This year it has been too hot, too wet or too buggy to read outside. In the spring I started watching American bald eagles on cameras set up for the internet. I found the eagle nest at a fish hatchery in Decorah, Iowa and discovered the eagle cam at the Norfolk Botanic Garden (NBG) in Virginia. In April when the mother eagle in VA was hit and killed by a plane, I was devastated, as were the other members of the “Eagle Nation”. The baby eaglets were taken to the Wildlife Center of Virginia (WCV) to be raised until they could be released to the wild. A camera was set up there for us to keep watch over “our babies”. Again I was hooked.
The Decorah eaglets have all fledged. The third one, who did not want to leave the nest, has now flown from IA to MN. Three of the eaglets at WCV were released in July. Last week the final two were released. Now we are watching two orphaned broad tail hawks on a cam set up in their flight enclosure at WCV. They are attending “mouse school” where they learn how to hunt their food. They will be released to the wild in a week when they will join other hawks migrating south for the winter. Not enough time for me to become hooked on them, I hope. But WCV promises more animals to come.
Oh, look up Wildlife Center of Virginia. (wildlifecenter.org) They are a teaching hospital for wildlife. (They are teaching vets, not wildlife.) They do wonderful work.