Aaaaannnnd We have Eaglets

Yup…we have two new brandy new newly hatched baby eagles or eaglets today. Harriet and her mate M15 down at the local eagle nest have been incubating two eggs since late November. Egg 1 hatched into E10 at 2054 EST Dec 26 and his/her little brother/sister hatched into E11 at 1625 on the 27th.

It’s been a bit cool since then so most of the time…at least when they’re not feeding…either mom or dad is roosting on top of the eaglets to help keep them warm…they’re both still cloaked in the down-like feathers they have in the egg…the more typical brown plumage will start to develop in a couple of weeks and the flight feathers in a month to two months.s Harriet and M will be busy bee eagles for the next 3 months or so until the eaglets fledge (fly for the first time) in order to feed their constantly growing bodies…and unfortunately the amount of food needed will only increase as they grow. Fortunately…the “they have to be fed” phase where mom/dad have to tear up their food and beak-feed them is pretty short…within a month they should start to be able to feed themselves from small pieces that mom and dad tear off for them and at about 2 months or so mom and dad will cease that and just dump the food into the nest.

The good news is that with all the feeding mom and dad will be coming and going frequently so Neil will head down there the first nice morning to see if he can get some photos…obviously the eaglets can’t be seen over the rim of the nest for awhile but adult comings and goings should provide some decent flight photo opportunities.

You can track the eaglets progress at the North Fort Myers Eaglecam…but in the meantime here are a couple of screenshots Neil grabbed.

M15 brooding the two eaglets…you can see half of their fish breakfast at the upper left and what looks like takeout squirrel that will be served for lunch at lower right.

Here is a shot of the two eaglets alone and then one o fM15 feeding them a bit earlier today. There’s a bit of sibling rivalry going on…as the older one being slightly bigger and more coordinated at this state of life tries to hog all the food but both the adults are making sure that both babies get their share…this will continue through the beak feeding stage.. Once they get to the “tear apart their own chunks of food” phase…mom and dad will put chunks on opposite sides of the nest for each of them and the rivalry will diminish.

Lessee…what else is going on? Connie won 30 bucks at park bingo last night, Neil’s cold is improving and he went on a slower than normal and shorter than normal bike ride yesterday…that seemed to help melt a bunch of the crud out of his head with the additional heat generated by exercise.

Neil checked on the status of the recall parts for Big Red…back in September a recall was issued for all RAM 2500/3500/4500/5500 diesels from 2012 to 2017 for a problem with the water pump…several under the hood fires have been reported. It’s obviously not a huge problem as it took 5 years over 4 different models of truck to become significant. No parts are currently available…although at least there is a Chrysler recall number (T-51) for it now. We’ll stand by for a notice that parts are available…but as of today they’re only replacing failed pumps and they’re still using the parts that got recalled so any repair would eventually have to be done again. It’s an overheating leading to a potential fire problem…and if we didn’t over heat Big Red out in UT and CA at 115 degrees last summer then I think we can safely say that we stress tested it.

Neil bought Connie a new iPad (well, actually he bought him a new iPad and will give his 1 year old iPad Pro (that he got last year when the touch screen on his old one failed) to Connie…this is for a couple of reasons. First off…he’s the IT Department Head ‘round these parts and the computer guys always…repeat always…get the new stuff first…gotta test it out first before we release it on our unsuspecting users ya know. Second off…if she got the new one…she would have had to hear…her words now, not his…and most definitely an incorrect assumption…that she was on the cutting edge of technology and he was in the dustbin. Me…I figure that it’s only computer dollars and much like dog years they depreciate much faster than regular ordinary dollars.

Connie got herself some AirPods for Christmas…they’re basically wireless Bluetooth earphones. She listens to podcasts a lot and wireless means no wires. She really likes them. She also got a new bathrobe…and of course the aforementioned iPad upgrade. She also got a new lightweight bathrobe as hers was getting pretty ratty.

Neil got some new slippers, a couple of the latest Clive Cussler adventure novels for his Kindle, and a fedora…he always wears a ball cap these days and she said he needed a semi-formal hat to wear to things like concerts where ball caps aren’t…again, her misguided idea…weren’t appropriate. He also got some peppermint bark…but actually Connie bought this for both of them as we like it and it’s only available at the holidays.

We had lunch at Lobster Lady one day this week with our next door neighbors Dennis and Janet…the lobstah rolls were pretty good and will give us a starting point for our lobstah roll comparison that we have scheduled for the travel season. We’re on the way to the Canadian Maritimes and figure we’ll just hopscotch up the Maine coast from Boston to the border on the way to sample several…there was an article in Yankee Magazine last month of the 10 best lobstah rolls on the Maine coast. While at the Lobster Lady…they unpacked a crustacean to put into their tank…it was 12 pounds…huuuuge. Janet got a photo on her phone…I’ll get a copy of it to show ya.

On to interesting things found on the net…we found a few more Christmas/winter related ones.

You know what this is…doncha? Well, you should since ya prolly kissed underneath it either already or will over the upcoming New Year weekend.