see a link to the eaglecam or whatever it is called. The new site tells the volume of viewers.

Did you ride this morning with the Spinster? I ran and swam. . .

[AuntieK]

Thanks, Lifesgreat! Just watched one of the eagles squak and squak and then fly off. Can see two eggs.
No ride for me today. Heard it might go up over Traverse Mountain. I'm not up for hill climbing again just yet. :o

[salsabike]

Nanci, thank you. It is wonderful.

And for those of you who haven't seen this yet, here's the link to the National Zoo's pandacam, which I've been watching since the cub was born. He is very active during the day, and pandas--both cub and mom--play a LOT.

http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Animals/GiantPandas/default.cfm?cam=LP2

[mmelindas]

Nanci you are so cool and so are all you other gals who posted cam-sites on critters!!

I love to watch birds, too and have a ball watching the ones just outside our RV here in Salt Lake. I bait the birds with peanut butter, butter, and bread. I have gotten everything from Magpies, to Mourning Doves. The doves are so tame that you can about walk up to them. I opened the door to our RV and tossed bread out to the doves and they just SAT THERE! I almost hit one and it still didn't budge..so calm and cool!!:eek:

The starlings are brave enough to climb inside the jar of peanut butter which has been pecked down to the bottom, but the magpies won't touch it because it's laid on it's side to discourage the larger birds from devouring all of it!! It's a hoot to see what happens when I plaster peanut butter on the branches of the tree above the feeding station - the magpies are first to try to snatch it all. So that's why I put a whole open jar out and laid it on it's side so more birds could feast. :cool:

You should see the Starlings CRAWL inside the jar to get to the bottom!! I get redbreasted tiny finches feeding right next to large doves and starlings, no fear and all are eating their own treats: seeds, pnbutter, bread and whatever. I have taken some films of them and will try to upload some shots. I have named the magpies because each has a different personality and color banding around the wings. ;)

Way to go all you birdwatchers! I can't wait to watch all the cam-sites of birds and bears! THANKS so much for the links!!!:D