Yesterday, sitting at my desk with food outside for the taking, the eagle looked this way and shortly took off toward the nest a mile away. That made Donna and me want to see if the nest is truly active this year. I downloaded the two pictures, grabbed the camera, and arrived there just in time to see him fly in with a 3-foot branch that was probably for bedding. We couldn’t see the other eagle at first and then it popped up. I aimed and clicked. Nothing! No card in the camera! Darn! I must be getting forgetful as I approach my 87th birthday, but it was nice to see their bright sunlit heads nearly touching and to hear sounds I believe were friendly although I don’t really know eagle language. Now is when they start laying eggs. I suspect she was incubating, but I didn’t get to see whether she has lost breast feathers yet to best warm the eggs with skin contact.
Bald eagle
Today, he took the biggest chicken drumstick and flew to a branch across the yard where it took him only 3 minutes to consume the meat and drop the leg bone under the watchful eyes of a raven and several crows that had followed him to the branch and sat within a few feet of him as usual. At sundown, the eagle swooped by for the final chicken drumstick of the day, still hungry after grabbing a half pound of bologna about a half hour earlier.
Raccoon
Now with it fully dark outside, three raccoons are ignoring me unless I whistle to see a cute face for a couple seconds.
Thank you for all you do,
Lynn Rogers, Biologist, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center