April 6 - 10, 2016

4/6 - Could not see either Mom or Dad on nest tree last night. D brings in a fish at 7:24 a.m. and takes off immediately. One kid (probably B6) starts 'the meal steal'. M shows up with a coot about a half hour later, defeathers, and feeds. She heads out the back door 20 minutes later. Dad arrives shortly thereafter with a fish and one kid takes it and guards it from the other. Mom brings in an afternoon snack, might have been a fish head. Dad arrives at 7:15 p.m. with a UFO, leaves a couple minutes later. B6 self-feeds. 

Photograph of the kids today by Stephanie Bullock

Stormy night on the nest.

4/7 - The kids were flapping, playing, and preening in the glorious morning sunlight. Dad brings in a “minnow” and the kids go nuts – converging on poor Dad like there was no tomorrow. Brave Dad comes back with a good-sized fish, and once the mantling subsided, he fed them. Mom serves up coot later in the day, and Dad brings in another fish. Full crops for sure. 
Video: A Flurry Of Feathers 

4/8 - Fish and squirrel on the menu today provided by Mom. One fish almost went over the side in the excitement of getting to it. Kids did some wing flappin'. Cams were reset several times today and were out of commission for awhile. 

Almost lost that one! (4/8)

Ma with squirrel. (4/8)

Pa with small fish. (4/8)

4/9 - Cam 1 was down for a good portion of the day, but we did see both Mom and Dad bring in fish and a couple of squirrels. One kid nibbles on Mom's tail, and B6 snatches a fish from Dad. One kid, probably B6, tried his best to eat a fish all by himself, but Mom finally stepped in to help. Worrisome chatters tonight when the tree rocked and the kids got scared big time (fireworks in the area). As always, Mom came to the rescue. Video: Scared Babies 

Scared Babies (4/9)

Mom to the Rescue (4/9)

4/10 - Mom and the kids slept good. Mom to LB 4:51 (14:40:44). Dad brings in a fish at 7:55 a.m. (17:44:46). He left quickly, LB/out 7:56 a.m. (17:45:30/17:45:56). Mom came in with coot at 8:07 a.m. (17:56:51). Looked like she ate most of it, only sharing a few bites with the kids. Kids spent the next hour picking at nestovers, and one tried moving a stick. One of the P's came in at 10:31 a.m. (20:20:31) with a squirrel and left about 20 minutes later. Very difficult at times to tell Mom from Dad. Dad brings in a fish at 3:36 p.m. (25:25:51). One kid shows off his wing span. Dad left from the side branch at 4:14 p.m. Mom and Dad met up in the nest tree around 8:40 p.m. They perched on separate branches and had a little conversation. Dad left after a couple of minutes, and Mom made her way down to the nest at 8:50 p.m.

Conversation between Mom and Dad (4/10)

Gena Flanigen took this photo of Ma tiptoeing on her favorite branch (4/10).