Day 3 Friday 1/11/08 Year Four Dancer & Daedee

                                     

Hello Eagle Friends,

Today was a bit cooler. It was 20º when I arrived, but warmed up to 26º by the time I left, but with the wind it felt more like 5º.

I spotted Daedee and Dancer the female and male eagles, above the bluffs soaring back and forth. I would describe their playfulness almost like a prelude to their courtship which will begin in just a few weeks. I photographed both eagles, but I have to share that an image shot a mile away is nothing to brag about. It serves as a documentary still, and that's it. It says, "yes, they were there."

I headed up to check on the new nest, but I found it vacant, and no eagles in the area. I moved on north and found a few red-tailed hawks, then a large eagle perched on a branch over the highway, an eagle who flew off as I drove by. I wondered if that eagle was one of Tookie's parents.

Tookie was the eaglet that died when the nest tree collapsed, flipping the nest, and killing the

8 day old eaglet in 2005.  Fish & Wildlife told me they had reports the parents were rebuilding a nest in 2005. I didn't spend much time back there until 2006, and I found two nests back there. I have watched both nests these past couple of years, and I have photographed eagles on both, but I never saw eaglets on my visits, which were few and far between.

I shot a few dried plants, animal tracks in the snow against fallen leaves. Shooting in the winter is like always trying to find the beauty in the death.

Back on the pool I paused and noticed an eagle on a nest tree. It was one of Tookie's parents alright, probably the eagle that flew from the highway when I drove by.  I was a half mile away, almost a mile, but the shot (above) is a scene that drew me in to it's calm beauty. 

Then I hiked out watching for Dancer and Daedee to return, but my timing isn't always right. 

Maybe tomorrow.  

See you on the journey--

Lisa