“Scott Mehus”

http://www.nationaleaglecenter.org/live-eagle-programs/

(add 1 hour for educhat/nest time)

11:24 photofun-1: Good Afternoon everyone, we will be starting in a few minutes...hope you have some questions you would like to ask Scott when he joins us <3

11:30 photofun-1: To help the flow of questions and answers, you can PM any of us MOds and we will ask Scott the questions one at a time

11:31 paffie2-1: Ok photo!  Thanks

11:31 deeagle55-1: ok photo  ty

11:31 photofun-1: HI Everyone, we are still waiting for Scott to sign in

11:31 RappRiver-1: Thank you

11:31 sparklegirl59-1: I am here! :)

11:31 kellirooney: Afternoon all!

11:31 PattiEaglEye: Good afternoon everyone

11:32 kahchoy-1: GM all!

11:32 FlyForeverFree-1: Everyone,  Welcome  :)

11:32 paffie2-1: Hi everyone!

11:32 kellirooney: Welcome Talon!

11:32 BreezeBoreal-1: Hugs to all <3:)

11:33 TALONatE4K-1: Hi there everyone. I will be in and out. I have to get kids from lunch room.

11:33 paffie2-1: Ok Talon!  Hi to the kids

11:33 sparklegirl59-1: ok Talon.

11:33 NECscott: Greetings from the National Eagle Center!

11:33 photofun-1: Hello Scott and Welcome!

11:33 PattiEaglEye: Hi Necscott welcome

11:33 applewooddy: Welcome Scott

11:33 paffie2-1: Hi scott.  Welcome and TY for doing this

11:34 kellirooney: Welcome Scott!

11:34 sparklegirl59-1: Hello! Greetings from Indiana!

11:34 deeagle55-1: Hi scott

11:34 BreezeBoreal-1: Welcome, Scott, and thank you! ☺

11:34 SunnieDay2: I made it, hello and welcome!

11:34 Treetop2: Hello Scott!

11:34 paffie2-1: Yay sunnie!

11:34 kellirooney: Sunnie (y)

11:34 PattiEaglEye: Hi Sunnie (Y)

11:34 NECscott: It is an honor to be here to be here today!  I am new to this so be good!!

11:34 RappRiver-1: Hi Scott greetings from VA

11:34 photofun-1: Scott we have asked the chatters to PM us Mods with questions to ask you if that will be ok

11:34 photofun-1: HI Sunnie <3

11:34 applewooddy: Glad you made it Sunnie

11:34 SunnieDay2: A great honor to have you here today!

11:34 sschneid-1: Hi~ I rounded up some fourth graders that are with me today.

11:35 PattiEaglEye: Welcome 4th graders

11:35 paffie2-1: Hi 4th graders!!

11:35 photofun-1: HI Sue and Great!!

11:35 NECscott: Sounds good, ask away,  I will do my best!

11:35 deeagle55-1: hi 4th graders

11:35 RappRiver-1: Great Sue

11:35 kahchoy-1: Hi Scott!!

11:35 kellirooney: Scott, when did you discover your love of raptors?

11:35 NECscott: BTW Greetings to all students out there!

11:35 sschneid-1: They don't understand why the egg didn't hatch. What is unviable?

11:36 PattiEaglEye: Scott, paffie wants to know what it is like working at the NEC?

11:36 NECscott: I have been interested  in all critters since I was a little kid. From picking up frogs and toads or having worms in my desk at school.

11:37 photofun-1: (I paused chat so Scott can answer the questions)

11:37 SunnieDay2: The difference between un-viable and un-fertile. Is what Sue is asking.

11:37 NECscott: In fact my teachers were always scared to look in my desk, because they never knew what they might find.! Once I had some raccoon poop in there, that didn't go over well with my teacher!

11:38 NECscott: Yes, keep it slow for this newbie!

11:38 PattiEaglEye: lol

11:39 kellirooney: LOL, thanks Scott!

11:39 NECscott: It is an amazing job that I have! I get to work with eagles, I get to educate to people of all ages about eagles and the environment (and no papers to grade!) we are lo0cated right on the Mississippi

11:39 NECscott: it is a great view every single day

11:40 NECscott: Plus the connections that people have with eagles is profound.

11:40 SunnieDay2: kahchoy wants to know what kind of injuries do you see in eagles?

11:41 NECscott: Just on Saturday I had a young lady of 16 who was from Alabama and is at Mayo in Rochester for help, she has a disease that lets tumors grow rampant in her body

11:41 NECscott: and has had 17 surgeries just on her jaw alone to get rid of tumors,

11:43 kellirooney: What a shame Scott, and so young. She came to see the eagles at NEC?

11:43 NECscott: She saw the story of Was' aka our eagle and how he had a tumor on his eye lid, so even though she had just had her picture taken with another eagle, I brought Was aka out so that she could have a pic

11:43 PattiEaglEye: paffie wants to know if you work directly with the raptors?

11:44 NECscott: for the ? about injuries, 3 of our eagles were hit by cars, we had an eagle come in on Saturday that were hit by a car

11:45 SunnieDay2: That seems to be #1 Scott. And also lead poisoning.

11:45 kellirooney: Sue's 4th graders would like to know:  Why didn't Lucy's egg hatch? What is unviable?

11:45 NECscott: We unfortunately see way too many eagles coming in with lead poisoning,  a couple years ago, out of 18 injured eagles brought in, half were euthanized because of lead!

11:46 NECscott: Lead is something we can do about, and that is the part that makes it so sad.

11:47 SunnieDay2:  Lead is a bad one, getting worse for sure. It is sad since we can prevent this.

11:48 NECscott: Sue's class, let me first say that we are LEARNING so much from Lucy!  I think she is healthy as she can be to keep her self alive, but may not of had enough energy in her body this year to produce a

11:48 NECscott: viable egg.

11:48 PattiEaglEye: Scott , have you seen many eagles with injuries like Lucy's that have survived? from paffie

11:49 SunnieDay2: 28% of all eggs just don’t hatch for a number of reasons.

11:49 NECscott: Very true Sunnie, I was just going to type that

11:50 SunnieDay2: Do you see many trap injuries?

11:50 NECscott: This winter their was an eagle in Red Wing MN who was photographed catching fish and only had one foot, the other foot was just a stub

11:51 photofun-1: We are very proud of our Lucy and know she has learned to adapt so well to her injury!

11:51 NECscott: Otherwise I had not seen that before. At raptor banding stations I have seen a talon or two missing, but not a whole foot.

11:52 PattiEaglEye: Treetop would like to hear more about the viability of egg related to Lucy's energy supply

11:52 NECscott: Thankfully we do not see many trap injuries, I have seen only 1 in 6 years here. Most of the trappers in this area are very careful in how traps are placed according to the law

11:53 NECscott: The golden eagle was one that was caught in a trap, the injury was repaired and was the first bird we released as part of our Golden Eagle Research project

11:53 kellirooney: Scott, Nubiti would like to know: "What range of North America can we find Golden Eagles ...are there any in Eastern Canada?"

11:54 SunnieDay2: Legal traps are checked, and most states have good education programs. But some are illegally set, off season.

11:55 NECscott: We do  have golden eagles in Eastern Canada, in northern and eastern Quebec and along the Laborador Sea and Newfoundland many of those birds that  breed there winter in the NE states like New York,

11:55 NECscott: Penn etc.

11:56 NECscott: In fact we are part of a group of eastern states studying golden eagles and just received a National award for this pioneering work on Golden Eagles in the eastern states

11:56 kellirooney: (clap) Scott!

11:57 PattiEaglEye: awesome Scott

11:57 SunnieDay2: I was wondering any news on the locations of transmitted Goldens recently?

11:57 NECscott: most of what we know about GOEA"s is from the western states were they are more common,

11:58 NECscott: One of GOEA's that we have released is in the same area she nested in last year above the Northwest Territories in Nunavut

11:58 PattiEaglEye: Scott, paffie says she read an article "A Golden Eagle Injured in Southern Illionois " she wants to know if they travel that far south?

11:58 SunnieDay2: <3

11:59 NECscott: Another is just east of there and another one in Due North of Manitoba in Nunavut near the Arctic Circle

11:59 photofun-1: Scott in regards to Sue's 4th graders question about the viability of Lucy's egg, could you explain why perhaps it didn't hatch?

11:59 SunnieDay2: Wow!

12:00 NECscott: We had surveyors in Illinois for the first time this year help with the GOEA survey that we have been doing for 9 years now, and they saw some GOE's in ILL.

12:00 SunnieDay2: They will go as far south perhaps as needed for winter foraging?

12:01 NECscott: A GOEA that we released in Duluth this fall winter in southern Missouri, occasionally venturing into Arkansas

12:01 PattiEaglEye: Scott , paffie would like to know where in Illinois, she is in Central Illinois

12:02 NECscott: Yes, sunnie they will do that. I think they these wintering GOEA's have been in some of these areas all along, we just have been overlooking them.

12:02 SunnieDay2: That is very interesting Scott.  So much is needed to learn of their travels.

12:02 NECscott: I have been watching the same valleys in my area for 18 years and the GOEA's have been there all along

12:03 SunnieDay2: I see you counted around 140 this winter!

12:03 NECscott: Yes, Sunnie we are just opening the book on eastern GOEA's and I am proud to be a small part of dotting the i's

12:03 SunnieDay2: How about the bald eagle counts this winter for Minnesota?

12:04 SunnieDay2: It is exciting! I have been learning more about them myself.

12:04 kellirooney: From Westcoaster: "Scott, were you surprised by Larry's behavior toward the injured Lucy?"

12:05 NECscott: Bald eagle counts along the river by us were great this year, but we had a more normal winter. we typically average 2-3 hundred Bald Eagles along a 5 mile stretch, and we had that and some this year

12:06 NECscott: But the previous  winter  we were lucky to have about 75 along that stretch. but with more ice and snow, it concentrates the eagles along the river

12:06 SunnieDay2: I was wondering, as Wisconsin counts were up too, along with Iowa's!

12:08 SunnieDay2: I will let you catch up with questions, but was wondering how you see the increase along the Mississippi, and also nesting closeness. Territorial fights, etc...

12:08 NECscott: westcoatster,  I was surprised about Larry responding so well to Lucy, because for years we have talked about how an eagle may not mate with another if they don't think they are "physically fit"

12:09 NECscott: And I do think that if it were a pair of migratory eagles were they re-strengthen pair bonds when returning to the nest, then that pair may not have nested again, we theorize that the cartwheeling is

12:10 NECscott: in part a test, to see how strong and agile the other partner is.

12:10 SunnieDay2: Yes!

12:10 NECscott: So yes I have learned alot and altered what I say to my audience

12:11 SunnieDay2: ;)

12:11 PattiEaglEye: Scott, paffie wants to know "Do you think if Larry had wanted a new mate, he would have found one by now"?

12:11 NECscott: I remember the first year of the cam and talking with the kids, I said what ever happens, we will learn something from it and WE are doing it!

12:12 NECscott: Larry is staying with Lucy now

12:12 kellirooney: (y) Scott!

12:12 NECscott: To the ? question about increase in number of eagles.

12:13 NECscott: We have seen more incidences and reports of territorial fights. 

12:13 NECscott: I have seen more myself

12:14 kellirooney: Scott, one more about Goldens - Nubiti says a friend tells her there are a pair off the Bay of Fundy, off the coast of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. Possible?

12:15 NECscott: The last couple of years just north of here near, Lake City Mn there is an area where 15-23 adult eagles have been hanging out, and clearly not breeding. So yes, the number of nests in the river

12:16 NECscott: valley is still going up this year, (i know of several new nests near us this year) there is some adult birds that are not on territory for some reason

12:15 SunnieDay2: Many want to know about testing of eaglets along the river for contaminants, such as things entering the food chain, flame retardants, etc...

12:17 NECscott: We have not done any testing because the National Park Service has been doing that for many years now. And yes unfortunately retardants and other things show up.

12:18 SunnieDay2: Thank you! Had several asking that.

12:19 NECscott: My partner in the GOEA project Mark Martell from MN Audubon has helped with the testing of eaglets to the North of us for many years now.

12:19 SunnieDay2: I did see the NPS studies, and ones from the upper reaches of Wisconsin. Thanks, Mn. Audubon is a terrific program!

12:20 NECscott: Yes, it is! Mark is  a great guy to work with. He is the director of bird conservation for Audubon

12:21 SunnieDay2: It is good to know that is being done.

12:21 NECscott: I hope I have not missed any questions! This stuff comes across rather fast for this newbie!

12:21 SunnieDay2: The old Mississippi is full of so many things. Needs to be watched.

12:21 kellirooney: Scott, we will remind you :) You're doing great!

12:22 NECscott: I just put in a computer at home a year ago, so I am slow to technology!

12:23 NECscott: Soon I will figure out how to put up those smiley faces!

12:23 kellirooney: LOL Scott :)   Scott in regards to Sue's 4th graders question about the viabliliy of Lucy's egg, could you explain why perhaps it didn't hatch?

12:24 SunnieDay2: lol Scott.

12:24 NECscott: It is so hard to speculate, but I personally feel

12:25 NECscott: that winter is a tuff time in an eagles life anyways and yes it helps that the female  is larger so that she can better produce the eggs during that time of the year

12:26 NECscott: but Lucy's body was stressed, and so that may have played a part in not all the "parts" coming into play to produce a viable egg. As sunnie said earlier it happens about

12:27 SunnieDay2: We hope for better times here to come, as all nests in the wild can have there ups and downs. One never knows what lies ahead.

12:27 PattiEaglEye: Scott in your personal opinion, since Lucy did prove that she is able to mate and produce an egg, that next year will be a better year for her & Larry, as far as producing viable eggs?

12:27 photofun-1: Thank you Scott, I know the kids were anxious to hear

12:28 kellirooney: Scott, thank you :)   one more - Nubiti was curious about one thing too, on the Golden eagles -

12:29 kellirooney: she says a friend tells her there are a pair off the Bay of Fundy, off the coast of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. Possible?

12:29 NECscott: Wow, hard to finish without forgetting what I was going to put, but yes I do feel Pattieagleeye, that with a year under her wings and continual adaptations to her lifestyle that if they were to mate

12:29 NECscott: next year that there would be a much better likely hood of viable eggs

12:30 SunnieDay2: <3

12:30 PattiEaglEye: Thank you

12:30 kellirooney: We're sure hoping :) <3

12:30 NECscott: Yes we are!!

12:31 NECscott: Yes those are probably GOEA's in that area Nubiti

12:32 NECscott: In those areas they tend to be feeding on sea ducks

12:32 SunnieDay2: It has sure been a great cam experience, first time to be able to watch the progression of an eagle with a disability!

12:33 NECscott: Some GOEA's in that area winter in those areas and do not migrate down in to lower 48 states such as Maine or Penn.

12:33 NECscott: So true Sunnie, we are LEARNING so much!!!

12:34 kellirooney: (clap)

12:34 kellirooney: Thank you Scott!

12:35 NECscott: It is a great learning experience for the kids, that is after all why I wanted to help out with this project! So thank you all for doing your part in their education as well!

12:36 TALONatE4K-1: Folks, I think that is about all the time Scott has for today. We of course thank him very much for taking time out of a very busy schedule to do this for us.

12:36 kellirooney: Scott - thanks so much for answering questions for our eaglelovers! May we ask you to join us again soon? It's been an honor to have you with us!

12:36 NECscott: WOW it is after 1:30 already!!

12:36 PattiEaglEye: Thank you Scott from all the chatters & Mods for taking this time to be with us .

12:36 kellirooney: Chat is unpaused

12:37 SunnieDay2: I thank all so much, and also what a great session with Scott! I thank you Scott!<3

12:37 TALONatE4K-1: I applaud you Scott. For a newbie you did fantastic! You must have been practicing.

12:37 paffie2-1: Scott!  (y)  Thank you!

12:37 applewooddy: Thank you Scott and Sunnie

12:37 SunnieDay2: Grat job!!!!!!

12:37 deeagle55-1: TY Scott for your time and info (Y)

12:37 paffie2-1: and yes!  Thank you sunnie!!!

12:37 NECscott: I would be glad to do so, and I hope that in the future we can involve some of our other educators at the National Eagle Center!

12:37 Westcoaster95: Thanks for being here Scott

12:37 tammygreen7399-1: Thank you Scott

12:37 RappRiver-1: Thank you Scott. . .

12:37 Nubiti: Thks Scott ,...will get pictures of the GOEA on the Southern waters of New Brunswick near Deer Island

12:37 paffie2-1: That would be wonderful scott!!

12:38 applewooddy: That would be wonderful to have them join us too

12:38 Soaring1: It was neat to sit back and watch .Good job everyone

12:38 kahchoy: thank you Scott!! From Kim in Washington State!!

12:38 sschneid-1: Thanks, Scott! I'm renewing my membership now!   I encourage everyone to become a member of NEC!

12:38 TALONatE4K-1: Thank you NEC for being an integral part of the education puzzle.

12:39 PattiEaglEye: Thank you chatters for some fantastic questions !!!!

12:39 NECscott: Thanks everyone for being so kind to me today!

12:39 SunnieDay2: This is just wonderful as we all want to move forward and educate, and think so much of today’s youth, they are tomorrows future.

12:39 kellirooney: Please visit NEC's website for visiting hours, special programs, etc :  http://www.nationaleaglecenter.org/

12:39 paffie2-1: Scott, you did great!!

12:40 NECscott: Thanks for renewing the membership sschneid, that is how we survive, do what we do,  and how we get a paycheck so thanks!!

12:40 NECscott: Thanks for the NEC link plug kelli

12:41 BreezeBoreal-1: Thank you, Scott & all at NEC ☺

12:41 kahchoy: Scott, a group of us will be visiting the NEC on June 25th and we are looking forward to it!

12:41 paffie2-1: There is also a FB page ;)  www.facebook.com/TheNationalEagleCenter

12:41 SunnieDay2: For all who want to visit this wonderful Center, here is more info.

http://www.nationaleaglecenter.org/live-eagle-programs/

12:41 kellirooney: Our pleasure Scott!

12:42 Westcoaster95: Thanks mods for forwarding our questions.

12:42 NECscott: kahcboy, GREAT, thanks for visiting! I will unfortunately be gone that day, would have loved to meet you, but maybe next time!

12:42 SunnieDay2: A must visit if traveling to Minnesota!

12:42 Treetop2: Thank you, Scott!

12:42 kahchoy: You bet Scott!

12:43 NECscott: I am not sure how to end all this fun, so will just say GOOD BYE for this week and hope to chat soon! 

12:43 SunnieDay2: Thanks again so very much!!!!!!!!

12:43 PattiEaglEye: Bye Scott and please come back soon !!!!

12:44 kahchoy: Good bye and thank you. Love the work you all do on behalf of the eagles!!

12:44 SunnieDay2: Our door is always open! We will leave the light on!

12:44 paffie2-1: and a cheetos trail sunnie?  LOL

12:44 KimKat98: Scott till we meet again thanks again and take care, have a great summer.

12:45 SunnieDay2: Lucy sends her squees, to thank you too!

12:45 SunnieDay2: lol paffie!

12:46 paffie2-1: going back to reg. chat.  see you there

By: Faith

Thank you Kelli Rooney: Hi There, Lucy

Thank you priscillash1 on youtube: Larry and Lucy

Thank you Kelli Rooney on youtube for the videos.

Lucy was having no part of this eagle and let him/her know loud and clear.

We would like to thank all of our moderators on the ustream side of Eagles4kids. They have been passionate about spreading the word of E4K, and educating our chatters. We have a special group of people here. Thank you: Kelli, Lynne, Donna, Sunnie, Renee, Patti, and Jocelyn, for all you have done and of course for the wonderful surprises the students enjoyed today.

Here are a few of the pictures from the celebration!

Eagle Nest Activity

All these pictures and more can all be viewed at this link:

http://s1098.photobucket.com/user/eagles4kids/slideshow/Sue%20Schneider%20Visit%20May%2017%202013

By: Serenity

Thank you kelli Rooney on youtube.

Finally the rain stopped and Larry and Lucy came in. Thank you naimoj on youtube.

By Alexandra ~ Grade 2