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Hello Eagle Friends,
I'm still in awe over the experiences of today. It was overcast most of the day, but the sun peaked out a few times. It was 14 degrees with a light wind.
My daughter left her backpack at my studio, so we had to drive across the city twice to get the backpack and get her to school.
I dropped Dave back off at my studio and then picked up Greg Munson at Quarry Hill Nature Center. I mentioned yesterday that he is my old high school teachers. I think one of my favorite memories is our school trip to the BWCA (Boundary Waters Canoe Area), and we challenged each other who could stay in the water longer. I won, but only by seconds. The ice had just melted about a week before our class arrived.
He is stepping down as the Executive Director of Quarry Hill Nature Center after 22 years this week. I often think about how many lives he has changed and shaped with his knowledge and unique teaching gifts. I want to personally thank you Greg for today, and all the years we've known each other. Your friendship is one I value highly and guard closely.
The roads were descent to drive on for the first time in a long time. However, I think we are due for 1-2 inches of white fluffy
snow again tonight. Please tell me spring is really coming.
On the way to the valley I showed Greg the fox den I've been documenting this past couple years. Then we passed a farm and he told me about this farm and the owls there. I told him I'd be interested in doing a photo project with them. Oddly, it's a farm I pass every day and I have always felt so drawn to it. It is a lovely piece of land but I had no idea it was over 200 acres. I told him, "I always watch to see if that farm goes up for sale when I pass it."
We arrived in the valley and our first stop was Daedee and Dancer's nest. I prayed that he would get to see them, the two birds that have shaped my life these past four years. We only hiked to the white wolf post because I thought there may be a bird up there on the nest. Greg had noticed one as we had parked. Something that was either snow or a white eagle head.
From our wolf post view we could see there was an eagle on the nest. I shot a few frames with my big lens which is about 1800mm to 2800mm depending what adaptors I use. Today I was only at about 1800mm, that's hand-holding most of my shots. There was no doubt after zooming in on the viewfinder that it was Daedee, the 13+ year old female.
She appeared to be brooding. Greg had observed how she had been deeper in the nest and was now sitting higher.
Then she began vocalizing, which meant there was another eagle around in "eagle speak". I was guessing it was Dancer, but neither of us could see him, until he suddenly appeared from the north flying in with two feet full of yellow grasses.
I told Greg that the male is who I see bringing in the sticks and grasses that they use to line their nest. He'll keep bringing
grasses in until the eaglets are around 6 weeks of age.
Then she flew out and landed across from Riverside North, a large tree that I think is a cottonwood tree on the west side of the river. She was sitting at the top of the tree and she kept vocalizing to Dancer.
Greg asked which eagle was calling and I told him it was the female. I think she is telling him she wants to mate. I had seen her fan her back exposing the white under her wings to him.
A few minutes later Dancer flew up and joined her and the two birds greeted each other with a series of "ca-ca-ca" sounds. A few minutes passed and she flew down to a perch on the north side of their nest tree and she called to him. He flew down and mated her for about 15 seconds and then flew to a perch above her.
I only a second to decide video or stills during this peak moment of them mating, so I choice to shoot video. The footage is nothing to enter into a competition, but it is absolutely a "moving" 15 seconds of footage.
I am sure by Friday the eagles will be brooding at least one egg, if not two, if they aren't already brooding one. In my experience I have seen them mate three or four times and always perched while they are mating to produce the last two years sets of twins.
This was Greg's first experience getting to observe the eagles mating. It was a wonderful gift those eagles shared with us today. There are few people who will ever have the opportunity to have this experience.
We moved on and found Judy or The Mayor on nest 2. From looking at the shots tonight on my computer, the eagle appears to look more like The Mayor as the eagle on the nest has darker feathers around his eyes. This was day 10 incubation for the nest 2 eagles.
When we reached nest 6, I pointed out the eagle nest above the trumpeter swan pond. I only wish there would have been an eagle up there. I looked around the pond to find it void of any ducks or geese. We could hear them in the oxbow behind the pond, but it was unusual not to see any birds on the big pond.
I think my words to Greg were, "Something must be out there--"
"Lisa look there is a coyote a hundred, maybe a 150 feet away."
I looked up and saw him looking right back at us with no fear at all. "That's really strange isn't it?"
"Yes, it is." Greg added.
Then I filmed the coyote as it pounced on a mouse in the snow and snapped it up. Then it bit the crusty snow and swallowed it. Every so often it would look over at us, but it hung out there for several minutes before moving on behind the marsh north of the pond.
As we got back in the truck Greg said, "I think this must be your opossum friend." I had told him where I had found the opossum, which I am convinced after today that there are two of them. One that is a deeper black and the older looking one we found today, which is the one Em and I found first.
This one has more gray and a paler pink nose, a ruddier looking face than the opossum with the black diamond on his forehead and the black body. When it turned quickly on a limb I thought it looked to be a male, but now that I think about it, that was probably it's pouch that I saw pooched out a little. This was probably the female. That would make more sense than wondering why this opossum had a higher than usual male placement.
As we moved on to the ditch fish, Greg got to see them but he didn't think they were sunnies. I have to go with that, as I am not a fish expert, but still he wasn't sure what kind of fish they were. He was noticing how they swam different than minnows. I thought his perception of their movement was interesting; something I hadn't known to look for. See, that's why is the teacher, and me after all these years--still his student.
I showed him the area I had found the Planaria flatworms the other day, and we joked how we used to cut them up in high school and watch them grow back all their heads. Then he noticed all the snails traveling along the bottom of the ditch while leaving a quarter inch path. He looked at the backside of a leaf and found some small caddisflies.
A nest 3 eagle flew into the nest while we were observing the nest, but we didn't see the mate.
I drove on to nest 4 and didn't find any eagles on the nest, but I found the eagle pair on their petrified tree post between the dike and their nest. The male is on the left and the female is on the right.
Then Greg said, "Would you like one of the last Golden Crisps of the season?"
I looked to see him handing me an apple. He told me they were from Sekapps Orchard in Rochester. Which I frequent every other it day it seems each fall, and I believe is one of the best apple orchards in our area.
I bit into the yellowish pinkish-red apple and it was still crisp, just like Greg said. It had a delicious sweet but dry bite just before the apple juices filled my mouth. I wondered why they couldn't make chunky applesauce from these apples.
Then I said, "We should see if the rabbit is in his cave, he's just around the corner here."
"Like that rabbit up there?"
"Where?"
Greg pointed to the rabbit just as the sun peeked out throwing some highlights into those sweet brown eyes.
"Do you think he's a cottontail?"
"Yes, he's a cottontail."
Then I threw him a bite of my apple. I had to confess I had been feeding him my daughter's left over toast crusts and pop tarts to this cave rabbit. I knew I shouldn't, but he just looked so hungry when I passed him every day.
I bit off a chunk of apple and tossed it up by the rabbit. Then another chunk. "Look at his nose going already." The rabbit lifted his nose to the scent of the apple. "Haven't had one of those for awhile have you buddy?" I finished my apple and tossed him the core.
I know a cave rabbit that will have an extra treat tonight when he returns to his or her cave.
We finished the beat and then backtracked. By now Sweetie, the red-tailed hawk was perched up by nest 3. Then Greg noticed several crows, then an eagle. I wondered if it was the golden eagle. "Those crows maul those golden eagles." Just then another pair of bald eagles flew in by the immature bald eagle or golden eagle.
We knew it wasn't nest 4 eagles because they were still perched on their dead tree, nest 3 still had an eagle, and when we drove up to nest 5, that eagle was still on the nest.
Every day I wonder where this extra pair of eagles is nesting. Are they just migrating through?
We were making good time until I stopped at Judy and The Mayors for a second peak and I checked my camera for the time. "Oh-no. I guess you'll be picking my daughter up from school with me." Greg said that was okay.
"I just don't know where the time goes every day. Sometimes it takes me two hours to drive 4 miles."
I took a shorter route home which saves me about 5 minutes if I don't get behind farm tractors on the way.
Today was one of my best field days I've had during these past 56 days and I am so honored that I got to spend it and share it with Greg. I feel like I finally got to give him back a small piece of what he gave all of us.
I'm looking forward to day 57.
See you on the journey--
Lisa
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