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Hello Eagle Friends,
It was a cheerful, sunny day in the valley. It was cool, with the air temperature at 7 degrees when I arrived. I could not believe how cold 7 degrees felt without the winds biting my exposed skin. It is supposed to warm up this weekend. I hiked down to the river, glancing towards nest 1. As I was passing the nest I could see Daedee peering out looking at me.
I'm not sure if they are incubating or just preparing. If so, this would be day 3. They are spending up to an hour off the nest at a time, so I'm going to have to pull my old notebooks out. It seems that they only stay off a little while, maybe up to a half hour once they start incubating.
I walked the snowbank along the river and looked around hundreds of green plants coming up from the frozen ground for winter bugs. I found a small fly and watched him. He was two grains of sand tall; almost invisible to the naked eye. I watched his three minute journey as he climbed up a dried stem. Then he reached the top, but as he reached for another plant he fell down and landed in the snow on his back.
He wiggled himself free from the snow. He rolled to his feet and flipped his wings out splashing mini water drops, the size of an atom, off them. Then he brushed his legs over his golden-green eyes, then down his wings, combing them into place. He must have written the saying, "If you fall off a stem, you get right back on it and climb!"
For immediately he climbed up the stem again. This time reaching the frozen ground where the blackness of the hairs on his body blended into the black dried roots of last seasons grasses.
My shooting was interrupted by a loud, "Ca-ca, Ca-ca-ca-ca-ca." I knew that was Daedee's call and I flipped my big lens over and put that on my camera. I shot pictures of her, but then Dancer flew right past me on the river and landed a couple hundred feet away in a big tree next to The Future Tree.
I knew Daedee would join him so I turned my video camera onto him on the tree. Within seconds she flew over and sat a few
branches down.
It was 11:41 AM, when Dancer flew in, and 11:43 AM when they both perched together on that tree. I wondered how these birds could time this every day, almost to the minute?
Both eagles preened, stretched, hung one foot over the branch while balancing on the other. Daedee let out some soft chirps, but Dancer remained on the top of the tree. He was more interested in watching the planes go by then mating.
I was just sure that I was going to get the best mating shot of them today. The sun was out, bright blue skies behind them, the sun shining directly on them, there was snow on the branches, and no branches cluttering my view of them. Yes, I was sure that God had prepared this scene all for my taking.
I laid down in the snow and began waiting. I hadn't been laying there long before I started wishing that I had worn my fleece pull over. Within minutes, my elbows were numb from the cold snow soaking through my sweatshirt and it felt like icy needles poking every inch of my skin. I kept trying to ignore the sting of the snows' bite. I was just sure any second the eagles would join up and mate.
Then I realized I probably only had a few minutes of tape left. I forgot I had used 45 minutes yesterday waiting for them to mate. I jumped up with a new tape in hand, I tried writing on the label, tape 23, but my pen was as frozen as my elbows.
Then I heard the beeping sound that signaled the had tape run out. I hurried and hit the eject button and pulled the used tape out of my camera, and quickly inserted the new tape. I had thoughts that the birds would mate during that 15 seconds while I was putting a new tape in.
I was relieved to finish, refocus the camera on the birds as I hit record I looked up. Neither of the birds had moved, but both were watching me. I really think the eagles enjoy our company. Not just mine, but I see them by fisherman, they wait in the trees for a throw-back trout and go snatch it up.
By 12:15 I started worrying I'd run out of time for my other projects. I still had my other nests to cover. I promised myself I would only stay until 12:30 PM and then I would leave. I would have to hurry but I could do the other nests in an hour and fifteen minutes if pressed.
12:28 rolled around way too fast. There had been one ten second period that the birds vocalized and Daedee laid forward calling him down. I thought Dancer was going to fly down but he didn't.
Now I was faced with ditching the rest of my projects for this opportunity, or staying true to all the nests and leaving what I was sure was my last chance to see them mate for another year. To get that one shot that was "weather perfect and picture perfect."
I promised myself only ten more minutes.
That went fast.
I had to face the reality: my project time was running out. If they were going to mate, they would have mated by now. I didn't understand this at all. They had gone almost an hour and they weren't even sitting by each other. I started wondering if maybe Dancer was loosing his drive? Daedee still seemed interested.
I packed up my gear and the eagles watched me leave. I called out, 'Good-bye Daedee and Dancer." I waved to them. It's just something I've always done. I think they understand my voice and expressions.
I was almost to the gully, which is about ten minutes to my truck--walking fast, when Dancer flew over me and perched. I dropped my gear and thought, "Now what on earth are you doing?" Then Daedee followed and they sat together.
I unpacked my gear, and I promised myself I would leave in five minutes. I'd just cut the other nest shots short, cover them, but shoot nothing extra. No stopping for opossum's, raccoon, coyote, or new eagles. Well, maybe the new eagles.
I waited and I waited and the birds were acting like they would mate, fluffing out, Daedee whining. I guess I would call it eagle foreplay. They would bow to each other, then look the other way as if disinterested. Neither seemed to want to make the effort to start.
It was 12:59 and I had to leave. Every ounce of my flesh tore at me to stay but I followed my head and I tossed my camera in the bag, folded my tripod in, leaving the video camera mounted on it. At that exact second, that's when I heard the screaming eagles--mating. I quickly unfolded my tripod and tried to quickly focus on the birds, but I only had about 8 seconds left.
"You got to be kidding Lord. I've been holding my lens for three hours, freezing my elbows--is this what I get?" I was upset with myself for not waiting another two seconds, I was mad at myself for not being able to focus quicker, and my big lens had rolled out of my camera bag when I caught the tripod leg on trying to set the video up again. I just laughed, because it was now packed full of Minnesota snow and I didn't have a shooting chance to get any stills.
There was no way I was going to get this shot today. So I watched the eagles mate for the fifth time in four days. I only saw the last couple of seconds. Then I realized that this was the first time ever that I didn't have a piece of glass, a lens, or video camera pressed into my rectangular view of the world. I think that is why it all happened that way. I think there are times in life that the Lord wants us to enjoy a scene from our God-given sight.
That's what I thought about on my hike out.
It was 13:11 when I reached my truck. I had no idea how I'd even finish the project with all the work ahead. Luckily the roads were not ice-coated on the blacktop. They were icy on the dirt road. I pushed in my Joyce Meyer tape, "Hoping she preached on finding me find the time to finish this."
I arrived at nest 2 and found an eagle incubating day 12.
I rushed to nest 6 and found no eagles on the nest. I saw one fly into the thick tree cover but it was too dark in the shadows to see where it went. The geese were bobbing up and down. I noticed footprints on the ice and considering they went to the goose boxes, I knew it was the DNR who had filled the goose nest boxes with fresh straw.
Those geese will be taking those boxes up in the next couple weeks.
Nest 5 eagle was on their nest for day 8 incubation.
Nest 3 eagle was working on their nest and I watched and filmed the male, smaller bird, fly in and perch by the nest.
No activity on nest 4. No rabbit. No kingfisher.
I looked at my camera clock. It was 13:37. I had ten minutes to get back.
I tried not to notice anything. I had to pass up a hawk, and I was going to pass up the eagle at nest 6 perched on the limb, but the scene was too lovely. So I took two minutes and took the pictures.
There will be other days like this, I know that and have to expect that. I'm still trying to find the balance in covering 6 nests. You'd think I would have that down after completing 58 days, but I don't. Nest 1 is going to take priority over all the nests.
Whew. Today was only a test. If it had been a real day then my timing would have been more accurate, my intuition more on target and my goals more realistic.
Now I find myself in the early evening hours sitting at my computer writing this. Why am I writing this so early in the night?
It must have been the hour I saved at dinner by stopping at our local Subway for their 3 foot-long subs for $11.99 coupon we had in the truck.
So we each picked our favorite. I asked Dave to ask them if I could split my foot long into two different sandwiches. I never eat a foot long, but I wanted one for lunch tomorrow. So he said he would ask them.
Em and I waited and waited watching Dave through the windows as he pointed to the items for the subs. Then he bumped into the other "Jared," the life size cardboard cut out guy who feasted on chicken subs and lost all that weight. I don't know about your cardboard Subway spokesperson Dave, but our Rochester cardboard Jared, is worn from being mopped around too many times.
My Dave finally arrived at the truck sporting a long tubular plastic bag with the Subway logo stamped all over the bag and commenting, "I"ll never go here again."
"What's the matter?"
"I asked them, 'Can I use this coupon and order 2 six inch sub instead of one foot long for one of the sandwiches?'"
"Well, we don't usually do that but since you only are switching tuna to a seafood, I'll do it."
I don't like salad bar style subs. I like just a couple of pickles and a couple tomatoes and that's good enough for me. I didn't ask to have it toasted, or gift wrapped. Just a plain old sub on white bread. No wheat bread, no cheese bread. I didn't even need the twelve napkins.
No drink. No chips. Just the sandwiches.
He said he went to check out and the other sub technician asked, "Why do you have 4 sandwiches in the bag, for this coupon, what kind do you have?" She drilled him.
He told her, "A six inch tuna, and a six inch seafood, a foot long italian, and a chicken florentine. "
"We can't do that. We have to throw one of those out--which one tuna or seafood?"
"The other gal said it was okay to do this."
"Well I've worked here two years and she's new. I'm not allowing it."
Dave said, "I almost told them to keep all their sandwiches."
"We owe you a half a sandwich, which one do you want us to remake?"
"The tuna, my daughter wants to eat tonight."
The poor guy working between the bickering woman, didn't say a word. He just made the tuna sub, without attitude, without injecting jalepeno peppers in under the cheese, and without even lifting his eyes."
Dave said, "Then the lady, that cashier screamed at the guy, 'I saw you put an extra scoop of tuna on that sandwich--what are you doing?"
The guy apologized, "I'm sorry I guess I got side tracked thinking about that seafood sandwich."
Dave took the sandwiches and left. "I'll bet she eats it, don't you?"
"Yep."
The same lady we watch give free pops out to friends, has a problem with using coupon's that say 3 foot long subs. Next time I'm not going to let them cut my italian sub in half either. Gotta follow the coupon rules you know.
Cardboard Subway Jared spokesman, any help here? Any comments?
I'm looking forward to day 59.
See you on the journey--
Lisa
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