Way OT But SOOOOO Cool

[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!

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...

[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.