Bird Cams Around the World

Wonder what the measures are that will be taken to dissuade the eagles from re-nesting in prime fishing area around Norfolk....

This page has the links to all the letters ..... I HAVE NO WORDS RIGHT NOW THAT AREN'T CURSES!!!

http://www.norfolkbotanicalgarden.org/e ... nformation

I feel very sad.
Not because we can't follow Dad Norfolk any longer, but because the unbelievable stupidity of the people who have the power to make such a decision.
Bureaucrats, politicians, clearly not the best and brightest members of the human race . . .

Like all of you, I am sad about this too, but I would be devastated if a huge catastrophe occurred because of an eagle - aircraft collision. The loss of Mom at this nest in 2011 and subsequent removal of the eaglets was awful enough, but think of what could have happened if the aircraft had become disabled, crashed and lives lost.

I recall Captain Sullenberger's "Miracle on the Hudson" when his aircraft became disabled after hitting a flock of geese. Fortunately, with his expertise, no there were no human casualties, and that was truly a miracle. [That year we named one of our peregrine chicks Sully in his honor']

I think to myself, and now to you, what is to keep the eagles from returning to Norfolk Botanical Gardens? It is obvious, in an eagle's opinion, that this is prime real estate. They see the large trees for nesting and the bountiful waters nearby for fishing, not realizing the danger of landing and departing aircraft.

What we see here is the opposite of the mantra from the movie Field of Dreams, "If you build it, they will come." If we tear it down, will they leave,,,

The eagle's instinct is to breed and perpetuate their species, and hopefully we humans will give them the opportunity to be even more successful in a safer location.

I say, even if we are not "for" this decision, let's give it a chance. We all want the eagles to be successful wherever they are.

Okay, just rambling here...

Oxbarb, is Ray involved in this? Sad, but I tend to think necessary. This is a case of protecting everything. I doubt the eagles were there first. And there are quite a lot of successful eagle nests relatively close, I.e. Blackwater and all those young.

I too am upset over this decision.

First: I read there have only been 3-5 eagle strikes/hits by or to airplanes at the airport. All other strikes/hits were OTHER birds - geese, pigeons, etc.

Second: The hit that causes most damage to a plane that would actually put human life at risk, is the planes windshield possibly, but definately the multiple GEESE being sucked into the jet propeller turbine thingie. THAT is what happened to Sulley, not an ordinary strike.

To target the eagles, which have only been involved in 3 or 5 strikes, is ridiculous and ignorant. The other species are responsible for many more serious strikes and THAT is what should be addressed.

Third: Dad Norfolk will have the last say on this. The experts believe he will NOT leave his territory, but will find another tree in the garden to build a new nest. I believe them, but HATE to see Dad stressed at all, after all he went through "losing" his babies. He now has #3 and should be left alone.

What to do about it now that they have decided to do this?

WAKE UP NORFOLK CITIZENS! Norfolk City Council has a homepage with the councilmen listed. They are elected. On November 4th, vote these city council folks OUT of office, one by one. I assure you they will get the message. They are not listening to the public's wishes. Vote them out if you really care. Its the only way to force them to listen. Show up at the meetings, the days they meet each week/month are posted on their site. Speak up and let them know you disagree.

I am holding onto the hope that the experts are correct, and Dad wont leave. NBG/WVEC can always move the cam to another tree.

And SHAME ON YOU to the folks giving them the permits. 3 or 5 individual eagle strikes does NOT warrant taking the nests down. No eagle lover wants people to be hurt by the eagles presence. But a reasonable person can understand that 98% of the strikes are NOT from eagles, so leave them alone.

IMHO

This page shows the Canada Goose strikes at the airport from 2000 - 2011 ..

http://www.aphis.usda.gov/wildlife_dama ... _faq.shtml

I suspect Reese would say it's for the best so no more Eagles get killed. But I don't think the Wildlife Center had ANY problem raising funds to care for the triplets last year so that's a bunch of bull#%$&!!

I think they don't want any more bad press from the Eagle loving public like after Mom Norfolk was killed. :rant2:

Here you can read the techniques used to harass and repel birds. Scroll down to chapter 3, page 7. On page 10 is a table showing effectiveness on different types of birds ... funny thing is, Eagles are not listed!

http://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/ac ... yn_023.pdf

Oh, this is even better .... the Norfolk city council meeting!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWFz3qX4 ... ge#t=7223s

EDIT to ADD ... I watched the whole city council discussion. It was well worth it. You can email the Norfolk city council at [email protected]

Edit, edit .... I copied the above from my post on WOW. I've been reading all the pages of the different groups on Facebook ... NBG, BCAW, NESTI ..... everyone is so upset. Watch the council meeting .... very interesting. My opinion - it won't work, at least not the way they want it to. Dad Norfolk might move his nest - but he's not going to leave HIS territory and the abundant fishing in Lake Whitehurst. What I don't like is that he's going to have to endure this 'torture' by the same humans who almost made Eagles extinct!

I watched the City Council meeting Patti and found it very interesting. thanks for posting the link for us.

My interpretation of the meeting discussion on the eagle relocation is that the city council members understand that the world is watching this and they are not taking the removal of the nest and the attempt to relocate the eagles lightly. It seems that they feel like the FAA is holding all the cards here. The councillors appear to be sensitive to the manner used to dissuade the birds from returning - both for the birds and for the humans. I liked that the councillors recognized that the FAA was using fear to make their point.

I just hate to see it happen, but, as I said before, I would really hate to see another of our beautiful eagles hit by an airplane and would hate for anyone to be injured or killed by a damaged aircraft.

Thanks so much Beth for bringing that over. I copied it over to the WOW forum as well.

And I have to mull this over because I still don't really know how I feel. I love Ed .. and I'm grateful for his comments .. but I guess I basically still just don't agree with them. I don't like the tactics used to chase the birds away. And it still boils down to the fact that there is a Botanical Garden and a Lake right next to a major airport. That in itself was poor planning way back when. And just because the female was struck and killed last year and caused damage to a plane ... doesn't mean it will EVER happen again.

And I don't like Ed's comment about how the FAA wants them to scare away ALL birds from the airport ... that boils down to just shutting down the Botanical Garden and cutting all the trees down. That's probably what they want!!

It all just gives me a heart-sick feeling. Now matter how hard we try there really isn't anything we do about any of this. The FAA probably just laughs at people like us who want to save the little birdies. We're a big joke to them.