Catalina Wednesday Update, March 14, 2007

Hi All,

Not too much excitement on Catalina this week. We are still incubating 8 eggs. One of the West End eggs died at the end of last week and I’m not certain that the oldest West End egg is still living, but it is hard to see inside. The other 7 eggs are all doing well and showing a lot of movement. These eggs range in age from 12 to 19 days of age, so we are about one third to over one half of the way through incubation. All the eggs in the incubator are due to hatch the last week of March and the first week of April. In the following clip you can see the embryos moving in some eggs today.



The Pinnacle Rock and Seal Rocks birds continue to incubate their own eggs. We check these two nests daily to make sure they still each have two eggs.

Pinnacle Rock has been sitting on their oldest egg for 20 days, which is the longest an egg has remained in a Catalina nest without breaking. Steffani posted a photo of the nest the other day. Below is a video of the nest and the view from our observation point above the nest.



The Seal Rocks birds’ oldest egg is 12 days old. These birds have the nicest nest, in my opinion. It is on a rock ledge underneath a small tree and is shaded most of the day and has protection from the wind and rain.



A-32 from Santa Cruz is still being seen on Catalina in the company of an older male, K-93. We are keeping an eye on these birds, but believe A-32 is too young to breed. Here is a video of these two birds. You’ll have to just trust me on the identification of the birds.



Until next week.

Great!

Sorry about the two eggs.

Is there any danger of the hawks actually hurting an eagle or is it just like a gnat bugging us?

Thank you very much, Dr. Sharpe, for taking the time to update us about the goings-on with some of the other eagles! I enjoyed hearing the Seal Rocks pair having a conversation with each other. I hope that both the SR and the Pinnacle Rock birds are successful with hatching their own eggs this year. That would certainly be a significant milestone.
I was sorry to read that two of the WE eggs are no longer viable.
Thank you again for all that you and the IWS team do for the eagles.

Sorry about the eggs for sure.... but we can hope that the rest go to term! Thank all of you for the effort that you make - your task is monumental to see the least! The update info is as always - great and so informative!

how far away from Pinnacle Rock Nest are you when you make your observations - looks like a long way!! (but what a view - wow - we don't have that here on our Island) and love the calling at seal rocks ....

Oh my gosh the hawk - that's kind of scary! (of course the talking was in slow motion so ?? )

Thanks for the update. I've been anxious to hear how the eggs are doing. So far so good! It's great to think, in 3 weeks we could have chicks! Oh the anticipation!
The new camera rocks! Good shots from a good distance. Excellent.
The video of the hawk/eagle was great. The eagle just tumbles so gracefully, it's beautiful to see. Very cool, and thanks for sharing.

I'm going to send Lauren to buy a cookie from you Saturday at the marathon. I'd go see the race, but watching people run doesn't really do it for me.

Wow, Dr. Sharpe, thanks for the great up date. Love the videos and the information on the other nests. It's so neat to see the embryo moving in the egg! So sad that 2 of them didn't survive. Are you able to know which egg came from Dianna and which from Wray? I can't imagine how you could but you are doing lots of things I can't imagine!

Margie W

Thank you Dr. S...for all you do and for taking the time for such complete updates! Much appreciated!

If you guys were correct on Wray laying the first egg, then Wray laid two and Dianna laid three, based upon shape and size. These have historically been some of the most contaminated eggs, so I'm not surprised that they don't usually survive.

Incredible update, Dr. Sharpe. Thank you!

Seeing the embryo move inside the egg kept me spellbound. My face was plastered against my computer screen.

I loved all the videos, especially the slow motion video of K-93. He was so graceful when he made that loop to evade the hawk! It looks like he flipped upside down. Doesn't that hawk realize that K-93 could have him for lunch?

That is some zoom feature on the video camera! I got such a smile on my face when you zoomed in on the Pinnacle Rock nest and we could see the eagle incubating!

Dr. Sharpe, I thought the problem with the effects of DDT was that the shells of the eggs were fragile and that's why the eggs did not survive -- that the shells broke. Am I understanding correctly from your update that the embryo itself was not viable in the "deceased" egg? Or did the shell break?

I'm crossing everything I can cross and hoping that all the rest of the eggs in all of the nests and in the incubator survive!

Thank you, Dr. Sharpe for a wonderful update!

Really interesting! Thank you!

A-32 definitely reads as an adult from a distance, with the white head and tail---if one didn't know better. On the SC nest, she looked like a juvenile---mottled, up close.

Seal Rocks nest a very smart and sensible nest. Very nice videos...thank you so much.

Is A-32 the same eagle that interloped on the SC nest?

A-32 is the bird that stopped by the Santa Cruz nest before heading to Catalina.

The ultimate cause of death of eggs in the nest was usually the egg breaking. However, we don't know what effect DDE has on the developing embryo. Because DDE is stored in the fat, the yolk likely has a high concentration of DDE, and the embryo uses that as an energy source. But like embryos in any other species, some just don't go full term.

Peter, you are really good with that camera. What a steady hand! I especially liked the eagle and hawk video. One can really see the difference in size.

PETER - Thanks for the sharing the great videos you took - helps us to know the other eagles and nest sites you are watching in addition to the one with the live cams - didn't know a hawk would try to take on an eagle, but then I witnessed a 2 month old Lorikeet taking on the Alpha Bird - Samantha - a Lory and much bigger -in the Lorikeet Landing exhibit at the SB Zoo - no other lorikeet or lory tries to take on Samantha - they just move out of her way - I got lots of pics of the baby and Sam - baby just wouldn't quit.
Loved seeing the locations of the nests - must be quite a hike to get to them.

So when you say "lot of movement"??? - you can see that when candling the eggs?