Tag: nest cam

Let’s Talk About Wading Feet

April 16th, 2019

Some of the coolest birds I see when I am near the banks of the Potomac River are Great Blue Herons. Why do I find these birds so fabulous? I don’t know that I have an exact reason, but perhaps it’s because they have super-long necks, just like me. I hear long necks are considered très élégant and I find I quite agree.

Do you know what else is very long on a great blue heron?

Its toes.

Great blue herons are wading birds, which means they walk in shallow water to hunt for fish. Wading birds have long toes to help them walk on squishy, wet ground. Their special toes cover a lot more terrain than short toes would cover and distribute their bodyweights across wide areas. The birds are therefore able to walk over mud without getting stuck in it.

Have you ever worn snow shoes? The same principle is at work: the wide surface area of snow shoes distributes your weight across a lot of ground, allowing you to walk across snow, not sink into it.

Finally, for this week: I am thrilled to tell you about a great blue heron you can watch live right now. It is incubating two eggs in its nest as I type this. The awesome people at the Chesapeake Conservancy and Explore.org have set up a great blue heron nest cam on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. It is simply fabulous. Be sure to check it out!
Grand Theft Nest

February 26th, 2019

Some birds build their nests. Some birds use abandoned nests other birds have built. I am going to give the latter category of bird the benefit of the doubt and assume that when they move into a found nest, they usually think it is uninhabited.

Louisa and I have been watching the National Arboretum Bald Eagle Nest Cam quite a lot and a couple of red-tailed hawks have recently been eyeing the bald eagles’ nest with the seeming intent of taking it for themselves. Scoundrels! It seems to me that the hawks know darned well the nest is not vacant.

Can you imagine how outraged the eagles must be? They designed, built and have maintained their nest for years. How irritating it must be to have to defend it from would-be thieves (don’t worry if you missed the livestream footage of the eagles defending their home – there is a video on YouTube you can still see).

Long ago I saw a similar scene: two downy woodpeckers came home to find their nest occupied by two tufted titmice. Alas, the woodpeckers appeared to be on the losing end of that conflict. From what I witnessed the tufted titmice were not going to move out. How frustrating it must have been for the woodpeckers to need to go peck a new nesting-cavity out of a different tree. Hopefully their new home was better than the one they lost – a possible silver lining. A girl can always hope!
Birding at Home

February 19th, 2019

Hector and I had promised Louisa that we would take her to the National Arboretum on Saturday to do some bird watching. Unfortunately, Louisa got the flu, poor kid. She was very unhappy about having to cancel our outing.

I tried to comfort my sister by promising we would go as soon as she was well again, but Louisa would not be comforted. She whined in that pathetic, stuffed-up, nasal voice one has when one is sick and complained that everything was HORRIBLE and that she was SO DISSAPOINTED she might DIE.

Then I had an idea and it was brilliant, if I do say so myself.

“What if we could go birding in your room, Louisa? Would that make you feel better?” I asked.

She thought about that for a minute.

“Are you bringing me a pet cockatoo?” Louisa asked in response, sounding pretty darned excited all of a sudden.

“Er… no,” I answered. “But I have an idea. Gimme an hour, okay?”

I got to work and ran over to Auntie NuNu’s house. I asked NuNu if I could borrow her tablet. Auntie NuNu said sure and got it all set up for me. Then I went to my parents’ place and set the tablet up in Louisa’s room.

“That’s not a cockatoo,” Louisa whined miserably.

“I told you I wasn’t bringing you one, silly. But this will be fun. I promise.” I kissed my sister’s feverish forehead and told her to watch the screen.

“What is this? This stinks!” Louisa screeched as we watched an empty bird’s nest wave around a little in the breeze.

“It’s the National Arboretum Bald Eagle Nest Cam! We can birdwatch right here in your room! This is awesome. Trust me. Two Bald Eagles live here,” I said as I pointed at the screen. “Just keep watching. The eagles are fixing their nest up and preparing for the arrival of some new chicks. They’ll be home again soon, I swear.”

The livestream was, admittedly, pretty dull just then as the eagles were not home. The show doesn’t get really good until the chicks hatch and as of now the eggs haven’t even been laid. But it was birdwatching and we were in her room. Louisa harrumphed then watched the screen.

Alas, it was a while before anything of interest happened. Then one of the eagles finally came home with a fish and settled down to eat it. I looked over at Louisa to see what she thought now that one of the birds was home, but she hadn’t noticed. Louisa had fallen to sleep.

Tag: nest cam

Let’s Talk About Wading Feet

Grand Theft Nest

Birding at Home