Hello,
On Tuesday, December 14th, 2010, two Bald Eagle eggs were removed from a nest at Ed Smith Stadium in Sarasota, Florida http://athleticbusiness.com/articles/lexisnexis.aspx?lnarticleid=1323276637&lntopicid=136030023 The American Eagle Foundation (AEF) was contacted to help in the egg recovery and transport back to their Tennessee facility at Dollywood. I was contacted by Al Cerere, President of AEF, to help with the recovery. Dale and I were once employed by AEF and I was, at one time, in charge of the captive breeding program. I was available and went down with the AEF crew on Monday. We arrived at Ed Smith Stadium (Spring training camp for the Baltimore Orioles) at 7:00 a.m. on Tuesday and met with the Oriole representatives. A lift was there to carry the nest climber to the nest which was constructed on a light pole tower near right field. The first lift would not allow the climber to get up to the nest, so a second, taller crane was brought in which allowed the climber to access the eggs. The male eagle was on the nest at the time and reluctantly left the nest as the climber approached. The eggs were brought down and placed in the waiting incubators after being weighed and candled to determine if the eggs were developing. Both of the eggs looked good and were transported back to the Eagle Foundations's facility in Pigeon Forge. If all goes well, the eggs should hatch the second or third week in January. It was nice to be able to be a part of the recovery process.
John Stokes
7 comments:
Why were the eggs removed if the eagles were incubating them? Obviously the construction and people weren't bothering them.
Apparently the pair of eagles were not disturbed by all the construction going on and the people meandering around. What was the purpose in taking the eggs away from the parents. I do believe birds and animals have feelings and know they are devistated! I have seen that devistation when eagles have discovered their babies had died or eggs were frozen from too much snow and ice.
I can't believe your experts condoned that move! JMHO
Yes, the big question is WHY were they removed? What a shame that this has been done. Of course the adult eagle was reluctant to leave. They are protective of their nest and eggs. Again...what a shame!
What prompted the change? Last week it was said that no action was planned. If the eagles weren't bothered by the stadium activity, why bother them?? The fledglings do NOT spend time "on the ground learning how to survive" as Morse says. Senseless.
You write of this as if you're proud of what you have done. Who gave you permission to intefere with those eggs? What harm was it causing? Was it going to intfere with your precious baseball? Shame on you. You have definitely tarnished conservation. And not even mentioning the parents of those eggs.
Hello,
I agree with all of your comments! I felt bad watching the adults as the eggs were being taken. I believe that the eagles were doing fine with all of the construction. They obviously moved into the lightpole after the construction was underway (the previous year, the pair had nested in a cellphone tower less that 1/2 mile north of the stadium).They could have completed the full incubation and rearing cycle without a hitch and the Baltimore Orioles could have had great publicity. However, the order was given to remove the eggs and the American Eagle Foundation was called in to bring the eggs into captivity safely. I was called in due to my past experience with eagle egg incubation. The eggs are doing fine in the artificial incubator and are due to hatch sometime after the middle of January. Any young produced will be released into the wild. I hope that the adults will recycle and will move back to the cellphone tower.
I am sorry that I forgot to sign the previous post.
John Stokes
p.s. baseball sucks!
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