Hello Eagle Friends,
It was a snowy day in SE Minnesota. School was cancelled for my daughter so I had a little more
time to explore the woods and fields. The temperature was much warmer, too. I experienced 2 to 5 degree weather most of the morning and it was only -10 with the wind chill.
My coyote or wolf was back today too. From the looks of his tracks running along mine from yesterday, he must have followed my every step and circled back. I heard barking on the east bluff when I hiked out this morning. The light was low, very dark and overcast from the falling snow. Too far out to be someone's dog anyway. Besides, these aren't dog tracks. I didn't mention that I heard something yesterday, close to me when I found that fox kill. But today I could hear him again, about thirty to fifty feet away. First, the slow crunch in the snow, one step at a time, then the snap of a stick and a whoosh of grasses folding over. I was probably staring right at him and never saw him.
I'm even more convinced this mystery creature is a wolf, possibly in a black morph stage, just by behavior and that kill yesterday still has me wondering. A wolf devours everything. A coyote leaves bones. (Of course, that's just what I have seen). No one wants to believe that though. They aren't supposed to be in our area, but, I have witnesses, and a small video of their howling last year when I started my eagle project. Everyone forgets they have a territory of around 150 miles, so a pack passing through shouldn't seem that impossible.
Of course, I was the one who found the bear, too. So, I'm just going to have to get the first shots of this critter, this wolf--if that is what it is. I found some hair, but it could have been coyote hair. A lone coyote watching me from a distance and circling doesn't seem as possible as it being a wolf, but I know the distance that it feels safe from me.
I have to admit that his retreat line is encroaching on my imaginery boundary, my safety line.
I think back to last summer when the eagles fledged. The mystery animal followed me a mile down the river and laid back down in the tall grasses. I saw only a splash of black. A few days later, the same. It had a foul smell. A stench that was urine and the worst body odor you can imagine all combined into one animal. Then came the summer flood. Then came one set of tracks on the new sandbar.
But that was another journey.
Today as I traveled on and on, I came upon a canada goose laying on the river all alone. A goose with its head tucked under a wing, but very aware of its surroundings, and if I may . . . it seemed to know it was a "sitting duck." Suddenly, it jumped up on the ice and began walking around and started honking. No one answered. Then I saw an eagle, probably Judy or her mate, and it flew over him. After the eagle passed, the goose laid back down and tucked his head under his wing, still aware of the skies and the earth around him. I heard just the other day about an eagle who snatched a canada goose out of an open-topped pen. It was injured goose who couldn't fly, and the CO gave it to someone.
I found three more canada geese milling about with the trumpeter swans. Then I found that eagle who passed the goose, perched above the north end of the frozen pond. I stopped and photographed it. I'm convinced it was Judy.
All eagle nests were empty today.
I did get to watch a scene with a juvenile red tail hawk who I was photographing and every few seconds it let out a scream. I wasn't sure if it was reacting to me, which seem impossible, or just what was causing his distress. Then he really started screaming out. I looked up and found an adult red tail hawk fly in just a couple trees away from him. The juvenile screamed again, and then quickly flew off. I don't know if that adult hawk was this juveniles parent, or what? As an outsider looking in, it appeared to be a young hawk trying to establish his boundaries in this well-established territory of the adult.
I didn't find Daedee or Dancer today.
As I backtracked my steps the eagle from the pond was gone, and now an eagle was sitting in a tree over the open river a mile away. I'm convinced this was the same eagle, even moreso that it was Judy. I photographed her with all the snow falling, huge snowflakes it made a lovely scene.
I loved watching her eyes following a creature on its way through the woods. The sound of the chunks of frozen ice flowing down the rapidly moving river was as picturesque as it gets here in
Minnesota in a snowstorm. However, the last thing I expected was that God would send in the bluebirds. For ten minutes the eagle and me watched two adult bluebirds with two juvenile bluebirds dipping into the edge of the water
stealing a drink.
As I moved on the roads were becoming difficult to drive on, and then out of the corner of my eye
I saw him. The Mayor, Judy's mate sitting midway up on a tree, perched on a branch about 500 feet away. I quickly turned my camera to him and as I did he looked back at me.
I carefully eyed every detail of his features that I could see through my snow-spattered lens and the heaps of falling snow. I had to be sure it wasn't Daedee or Dancer. I can say with 100% accuracy it was not.
He was perched less than a quarter mile from his nest. Judy was about a 3/4 of a mile away. I have seen the eagle here a couple times now. I am convinced I have finally got my first set
of pictures of Judy and her mate, The Mayor. Now figuring out which is the male and female, I will need a side by side comparison, and if by chance I see them mating, I'll know quickly who is
who for sure. But for now, I'm calling the eagle with the darker yellow beak Judy, and the paler
beak, The Mayor.
One last drive past Daedee and Dancer's nest on my way home, and all I found was falling snow on it.
The drive home was incredibly slow-going. The visibility was less than a 100 ft at times, and the plow trucks had not made it out to the country yet. More snow tonight.
When I arrived home my 14 year old husky came running up, never so glad to see me, and then she spoke, "I love you." I see I'll have to video tape that to prove it. But it is very convincing.
Sheriffs have issued the usual winter storm "No travel, except emergencies" warnings. Hopefully, that will not be the case in the morning. It's never stopped me before.
I'm looking forward to Day 14.
See you on the journey--
Lisa
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