Eagle Trials

When I see a bald eagle, I usually think of the them as the master of the sky, who dominates by sheer size and power the other birds. I generally don't think of them as being hurt by predators, but Jackie and Shadow have changed my opinion. Jackie and Shadow are two bald eagles in the San Bernardino National Forest in California. I hear updates on Jackie and Shadow from the wife, who I think gets her maternal instinct fix from reading about the trials of the pair.

Eagle looking for fish at Laura Lake

I have seen eagle nests her in Wisconsin, particularly at Laura Lake and one here in McFarland near lower Mud Lake on the Mahunt property. The nests are really quite big. For Jackie and Shadow the nest sits in a Jeffrey Pine tree, about five feet down from the top of the 150' or so pine. Their nest is 6' deep, so deeper than I am tall, and about 5.5' in width, so a few inches less than my height. The nest was built by another eagle pair and taken over by Jackie.

The female eagle is larger than the male, usually 25% TO 33% bigger, and Jackie is estimated at three feet in height and Shadow at 2.5 feet in height. The eagles are taking care of two eggs, with two to three eggs, per my wife, being normal. The incubation is taxing on the pair, in both care of the egg, keeping away the nasty raven predators and normal care for themselves. We know a great deal about the pair due to two solar-powered cameras that watch the nest and its immediate surroundings. Eagles have a body temperature of 105 degrees so they use that to incubate, but instincts will tell them when they need to let off and perhaps let the eggs cool somewhat. Fluff materials in the nest provide some insulation and softness. This fluffy stuff, made up of dried grass, reeds and feathers, can make the eagle snit, which is eagle-ease for sneeze. 

Eagle at Laura Lake

Eagle watching is nothing to sneeze at. It can be hours of boredom followed by a few minutes of terror. Jackie and Shadow faced terror several days ago when a mob attacked the eagle nest, looking to harm the two eggs the eagle pair have been tending. A group of ravens, is called an "unkindness" which literally speaks volumes to the type of birds ravens are, but a group that attacks a larger bird, such as an eagle is called a mob, and they are engaged in mobbing behavior. 

The best account is in the Eagle Log for the pair on March 13: 

Yesterday from mid-morning all the way through to the evening, Jackie and Shadow were on alert most of the day, as some of the visiting birds in the area decided to return to bother them after a quiet hiatus.

Before all the intruder activity, Shadow delivered a new stick that he cunningly used to get Jackie up off the eggs. He first placed the pokey stick on her back. When that didn't work, he moved around and up closer to her head. Bonk..that did the trick! He was blocking her way out the front porch though, so she had to wing bump him to get by. After she flew off, he tilted his head and looked a bit confused how she might have been disturbed by any of that!

A bit later, Shadow was on the eggs and also on alert as he loudly called Jackie in for backup. Their loud calls were directed at five ravens who circled above and around the nest tree. A couple of them touched down briefly on the canopy above and one boldly landed on the High Perch.

Since bald eagles and ravens have similar breeding and nesting seasons in this area, both are highly territorial and active in defending their nest and territory. Ravens often use a tactic called mobbing to harass or drive out larger birds like bald eagles. As both eagles and ravens may tend to their own nest and eggs, the behaviors and the conflicts between them are mostly driven strictly by survival instincts.

Jackie and Shadow continued to work together the remainder of the day. A young juvenile bald eagle perched for 25 minutes on their favorite Lookout Snag branch, plus Jackie and Shadow dealt with more nearby raven activity.

Later in the afternoon, Jackie aggressively chased a few ravens away and then before bed, Shadow also chased a juvenile bald eagle out of the Roost Tree area. It ended up spending the night roosting on the Simba Tree, further away from Jackie and the eggs.

Jackie and Shadow are used to these highly opportunistic predators and scavengers that see their eggs as a nutritious source of food. They both were in sync and did a great job defending the nest and their precious eggs… and they will continue to do so in a heartbeat.

For Jackie and Shadow the two eggs are their second pair, with ravens having mobbed their way in and destroyed the first pair earlier this year.  As of March 20, the two current eggs were laid a few days apart: "Egg#1 is 24 days old and Egg#2 is 21 days old. The eggs are still in the incubation period with about 10 more days of incubation before Pip Watch begins on March 31. Once we see the initial hole in the outer shell, it could take 2-3 days for a chick to fully hatch."

Eagle at Laura Lake

Hence, sometime early next week, if not Sunday, the eggs should start to hatch, provided they have no more mob incidents from the nasty ravens. My household raptor specialist will likely keep me informed as the hopeful hatching. We can then, have some months of watching them branching, to fledgling to post fledgling stages. The two nest cameras give a view into the trails of eagles and their young. Yet, one never knows what happens in nature.

Quotes from https://friendsofbigbearvalley.org/eagles/

Photos by author, 2024

Gen Z'ers

The Sunday morning following the spring ahead time change, after waking we turned the news on Alexa. Following the news was a radio program by Kim Komando, the goddess of all things digital. She was relaying the situation that Mr. Wonderful from Shark Tank, Kevin O'Leary, had interviewed a person from Gen Z who wanted a parent to sit in on the interview. She then relayed this happened to her. I knew that Gen Zers tended to do things somewhat differently, but this seems over the top.

One statistic is that 77% of Zers took a parent to an interview, assisted with a resume, or negotiations for a job. This is linked to intense parenting. Some say it is the high level of economic pressure in a job market that many rate as fair to poor.

During my time at work I hired plenty of persons, often yearly for summer interns. Luckily, I did not have to face the situation of a person who brought their parent to sit in on the interview. Although one had a parent drive them, as they would visit relatives in the area after the interview. Newsweek says that 20% of Gen Z took a parent to an interview, and of that 15% to an in-person interview. A sample of 1,000 generation Z persons by Resume Template, noted that 75% of parents completed or reviewed a job application or resume for them. They also reported that 51% of that cohort took a parent to MULTIPLE interviews, which may show why they have multiple interviews. Then, even more astounding was that 67% had a parent who spoke with a manager about a job for the child.

Wikipedia

To say that they are coddled is an understatement. Marie Barone, in Everybody Loves Raymond, which ran from 1996-2005 in one episode recounted how every body got a gold star, participation trophies. Issues are also seen in academics. Grade inflation has increased with the expectation that everyone needs an A, no more grading on a curve. Where was this when I was in school?  I tended to fall to the left side of the curve, in some areas of study (Spanish) more so than others (history). At the local high school, the Tuesday following the time change forward, was ACT test day. When I took the test, and even when my kids took the test, it was a Saturday. What they now do is shut down the whole high school for the juniors to take the ACT. All other students at the school had what was termed an " Online asynchronous learning day." Proving fact is more bizarre than fiction, I am not quite sure what such gobbledygook means. Who ever came up with such non-plain English deserves to work in the education bureaucracy. 

hubstaff.com

I am not sure what happens to the junior who desires not to take the test because they wish to go to a trade school. Did they take the test anyway, or did they do the  online asynchronous learning day? I understand the importance of education, but also realize that college is not for everyone. Some of the work in the trades, such as plumbers, electricians, and concrete flat workers will not be replaced by AI. Although AI may well tell you how to  screw something up to make you call a plumber. Maybe they too enjoyed an online asynchronous learning day. 

I used AI to enhance a couple old family photos, and it put a beard on someone standing to the back when the person had no beard. I also tried it on some text translation, and got a mixed bag. Sometimes it says it cannot do it, some comes our correct (to a professional interpretation I had done, it was a test to see how well it worked) and other times it comes out more bizarre than I could even interpret.

Instead of a snow day, why can the students not have in its place an online asynchronous learning day? On Monday, March 16, they had a snow day with the blizzard warning. which easily could have been an asynchronous learning day. But, no the kids next door got to sleep in. Unless my wife and I clearing the driveway woke them up. Administrators say it is too much trouble. During the pandemic I asked one of our neighbor kids what classes for online learning he had. He had recess, gym, and English. I was flabbergasted to find out they had recess for a period when you are working from home, and what do you do for gym, stretches? I would have thought a science or math course would have been appropriate for that quarter, but I was wrong.

Apparently, the education bureaucracy pandemic pedagogy has carried over to present. The Wisconsin State Journal reported on Wednesday, March 11, 2026 that first and second graders, who were never affected by a pandemic shutdown, have math and reading scores below pre-pandemic levels. It seems that the non-phonics method of learning English did not work, so much for those brains in education who want to experiment on kids. 

The whole point of this is how kids are coddled today. I recall reading an article about a successful person a while back, who I cannot remember, but how at dinner the father did not want to know what they had for success that day, but in what they did not do well or failed, and what they learned. Losses can be good learning experiences. If one does not have ups and downs, because mommy is always present to guide you, and be at your interview, you may not be able to properly handle the down side of life. Life is not always ups, but also downs. Mommy will not always be around to protect you, at least I do not think so.

I have no issue with a parent reviewing a job application, or giving career advice, but when a young adult takes a parent into an interview, that is a whole different sort of thing. Kim Komando referred to the young man she interviewed as rather "mousy" and would not have held up to the up charged work environment she oversees. She did not allow him to bring his parent into the interview. If he was mousy, perhaps that is why he brought momma along. Birth rates are at historic lows, and that may be a good thing as far as gen Z is concerned, because if they are like this now, what will they be like as a parent? Helicopter parents and tiger moms seem to be the new norm, and will gen Z parents make that worse? 

Cords and Gremlins

Last week Saturday morning I was looking for a charging cord for an item I occasionally use. I knew the cord was kept in a drawer of a China cabinet we have in the dining room, with several other cords. I think there are gremlins that take the cords when I am searching and put it back for the wife to find. A

A pesky gremlin is the only way for me to explain why I could not find the cord, even though I pulled out all of the cords in the black organizer box and sorted through them, and looked in nearby smaller boxes. It certainly could not be my eyesight.

Varied Charging Cords

This has happened regarding varied items over the years and I have come to realize that the gremlins are wife friendly, but seem to like to pick on me. I am not sure if they are the same as the "ghosts" that my wife claims to here in the walls and the chimney. One time, I heard the noises in the wall and chimney, and even went outside to see if I could see squirrels or other critter types on the roof, but to no avail. They could have jumped off and hid, which is not hard to do with all our plants around the base of the house. Or, they could be between the siding and the insulation, or they could be "ghosts". Who knows.

Of course, there are items I set aside for safe keeping, and cannot recall the safe place. One such item was a bag containing stuff for our rain barrel, in the warmer months it is the hookup for winter, and in the winter the hookup for warmer weather. Or, the time, my wife made some corn hole toss bags, and I stuck them in the basement up between the first floor joists. A nice out of the way spot, if only I could have remembered. I now know to look up when searching for an item. 

All I know when I was looking for that charging cord I looked and looked, and looked again, and to no avail. I then asked the wife if she knew what happened to it, and she said she did not move it. She knew what the cord looked like, grey with more of a cloth exterior than vinyl or rubber. She came over to the drawer, and looked inside and pulled it out. It was so quick, I figured she had brought it with her and I, jokingly, said as much, which really got her goat. She did not take it as jokingly.

This narrows to a few options of what happened First, I did not look sufficiently well; second, that the wife brought it over and placed it in the drawer to pull out; and third, there are gremlins that moved it when I look, but put it back when she looks. I am going with the cords and gremlin theory. 

Too Much Salt

It was in November, almost 36 years ago when the wife and I traveled to Italy for our honeymoon. Our first four or so days were spent in the Eternal City, Rome. We visited the Vatican on at least two different days. On one occasion we were in the Vatican Museums, and had the opportunity to visit the Sistine Chapel. We had a tour guide for the museums and the Sistine Chapel. The Sistine Chapel is known for its Michelangelo ceiling frescoes (1508-1512) which had just completed a 10 year restoration. They were then to clean and restore the large wall fresco (1533-~1536), also by the master Michelangelo, titled the "Last Judgement". This large fresco sits behind the altar.

The Last Judgement is famous for its depiction of the second coming of Christ and the depiction of 300 souls, some tormented, some not. When we visited the Sistine Chapel art historians were aghast at the vibrancy of colors the restoration exposed. They claimed that Michelangelo never used such vibrant colors on the ceiling frescoes. It was quite the controversy, as hundred of years of candle wax, and human activity, had coated the great work and dulled the painting, leaving many to think that such colors were not apart of the original work, but done by the restorers. They seemed to want the candle wax and soot back, or at least some of it. Why do people think that in the 1th century everything had to be dark? It was part of the renaissance, after all. Overtime, that controversy has died down, and most have come to realize that the early 16th century masters had in fact used such vibrant colors. The Last Judgement, is mainly blue and skin tones due to the sky and the naked 300 persons portrayed. As the work gets closer to the floor it becomes darker, representative of hell. 

The Last Judgement Fresco
credit: Francisco Anzola
Source: Smarthistory.org

Fresco painting is a process where water-based pigments are applied directly onto wet lime plaster and as the plaster dries the pigments, by chemical reaction are bound to the plaster. It is intricate and exacting work with the plaster and timing being important. In his book Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling Ross King goes into the difficulties experienced in painting the ceiling by Michelangelo and his assistants. Ross also goes into the sourcing of pigments for the ceiling. For example, a monastery in Florence was known for its pigments, and King says "Their colors--their blues in particular--were the best and most sought after in Florence." (p66) Fresco creation is a difficult art form, and perhaps someday I will reread the King book and blog about this now rare art form. I have to say, I am not sure the world has seen again a genius like Michelangelo. His variety of forms is impressive painting, sculpture, frescoes, and architecture (he completed the design for the St Peter's Dome). 

This great work of art, within the Sistine Chapel, however, is now under attack by perspiration. The National Catholic Reporter had this to say:

"The lactic acid produced through perspiration binds very easily with the calcium present on the surface of the fresco," Fabio Morresi, head of the Vatican Museums' scientific research laboratory, told the National Catholic Reporter during a press visit to the Sistine Chapel Feb. 28. "That reaction forms a salt, calcium lactate, which creates a thin whitish layer on the surface. Over time, that layer mutes the colors and softens the contrasts of 'The Last Judgment.' "

The ceiling and other frescoes are cleaned during the night, which visitors do not see, using lifts, but The Last Judgement requires special scaffolding due to its location with the altar. 

Those 1990 art critics may be happy, but most wish to see the fresco as it was intended, and the nuance and contrast of colors can make a difference in how it is viewed. More people are entering the chapel than ever before. In 2024, for example, even before the 2025 Holy Year, the chapel had 6 million visitors, up from 1.5 million ten years earlier. Further, 2024 saw an average temperature in Rome being an amazing 4.5 degrees (F) higher than the average of 1991 to 2020. People come in hotter than before and their are more visitors. The church does not wish to be seen limiting visitors to one of the world's most important works of art, and that requires it to undertake more maintenance costs.

Pope Francis (non-posed photo) in Sistine Chapel
Contemplating The Last Judgement Fresco
Photo taken Christmas Day, 2014
National Geographic cover Aug 2015

The Last Judgement is being cleaned for the first time since 1994, This cleaning process, what the Vatican refers to as extraordinary maintenance, is not as extensive as the earlier restoration which removed centuries of soot and grime, this is removing that layer by removing the salt that adheres to the face of the fresco. The process is rather simple, dipping Japanese Vatican chief curator, Barbara Jatta refers to it like removing a cataract. The cleaning exposes more of the details of the great work of art. I suspect that is not a job I would want, as, if my wife is correct, I tend to be overzealous and would wipe away the fresco. The 1990's restoration removed the cloths that put in place to cover genital areas, and take it back to the original nudes Michelangelo painted. The cloths, or drapery, were put on after he died. 

Tourists at Vatican Museum Gallery of Maps
Nov 1990, photo by author

The restoration over 30 years ago countered the effects of much of the drapery installation of the Counter-reformation, but today a different challenge remains according the news reports: "today's intervention reflects a different challenge: safeguarding the fresco in an era of climate change and mass tourism." 

To help safeguard the priceless frescoes, climate within the Sistine Chapel is highly controlled. The temperature is kept at 71 to 75 degrees F, with a relative humidity of 55-60%. Most important, CO2 levels are at a level below that of a typical office building even though 700 to 800 persons will gather into the chapel at one point in time. Yet, as much as the Sistine is climate controlled, it can only do so much with perspiring people.

Google Map air photo of St Peter's Basilica and Sistine Chapel

The Vatican has a virtual tour of the Sistine Chapel which you can view here. My wife and I were fortunate to view the remarkable artwork in the Sistine Chapel in person. I recall most of our attention drawn to the then recently completed ceiling fresco restoration. At that point in time, since it was freshly cleaned, and the number of visitors was less, and the climate not has warm the colors were perhaps as vibrant when the ceiling was opened for viewing. 

What I learned from this is that too much salt is not just bad for the body, and our ecosystem, but also for the frescoes in the Sistine Chapel. Climate change is having a negative effect on the natural habitat (number of birds is way down) and cultural treasures.