Waterville - Faculty and students at Waterville high school are keeping an eagle-eye on some new friends. A pair of baby bald eagles that have captured the imagination of the entire school.

The nest was discovered about two years ago when Suzanne Goulet, a visual arts teacher at Waterville High School, first noticed a bald eagle flying overhead while she was outside with some students. "Not 10 seconds later another eagle, this one with a frozen fish in its talons, flying in the same direction," Goulet said Wednesday, "and then it was after that we noticed the eagles' nest had started to form."

Read the rest of the story here:

Photo by Alexandra Gutierrez, KUCB - Unalaska

Like clockwork, the ominous signs show up every May: “Danger Nesting Eagles.” They’re placed near Unalaska’s clinic and post offices, and they feature a silhouette of a bird extending its talons toward a terrified human being.

The city’s Department of Public Safety put them up last Wednesday, after getting the first report of a bald eagle attack this year. According to Deputy Chief Mike Holman, the incident took place outside the Iliuliuk Family and Health Services clinic. Holman says that while bald eagles have wounded people in the past, this attack wasn’t anything serious – just a swooping.

Read the rest of the story here:  http://www.alaskapublic.org/2012/05/16/ ... he-attack/

May 16, 2012 - It's getting crowded at the Lafarge nest!

The youngest chick was three weeks old yesterday - and the oldest one will be four weeks old tomorrow - and all are growing very fast!

You can watch the Lafarge bald eagle nest cam by clicking on Live Cameras at the top of the page. 

 Released: 5/3/2012 9:00:00 AM
 

RESTON, Va. — Thanks to citizen-scientists around the country, the USA National Phenology Network hit a major milestone this week by reaching its one millionth nature observation. 

The millionth observation was done by Lucille Tower, a citizen-scientist in Portland, Ore., who entered a record about seeing maple vines flowering. Her data, like all of the entries, came in  through USA-NPN’s online observation program, Nature's Notebook, which engages more than 4,000 volunteers across the country to observe and record phenology – the timing of the recurring life events of plants and animals such as when cherry trees or lilacs blossom, when robins build their nests, when salmon swim upstream to spawn or when leaves turn colors in the fall.   

Each record not only represents a single data point — the status of a specific life stage of an individual plant or animal on one day – but also benefits both science and society by helping researchers understand how plants and animals are responding to climate change and, in turn, how those responses are affecting people and ecological systems.   

"My dream is that through the wonders of modern technology and the National Phenology Network we could turn the more than six billion people on the planet into components of our scientific observing system," said USGS Director Marcia McNutt. "We could make giant leaps in science education, improve the spatial and temporal coverage of the planet, lower the cost of scientific data collection, and all while making ordinary citizens feel a part of the scientific process." 

To learn more please Visit: The U.S. Geological Survey website

Contact Information: U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey Office of Communications and Publishing 12201 Sunrise Valley Dr, MS 119 Reston, VA 20192

Jake Weltzin, USGS Phone: 703-485-5138 Bobbie Mixon, Jr., National Science Foundation Phone: 703-292-8485