My last images of a Riverside youngster may have been difficult to make out. Luckily, today one of the eyasses was a little more cooperative. Hopefully, we’ll have a better idea how many eyasses there are after a few more days.
The wait is finally over. Today, I got to see glimpses of a newborn eyass at the Riverside nest. After all the mixed signals over the hatch date, and the extreme heat, it’s great to see finally see a youngster.
The video shows three slow motion glimpses of the eyass through gaps in the nest, and then a visit by the father who takes out some trash. Watching the video in full screen mode will help.
I haven’t really known what to make of this second nest this year at Riverside. It is so late in the season, my past experiences with this pair are of no use.
The clues about hatching seem to be there but things don’t seem quite right. The mother and father have changed behavior, but things seem off. Yes, the mother is not sitting on eggs anymore, but the kids haven’t been seen after more than a week, and where is the white wash that would normally be all over the nest after a week of eyasses?
That said, I also know this is a very deep nest, which is next to impossible to photograph. The eyasses also would have hatched in extreme heat, which may slow their activity.
So, each day I look for clues. Today, I saw what looked to be a true feeding, not just the mother eating. A nice positive sign.
Below are three movies and photographs from Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. We’re still waiting for a glimpse of an eyass. Hopefully, this will happen soon. With the extreme heat of last week, there are concerns that one or more of the eyasses may have passed away.
I can’t figure out what’s going on at the Riverside Park nest. Close inspection of the nest for a few hours, showed some hopeful signs such as the mother up high on the nest, her leaving the nest a few times, and both parents looking into the nest. But nothing definitive.
The mother ate on the nest, but she seemed to be eating all the food herself and not sharing it with young eyasses.
Have the eggs hatched and we’re seeing odd behavior due to the heat, or have they not hatched and the heat has changed the mother’s behavior?
It’s difficult to know what’s going on at the Riverside nest. Behavior has changed, with the mother sitting high up on the nest and spending time on the edge of the nest.
If this was May, we’d all suspect that her eggs had hatched. But in July, is it just the 100+ degree weather? These photographs were taken over the last three days.
