Maine Bald Eagle Cam Discussion

[JudyB]

Here's the basic info:

Libby Dam, Montana - Bald Eagle Cam

US Army Corps of Engineers Libby Dam Eagle Cam site
Direct link to cam >> http://www.nws.usace.army.mil/publicmenu/DOCUMENTS/libby/eaglecam_refresh.html
The camera has still shots updating every 10 seconds.

Libby Dam is located on the on the Kootenai River in northwestern Montana. The nest, also known as the Souse Gulch Eagle Nest, was established in 1996, with the first eggs in 1997. Since then, the pair has fledged 19 eaglets, including two in 2007.

Based on past experience, look for eggs in mid to late March, chicks in late April, and fledging in mid July.

2008 Season:

• eggs laid: the cam web site reported an egg was seen March 19
  
• hatched: there were two tiny chicks April 29!
  
• fledged: hard to tell from camera angle, but around July 15 (81 days - 11.5 weeks) and July 20 (84 days - 12 weeks)
  
• last seen: both seen August 13 (15.5 weeks), one seen August 27 (17.5 weeks)

2009 Season:

• egg(s) laid: seen March 17
  

(Information and 2007 screen cap of fledging from US Army Corps of Engineers Libby Dam Eagle Cam site)

And here's today's update - pictures of the two little eaglets:

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2010 Eaglet Info

[Lori]

JudyB... I've been watching the Libby Dam eagle cam since last year. I think it's mentioned in one of the threads somewhere...
Shame it's not a better cam. It's a beautiful nest and location.

[JudyB]

Part One of posts copied from another thread.

[JudyB]

Part Two of posts copied from another thread.

[JudyB]

Judy has set this thread up for us to post about the Libby Dam nest in Montana. I think I've copied all the posts we made on the Fort St Vrain thread here, and I'm going back to remove my posts from that thread.

Hopefully that will take care of any confusion that was happening - and let us watch these little ones as they grow! They are indeed cute - and it looks like a beautiful area, as Lori mentioned!
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2010 Eaglet Info

[Lori]

Thanks Judy and Thanks JudyB for setting up the Libby Dam eagle thread.
I have 2 pictures I took today actually and had no where to put them. They are on my computer at work so I will post them here tomorrow morning.
Now, off to delete my posts on the FSV thread so as not to cause any confusion........

[SamJennsGrandma]

Thanks Judy and Judy. I will go delete mine as well (except for the last one maybe, I'm thinking about it).
I need a seperate "My Favorite Places" just for my eagle and osprey nest cams and forums.
If the time is correct on the cam, it is still pretty light though getting dark. Maybe the sun or moon shining off that lake (river) helps. Mom looks like she is off to bed.
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Carla

[Lori]

These 2 pictures are from yesterday.

I was starting to worry because I couldn't find the 2nd eaglet. I finally found it... right behind the parent. Really blends in.

[JudyB]

They are getting big! Keep meaning to e-mail the address on the web site to see if they know when they hatched - all I know is there there were two tiny chicks on April 29, which means they're a bit over 4 weeks old now.
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2010 Eaglet Info

[Lori]

JudyB.. Have you seen this website too?
http://www.libbymt.com/webcam/libbydameaglecam.htm
This site says that the first egg was observed March 19 and the 2nd egg was observed on March 24. It also gives great nest history from the previous years as far as chick counts go...
I'll have to go through the picture archives when I get a chance and see if I can find any hatch information for this year.

[JudyB]

No, I hadn't seen that, Lori - thanks! It looks as if it might have fizzled out in March - or else whoever is doing this is as far behind as I am with some of my web site (we won't talk about Tesoro ).

I also see that they now are saying there were two eaglets in the nest on April 27, two days earlier than my initial picture of two. I'll add that information and some of the other material in a day or two. I hope.
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2010 Eaglet Info

[SamJennsGrandma]

Is this cam always live or do they show clips once it gets dark there. It justs seems awfully light for the time of night. Not that it matters, I watch anyway.
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Carla

[JudyB]

I don't know, Carla - if the nest is in the western part of Montana, it could be light quite late - and it's definitely light long after the sun's gone down in Maine! And Montana, like Maine, is far enough north to have longer days than more southern places (like maybe Maryland ). I know I looked at the Tesoro cam in Florida at 6 am (or maybe a bit earlier) - when it was bright and sunny in Maine - and it was still quite dark there!

Here are a couple of pictures from today. I've sent an e-mail to the website to see if they know when the eaglets actually hatched - but for now, all I know is that there were two chicks in the nest on April 27, and they were quite small on April 29 when I first looked at the nest - so I'm guessing (on the basis of very limited data) that the eaglets hatched April 25 and 27. If that's actually true, the older one is 5 weeks old today!

You can see a definite difference in feather development (which suggests there might be 3 days between them, not two) - and there are a couple of glimpses of their really big feet!


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2010 Eaglet Info

[Lori]

Hey look JudyB!!!! In your first picture from today they are different colored like Westie and Surprise are!!!!! I might have to show them on the CHIL forum. They all were guessing that it was caused by eating different diets as newly hatched chicks. These guys blow that theory out of the water. I've always thought it might have something to do with what s*x they are... (didn't want to type that 3-letter word to avoid unsavory ads )
Those are great pictures!

[JudyB]

I'm not convinced they are different colors - though they might be! I was thinking it was more that one had a lot more feathers, which is partly the case with Westie and Surprise - but not the whole story! And I chose pictures that accented the feather development.

I'm too tired to post more pictures tonight - will try to add a couple more tomorrow that show more of their down and less of the older one's feathers - and will watch again tomorrow for a while with that in mind.
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2010 Eaglet Info