Victorias secrets exposed

A camera has been a recent intrusion on the life of this little family.  Victoria is a fantastic, observant mother, and has protected this eaglet (is it a Donna or a Donald), during a terrible windy, raining October. I'm not sure what we are calling the father yet.  But he is a great provider.  I think he has a penchant for birds, and appears to know a few hadeda nests in the area!

This eaglet was three weeks old at the time the camera was installed  The following sequence shows the important events that mark the initial adaptation to this rude intrusion on their life. Take notice of the times in the bottom right of each image.

very first photo during installation of the camera

first photo of Victoria returning to the nest

and immediately into a forced feeding, the little chick maybe swallowed a golf ball?

she settles in to brood the chick, only 16 degrees out

as the rain sets in, she looks at the camera, peeved

looking less peeved but much more damp

the last photo of the evening - the camera sleeps when the eagles do

our camera wakes up before the eagles though, and this is the first photo of a new day

the morning rain stops, and Victoria leaves the nest now

just over one hour later she returns with foliage - and the daily routine continues

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After another long delay I’ve got around to another research blog update. It has taken a while to make some good news. As of yesterday I had the fifth nest camera installed and operating.  It remains to be seen then, whether they are collecting full and complete data, when I service them in a fortnight’s time.

The delivery of four brand new, off the factory line, cameras came with complimentary software glitches. The glitch was somewhere between, not tolerating 32GB SD cards while operating on Timee Lapse in the glory of daylight.  It has taken three weeks to get a workable patch-up, and the cameras will need to be serviced more frequently than the older more stable cameras.  They tell me they have their software programmers working hastily on the next updates.

The fifth camera went up yesterday. The accommodating canopy of this big pine provided the best opportunity yet to have both Mia and I up working together on a camera.  And of course we had to have the classic i-was-here portraits!  A fantastic last day before heading back to Denmark for her work,  travel well Mia.

a camera int he paradise valley area

and at Zimbali Coastal Estate

Between delays in securing permits and the camera faults I have missed two to five weeks of young eaglet meals at these nests.  But these four are now up and running.  The Giba gorge camera is still up and has now recorded long series of a vacant nest.  The eaglet fledged sometime last week.  The camera remains in place because this youngster will still return to the nest for meals for many weeks to come. 

our E6 is the white speck on the dead branches on the far right, the nest down at the bottom left