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--Boundary_(ID_bnfWcWLOSkqM8cS2qyWilg) Content-type: text/plain; CHARSET=US-ASCII; delsp=yes; format=flowed Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT JAN. 30, 2010 (cont.) - Later I heard from Richard Hennigar that some of the Sheffield Mills bald eagles were uncharacteristically still feeding in that Middle Dyke Road field with the dead chickens in very late afternoon/dusk, by which time most or all of the eagles are usually in their overnight roosts. JAN. 31, 2010 - Providence delivered a beautiful perfect, wintry, sunny day for the 19th ANNUAL EAGLE WATCH WEEKEND II SUNDAY and for the 29TH ANNUAL CYRIL K. COLDWELL EAGLES AND RAPTORS COUNT OF EASTERN KING'S COUNTY. 29th EAGLES/RAPTORS COUNT RESULTS: Sunday, Jan. 31, 2010 It was sunny and very cold, with temperatures from -14 to -9 C., and the wind from the west was much more moderate than on the previous two days. We had 27 observers in 16 field parties from 10 to 11 a.m. in designated areas, and the preliminary results were the following totals: 427 BALD EAGLES -- 245 adults (58%), 176 immatures (42%), 6 unknown age; 54 RED-TAILED HAWKS, including the WHITE one at Hortonville; 4 ROUGH-LEGGED HAWKS (one in dark phase); 1 SHARP-SHINNED HAWK; 1 MERLIN; 2 COYOTES (n. & e. of Grand Pre, & s. and e. of Canning ); also 15 horned larks, 150 waxwings(mostly cedars?), 12 robins, 3 cardinals. I may write a bit more later on this count and our 29 years of history of these counts. Thanks to everyone who participated, and I hope everyone had a few thoughts for our late mentors Cyril Coldwell and Peter C. Smith on Sunday. Needless to say, we are all free to do something else next Sunday, although the Eagle Watch minus the breakfast will still be on at the Sheffield Mills Community Hall, with displays, coffee, tea, juice, muffins, warmth, bathrooms, etc. --------------------- (The waxwings, robins, and 2 of the cardinals were in my Wolfville neighborhood.) The EAGLE WATCH at the Community Hall went very well today, in marked contrast to the very slow day yesterday (horrible weather). Today they served about 400 breakfasts, and the volunteer cooks et al. were going "flat out" all morning and into early afternoon. I left the Hall at 2:30 p.m. and checked on what was happening at "Swetnam's Field" (feeding site at n. end of Middle Dyke Rd.). There were about 20 bald eagles present, mostly perched in the trees ringing the field, but some were flying both high and low, and on the ground at the carrion were about 25 great black-backed gulls and up to 10 ravens. Quite a few vehicles and photographers were still present, quite a few people were out of their cars in the cold with the wind at their backs and hoping for some action. When there are perched eagles and some are flying, it's always interesting to watch those in the air when they decides it's time to perch. Eagles are very social during the non-breeding season, and they must know a lot of individuals by sight. Although there are usually lots of empty branches on which to land, flying individuals often seem to relish choosing a target eagle to displace, and I imagine there must be a complex dominance hierarchy among them based on experience plus size and age. Remember that, at all ages, including among the nestlings still in the nest, females are considerably larger than males, in all raptors (the opposite from most birds in which males are largest). Also recall that fledging eagles are already as large or larger than they will ever get. Thus these social interactions are always fun to watch, both in the trees and on the ground when displacing others in order to steal food. Cheers from Jim in Wolfville --Boundary_(ID_bnfWcWLOSkqM8cS2qyWilg) Content-type: text/html; CHARSET=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: quoted-printable <html><body style=3D"word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; = -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">JAN. 30, 2010 (cont.) = - <span class=3D"Apple-style-span" style=3D"font-size: 12px; = ">Later I heard from Richard Hennigar that some of the Sheffield Mills = bald eagles were uncharacteristically still feeding in that Middle Dyke = Road field with the dead chickens in very late afternoon/dusk, by which = time most or all of the eagles are usually in their overnight = roosts.</span><div style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; = margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal = 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div = style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; = margin-left: 0px; "><font face=3D"Helvetica" size=3D"3" style=3D"font: = normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "><b>JAN. 31, = 2010</b> - Providence delivered a beautiful perfect, wintry, sunny = day for the <b>19th ANNUAL EAGLE WATCH WEEKEND II = SUNDAY</b> and for the <b>29TH ANNUAL CYRIL K. COLDWELL EAGLES = AND RAPTORS COUNT OF EASTERN KING'S COUNTY</b>.</font></div><div = style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; = margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; = min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style=3D"margin-top: 0px; = margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font = face=3D"Helvetica" size=3D"3" style=3D"font: normal normal normal = 12px/normal Helvetica; "><b>29th EAGLES/RAPTORS COUNT = RESULTS:</b></font></div><div style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: = 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face=3D"Helvetica" = size=3D"3" style=3D"font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; = "><b>Sunday, Jan. 31, 2010</b></font></div><div style=3D"margin-top: = 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: = normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; = "><br></div><div style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; = margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face=3D"Helvetica" = size=3D"3" style=3D"font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; = ">It was sunny and very cold, with temperatures from -14 to -9 C., and = the wind from the west was much more moderate than on the previous two = days. We had 27 observers in 16 field parties from 10 to 11 = a.m. in designated areas, and the <b>preliminary results were the = following totals:</b></font></div><div style=3D"margin-top: 0px; = margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal = normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div = style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; = margin-left: 0px; "><font face=3D"Helvetica" size=3D"3" style=3D"font: = normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "><b>427 BALD = EAGLES</b> -- 245 adults (58%), 176 immatures (42%), 6 unknown = age;</font></div><div style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; = margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face=3D"Helvetica" = size=3D"3" style=3D"font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; = "><b>54 RED-TAILED HAWKS</b>, including the WHITE one at = Hortonville;</font></div><div style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: = 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face=3D"Helvetica" = size=3D"3" style=3D"font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; = "><b>4 ROUGH-LEGGED HAWKS</b> (one in dark phase);</font></div><div = style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; = margin-left: 0px; "><font face=3D"Helvetica" size=3D"3" style=3D"font: = normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "><b>1 SHARP-SHINNED = HAWK;</b></font></div><div style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; = margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face=3D"Helvetica" = size=3D"3" style=3D"font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; = "><b>1 MERLIN</b>;</font></div><div style=3D"margin-top: 0px; = margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font = face=3D"Helvetica" size=3D"3" style=3D"font: normal normal normal = 12px/normal Helvetica; "><b>2 COYOTES</b> (n. & e. of Grand = Pre, & s. and e. of Canning );</font></div><div style=3D"margin-top: = 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font = face=3D"Helvetica" size=3D"3" style=3D"font: normal normal normal = 12px/normal Helvetica; ">also <b>15 horned larks</b>, <b>150 = waxwings(mostly cedars?),</b> <b>12 robins</b>, <b>3 = cardinals</b>.</font></div><div style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: = 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal = 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div = style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; = margin-left: 0px; "><font face=3D"Helvetica" size=3D"3" style=3D"font: = normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; ">I may write a bit more = later on this count and our 29 years of history of these = counts.</font></div><div style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; = margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><br></div><div = style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; = margin-left: 0px; ">Thanks to everyone who participated, and I hope = everyone had a few thoughts for our late mentors Cyril Coldwell and = Peter C. Smith on Sunday. Needless to say, we are all free to do = something else next Sunday, although the Eagle Watch minus the breakfast = will still be on at the Sheffield Mills Community Hall, with displays, = coffee, tea, juice, muffins, warmth, bathrooms, etc.</div><div = style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; = margin-left: 0px; "><font face=3D"Helvetica" size=3D"3" style=3D"font: = normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; = ">---------------------</font></div><div style=3D"margin-top: 0px; = margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal = normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div = style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; = margin-left: 0px; "><font face=3D"Helvetica" size=3D"3" style=3D"font: = normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; ">(The waxwings, robins, and = 2 of the cardinals were in my Wolfville neighborhood.)</font></div><div = style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; = margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; = min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style=3D"margin-top: 0px; = margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font = face=3D"Helvetica" size=3D"3" style=3D"font: normal normal normal = 12px/normal Helvetica; ">The <b>EAGLE WATCH at the Community = Hall</b> went very well today, in marked contrast to the very slow = day yesterday (horrible weather). Today they served about 400 = breakfasts, and the volunteer cooks et al. were going "flat out" all = morning and into early afternoon.</font></div><div style=3D"margin-top: = 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: = normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; = "><br></div><div style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; = margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face=3D"Helvetica" = size=3D"3" style=3D"font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; = ">I left the Hall <b>at 2:30 p.m. </b>and checked on what was = happening <b>at "Swetnam's Field" </b>(feeding site at n. end = of Middle Dyke Rd.). There were about 20 bald eagles present, = mostly perched in the trees ringing the field, but some were flying both = high and low, and on the ground at the carrion were about 25 great = black-backed gulls and up to 10 ravens. Quite a few vehicles = and photographers were still present, quite a few people were out of = their cars in the cold with the wind at their backs and hoping for some = action.</font></div><div style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; = margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal = 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div = style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; = margin-left: 0px; "><font face=3D"Helvetica" size=3D"3" style=3D"font: = normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; ">When there are perched = eagles and some are flying, it's always interesting to watch those in = the air when they decides it's time to perch. <b>Eagles are = very social </b>during the non-breeding season, and they must know = a lot of individuals by sight. Although there are usually = lots of empty branches on which to land, flying individuals often seem = to relish choosing a target eagle to displace, and I imagine there must = be a complex <b>dominance hierarchy </b>among them based on = experience plus size and age. Remember that, at all ages, = including among the nestlings still in the nest, females are = considerably larger than males, in all raptors (the opposite from most = birds in which males are largest). Also recall that fledging = eagles are already as large or larger than they will ever = get. Thus these <b>social interactions</b> are = always fun to watch, both in the trees and on the ground when displacing = others in order to steal food.</font></div><div><br></div><div>Cheers = from Jim in Wolfville</div> </body></html>= --Boundary_(ID_bnfWcWLOSkqM8cS2qyWilg)--
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