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Hello Eagle Friends,
Today was a gorgeous spring day in the valley. It was sunny most of the day, clouding up late in the afternoon. It was 46 degrees when Em and me arrived for our mom-daughter eagle study day.
We hiked out to nest 1 and found Dancer up on the nest. We hung out, reading Beatrix Potter stories from her treasury and then Em wanted to make mud critters again. We left and moved on to cover nest 2, and as I got unpacked our friend Larry found us. He was driving his hot rod, a '47 business coupe, and a fine car it is.
I could not see anything that indicated an eaglet had hatched, but then again, it may be a week before we know for sure.
We went scouting for aquatic bugs, which reminds me, I better go get Em's snails out of my truck that are temporarily living in
a Wendy's coffee cup until I could get them here to the studio and give them a new home in our Betta fish tanks.
As we walked along hundred of tiny five and six spotted fishing spiders dotted the gravel and grasses. I haven't seen this many spiders since I started my marsh project in 2005. No, I don't think this is global warming. I think it's spring and we have lots of spiders that survived under the thick snow cover.
Nest 6 was on their nest, nothing exciting going on in the ponds below.
Nest 5 was on their nest, day 31 incubation and we should be seeing some hatching going on there in the next few days too.
As we headed to nest 3 I had a mink run out and gallop along side my truck and he was cruising at a speed of at least 15 mph.
Then he jumped into the marsh and I grabbed my lens and jumped out and grabbed just a couple shots before he reached the other side and shook off the water from his dense coat.
"Do you have a permit to shoot?" A man asked.
I turned laughing to find Greg Munson and Jim Peterson in a car that had pulled up. We talked about the wildlife around they valley and of course the eagles. I told them about nest 7, Jim is with Audubon, so I'm sure having several scouts will hopefully bring some news whether it is active or not.
He told me how the bald eagle nest have increased on the Mississippi from like 165 nests to 180 or more I can't remember what the exact number was.
I shot my pictures of nest 3 and nest 4, nothing new to report. The eagles are sitting patiently.
They moved on, but we caught up again as I was shooting my return trip through the valley. The Mayor was perched and he turned to look at us, then after they left he flew off. As I watched him flying off, I saw Judy fly in and take a perch in a tree next to the one The Mayor was on.
She began preening and combing through her tail feathers. I had no doubt the The Mayor would be on the nest when I passed again, and sure enough there he was.
I hope tomorrow I'll have some news on eaglets. We just have to be patient. They'll be here soon.
I'm looking forward to day 82.
See you on the journey.
Lisa
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