Highlights
Highlights from the FOBBV YouTube Team: ⬇️ 6/17
* The Big Bear Nest Diaries: Last night Fiona 🐿️ got close enough to the chicks to take a sniff, and the chicks slept right through it. 😂 This morning at 6:24 Luna branched on the Y branch, going further up it than yesterday! At 9:53, self-feeding paused briefly as the chicks watched Turkey Vultures soaring over the nest tree. In the afternoon Sandy got feather bling stuck to her beak, and it continued to move in the breeze throughout the day 🌬️. Starting at 18:49, Luna and Sandy were both full of energy 🔋 doing lots of winger-cizing! At 20:29 Sandy is laying while Luna is on the back porch, both looking sleepy. 🌙 Roost Snug Jackie & Shadow, Luna and Sandy, we love you! ♥️
* Quiet Moments: After their energetic evening winger-cizing 🤸, Sandy took a break from her perch on the Back Porch to join Luna down in the nest. Around 19:35, Sandy began nibbling quite emphatically at Luna’s feathers – one white feather 🪶seemed particularly interesting. Eventually, when he had enough of the feather nibbling, Luna got up and took his turn on the back porch, while Sandy filled his spot in the nest – a moment reminiscent of the many times we’ve seen Jackie tempt Shadow off the nest using similar tactics. 💗
* Daily Fun Fact: “TURKEY VULTURES” Turkey vultures (Cathartes aura) are the ultimate, cleanup crew of the 🩵 skies. While their habit of eating carrion (dead animals) might seem 🤢 gross, their bodies are masterpieces of evolutionary biology, specifically engineered to act as natural sanitizers. Unlike eagles 🦅, hawks, and almost all other birds, turkey vultures have a phenomenal sense of smell. They can detect the microscopic gas molecules of decaying meat from up to a mile away, even through a dense forest 🌳 canopy. A turkey vulture can eat an animal that died of anthrax, botulism, cholera, or rabies and suffer no ill effects. Their stomach acid is a biological weapon. It is roughly 100 times more concentrated than human stomach acid—so corrosive that it ranks close to battery 🔋acid. This extreme pH level completely destroys these deadly bacteria 🦠 and viruses on contact, meaning vultures literally cleanse the environment of terrible diseases that would otherwise poison local groundwater and other wildlife. ♥️🪶
* Daddy Duties: Shadow had 1 nest 🪺 visits. Total nest time for Shadow was 0 hours, 2 min. Bringing 1 fish to His Chicks and Queen Jackie. 🐟
* Munchies and Mutes: Jackie and Shadow served 1 feeding. Luna and Sandy partook in 😋 self-feeding . Full crops were observed on both chicks. 25+ PS🐥(Poop Shots) were sliced, 0 were on 🎯!!
📊 Today’s Tallies:
💠Jackie (J): 44 min in nest, 1 fish
💠Shadow (S): 2 min in nest, 1 fish
💠Chicks (C): Chicks were in charge for 23 hours, 14 min and were left in charge after dark!
*only a few events-of-interest are listed