Eagle News From the Urban Park Ranger Central Headquarters - July 3, 2006
Happy 4th of July!!!! There is much eaglet news to flap about....
What could be more symbolic of our independence than the first flight of our new group of eaglets?
Yes, it's true. The latest news is that our eaglet, fondly referred to as "Orange," (due to her/his orange colored wax identifying mark on the shoulder), took her first flight this past Friday. All four eaglets, viewable on our eaglecam on their nesting platform (hack site), have been flapping their wings with vigor for the past week.
It has been a whirlwind of activity! The hack site bars were lifted a week ago Friday, allowing the eaglets to come out of their nest boxes onto the main platform, giving them access to tree branches and a great view of the world out there... The four flapped in place, flapped onto the logs on the platform, flapped themselves airborne...well, an inch or two. The four flapped their way out into the trees, using the large branches that extend from the platform specifically for this purpose. The Rangers at the Inwood Hill Nature Center, and all the visitors, watched one eaglet perform a flapping balancing act on a log; he seemed to be practicing his footwork, just as the lumberjacks do during log roll contests on the river.
But, finally, on Friday, Orange flapped her way into the Big Jump. She went up a bit....then down, as all eaglets seem to do on the way to mastering flight. She glided, bumped and blustered her way onto a tree branch below the hack site.
On the platform, the others peered over the edge...not flapping for the moment....and seemed to decide that, for the moment, they would remain on solid ground....40 feet up in the trees. It's a loooooong way down.......
So Orange is out and about....Flapping from branch to branch....tracked by our eagleman, himself, Arthur Middleton.
Intrepid Arthur, using the latest in radio technology, keeps a steady beep on the eagle as she ventures the hills of Northern Manhattan. Will she flap her way to the Bronx? Will she visit cross the Husdon River to New Jersey? Wherever....Arthur will follow (the radio telemetry has a range of several miles, depending on interference).
As for our other eaglets....please visit them on the webcam, online or at the Inwood Hill Nature Center. For those of you who have not yet visited, Inwood is a magnificent 196.4 acre park with hills and huge trees overlooking the Hudson River and the Harlem River Shipping Canal (218th and Indian Road in Manhattan). Click on the "About Inwood" icon on the first webpage of the Urban Park Ranger Eagle Program. Come for a canoe ride, or an eagle tour, or much, much more.
As for the eaglets....Whatever may happen next, we are prepared.
Unflappably Yours,
Ranger Central Headquarters
Happy 4th of July!!!! There is much eaglet news to flap about....
What could be more symbolic of our independence than the first flight of our new group of eaglets?
Yes, it's true. The latest news is that our eaglet, fondly referred to as "Orange," (due to her/his orange colored wax identifying mark on the shoulder), took her first flight this past Friday. All four eaglets, viewable on our eaglecam on their nesting platform (hack site), have been flapping their wings with vigor for the past week.
It has been a whirlwind of activity! The hack site bars were lifted a week ago Friday, allowing the eaglets to come out of their nest boxes onto the main platform, giving them access to tree branches and a great view of the world out there... The four flapped in place, flapped onto the logs on the platform, flapped themselves airborne...well, an inch or two. The four flapped their way out into the trees, using the large branches that extend from the platform specifically for this purpose. The Rangers at the Inwood Hill Nature Center, and all the visitors, watched one eaglet perform a flapping balancing act on a log; he seemed to be practicing his footwork, just as the lumberjacks do during log roll contests on the river.
But, finally, on Friday, Orange flapped her way into the Big Jump. She went up a bit....then down, as all eaglets seem to do on the way to mastering flight. She glided, bumped and blustered her way onto a tree branch below the hack site.
On the platform, the others peered over the edge...not flapping for the moment....and seemed to decide that, for the moment, they would remain on solid ground....40 feet up in the trees. It's a loooooong way down.......
So Orange is out and about....Flapping from branch to branch....tracked by our eagleman, himself, Arthur Middleton.
Intrepid Arthur, using the latest in radio technology, keeps a steady beep on the eagle as she ventures the hills of Northern Manhattan. Will she flap her way to the Bronx? Will she visit cross the Husdon River to New Jersey? Wherever....Arthur will follow (the radio telemetry has a range of several miles, depending on interference).
As for our other eaglets....please visit them on the webcam, online or at the Inwood Hill Nature Center. For those of you who have not yet visited, Inwood is a magnificent 196.4 acre park with hills and huge trees overlooking the Hudson River and the Harlem River Shipping Canal (218th and Indian Road in Manhattan). Click on the "About Inwood" icon on the first webpage of the Urban Park Ranger Eagle Program. Come for a canoe ride, or an eagle tour, or much, much more.
As for the eaglets....Whatever may happen next, we are prepared.
Unflappably Yours,
Ranger Central Headquarters
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