Hawk Cam; Now With Eagle Cam Bonus!

[Darrell]

Live webcam from the U. of Wisconsin looking in on a redtailed hawk's nest. There are three chicks in the nest. They're getting pretty big, too. The parent feeds them often, showing up with a mouse or such.

http://metobs.ssec.wisc.edu/aoss/camera ... flash.html

[Darrell]

And here are the Decorah eagles--three bald eagle chicks nesting. The parents look cool when they're at the nest, the chicks (which are getting pretty big) just lie around like slugs, sleeping all the time. Sounds like they're in a high traffic area:

http://www.ustream.tv/decoraheagles

[Netpackrat]

Why would anybody want to watch trash buzzards?

[Darrell]

Why would anybody want to watch trash buzzards?

Somehow I knew that was coming.

[308Mike]

Why would anybody want to watch trash buzzards?

'Cause some of us don't get to see many trash buzzards in their neighborhood. Much like anything else, I imagine if I had them nearby for a while, then I'd get tired of them REAL quick, but I'm NOT nearby and find Birds-of-Prey fascinating. Around here, we have Cooper's Hawks, Falcons, Red-Tailed Hawks, and a few owls. I love watching ALL of them!

[Darrell]

I sit outside during break and lunch at work. There's a nice view from the patio, looking over to Pikes Peak and the Front Range. There's a creek just across the road, with a few groves of trees. We've had a resident pair of red-tailed hawks for years, it's always fascinating to watch them. Last fall a new kind of hawk showed up, and then another, perhaps another mated pair. They were quite different in appearance and behavior from the red-taileds. I did some research and had some exchanges with bird experts--most likely they were ferruginous hawks. They disappeared come springtime, and the reds came back. Both species of hawk tended to perch in a dead tree right across the road, easy pickings with binoculars. They'd often swoop down from their perch, nailing mice or rodents, then take them back to the tree where they'd devour their catch. A while back I got to watch the male show off for the female, doing fancy flying around her as she perched in the tree, then rather ceremoniously doing faux strikes down to the ground, then coming up and sweet talking her. Mating displays, I suppose.

We also have an owl or two on the property, along with northern flickers (a woodpecker species), magpies, crows, numerous house finches, and others. We also get deer, coyotes, and the occasional black bear, and families of rabbits. We've even had a couple of weasels around the building. It's fascinating to watch them all.

[Weetabix]

Why would anybody want to watch trash buzzards?

Better than watching ravens pull apart the trash bag some fool left in his pickup bed...

[Netpackrat]

Yeah... Last place I worked, some cow-orkers filled the back of one of the pickups with trash. Then they left when their shift ended, without telling anybody that they hadn't actually unloaded that stuff into the dumpster. The ravens got to it....

[randy]

Knew of an operator on the Nellis Electronic Combat ranges. Civilian operator of a SAM RADAR simulator. Really hated the crows out there, especially what they did to a new truck of his one day.

During maintenance he'd hang a bag of bird feed off the feed horn of the TTR (Target Tracking Radar, multi-kW range microwave transmitter), then when several of the crows had gathered for the feast, hit 'radiate" on the control panel.

[John_in_Longview]

It's Saturday, 6:42 Central standard time. A boy and his mother are showing their dance moves on the camera.