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Hello Eagle Friends,
Tomorrow and Sunday I'll be speaking at The National Eagle Center at 3 PM, Wabasha, MN. Hope to see you there!
Today was an incredible day. I had the inkling, the inside feeling that lead me to do all the other nests first, then cover Daedee and Dancer. I didn't want to feel rushed today.
It was a bitterly cold day, the air temperature was -2 when I arrived, and with wind chill it was around -20 below zero. I don't know why some days that feels colder than other days, unless it was because the winds never stopped. There was never a break.
Nest 2 was sitting on their clutch for day 13 incubation. We could be seeing or hearing eaglets in 15 days! That is something to look forward to.
Nest 6 was sitting. It didn't look to permanent, more of the pre-nest look. The "getting in the groove" look. When an eagle sits, there is that "pregnancy glow" look on their faces. Maybe I've just become more tuned into it but nest 6 didn't have that glow.
The Canada geese were all up on the edge of the ice. One family at a time they flew off to the oxbow behind the marsh.
I moved on to nest 5 and found an eagle facing north, content as can be, sitting day 9 on their egg or eggs.
Nest 3 had an eagle building up the edges of the nest.
Nest 4 had an eagle on the nest too.
No cottontail today. No opossum.
I hiked up this other bluff across from the frozen marshes after seeing an eaglet disappear into the woods behind it.
I was about a quarter mile in when I heard adult eagles vocalizing. I wondered if there were a stream back there or why
the eagles would be sitting back in the woods. That made no sense.
As I hiked in I heard deep barking sounds. There were fresh coyote tracks going past me, as well as a grouse that had taken off quickly, leaving wing and tail marks in the snow. There was an eeirie noise coming from the top of the bluff. I would say it was a cross between a dying bird and a young bear cub.
It was unique I climbed up the bluff to find a field on top. I couldn't see anything but beatiful white birch set against blue skies, and the waving golden grasses. Whatever it had been was silent now. I will check that area again in a couple days. If it was coyote they'll follow every step I took.
By the time I came back out I found an eagle nearing the nest 4 eagles favorite perch. This eagle took the inside fork of the upper branch, so I knew it was probably the female. She called the male off the nest and he immediately flew over sitting by her. She flashed the white of her tail at him, and preened. There was about 8 seconds I was trying to focus the video camera on them from my 1/2 mile distance. By the time I found them on the screen the female was ruffling up.
They made mating noises, and if they mated, I completely missed it. All I could shoot was the female preening and biting her back around her tail, which the females do after mating.
I moved on and found no eagles on nest 6 on my second pass.
When I arrived at the hike-in access to my trail at Daedee and Dancer's nest, the wind blew my tripod over with my video camera mounted on it.
I hiked to the river, passing Daedee up on the nest. I couldn't get the video camera to work. I wind-burned my fingers trying to get the camera working, to no avail. I reset it about nine times, and then took the video cassette out. I put a blank tape in--just in case it was going to eat a tape. I didn't want to ruin my other footage.
Instead, the camera started right up. No more problems.
I noticed Dancer across the river after an eaglet flew in to the nest area causing a stir.
Then a second eaglet flew in. I wanted to believe it was Dorothy and Damian, but the markings were not of 11 month old eaglets. These eaglets were older. Then I saw the white oval on the tail, and knew it was Donny Paul and David Roger Kraig, Dancer and Daedee's 2006 twins. Their first twins.
I guess I should call them immature eagles, they moved in and David was going to come in and sit with Daedee. She let out a loud "Caaaaa" and within a second, maybe a second and a half, Dancer beamed in and bit him in the tail and chased him out. He flew him away, but he returned and perched in a pine tree across the river.
Then he waited until Donny Paul came in and then he bobbed his head up and down, "Ca-ca-ca" and flew up to meet him, tail swagging him.
It was a remarkable experience. Then Dancer came in chasing them out again. I laughed as Dancer chased David out, and Donny followed Dancer.
Dancer brought them to the west bluffs where I have watched David and Donny spend their time.
It was quite a day. I thank God for all the experiences.
I'm off to prepare for my speech. I'm looking forward to day 60.
See you on the journey--
Lisa
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