Doing a preen

A Fieldfare (Turdus pilaris) grooming its feathers in the tree next to my balcony.

A quick scritch with a foot.

Now E18 fledges!

...And I missed it, lol. The streams at SWFL eagle cam have a 12 hour backlog, but I didn't check in time to get screenshots of the occasion. But here's video: Lady Hawk's compilation from the streams, as well as from a different angle by wskrsnwings, who films the nest on location: E18 fledging, and return to the nest. In this post are screenshots from later the same day, of the now two fledglings.

(warning for some screenshots showing prey, but not very clearly)

E17 (front) and E18 (back) perching together at the attic. Looking around surveying their domain, and waiting for snack deliveries.

E17 has fledged!

Time flies, and so do eaglets. E17 from the SWFL Bald Eagle Cam nest fledged yesterday. Feels like they just hatched, but that was almost three months ago!

Minutes before the big moment. Both eaglets loafing in the nest, E17 preening their little sibling E18.

How babies are made, apparently

I made a little (3cm tall!) baby JP raptor toy figure. This post is about the sculpting process, and more photos of the finished figure can be found
here at my site and here at deviantart (ETA: and here at cara).

Materials:

• polymer clay + liquid polymer clay
• aluminum wire and foil
• acrylic paint
• glue and one of the epoxy putty pebbles left over from making Swiftdive and Treeclimber's bases

Starting point: three bits of wire, bent into spine and legs for the figure.