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Hello Eagle Friends,
I spent the morning working on illustrations with Em for our book, but all in God's timing. When I arrived this afternoon, it was
42 degrees, and the skies were overcast.
I hiked out to Daedee and Dancer's nest area to the white wolf post. The snow wolf was only inches wide now. When I looked to the nest area I could see Daedee perched in a tree by the eagle nest. I scanned the area with my big lens for a dark bird in the trees as I tried to locate Dancer.
I found him perched at the top of Riverside North, one of their favorite perches along the river.
Both eagles were watching each other and both were aware of my presence.
As the light grew dimmer, and a it started sprinkling Daedee lifted and flew towards Dancer and they greeted each other in their calls. Then Daedee laid flat over the branch below Dancer, and he flew down on top of her and they mated.
This is the third year in a row they have mated with me documenting them. This year however, is the first year that I was able to capture their mating, all of twenty seconds, on both video and while shooting stills.
Last year they lost their tree, their Rendezvous tree just after the spring flood. The last time I saw them on that tree they had mated.
I wondered what tree they would use this year. I wasn't too surprised they used Riverside North, which is one of their favorite
perches.
I left thanking God for that rare opportunity to be there in his timing to capture that footage and those shots, but even moreso, I thanked him that the eagles will likely be incubating in the next couple days--their 2008 offspring.
I moved on to Judy and The Mayor's nest. I filmed the nest but could only see the top of the white head of the eagle.
There were soft chirps coming out of the nest which held my attention. I looked around and found the mate up in a tree nearby.
At first I wondered if Judy was on the nest trying to lay another egg, or what was going on. When I saw the mate on my camera
viewfinder I discovered it was Judy watching from above. The soft chirps were just The Mayor vocalizing to Judy.
Nest 6 had an eagle that left just after I arrived. The geese were establishing territories and I filmed a huge Canada goose fight
which went on for over ten minutes. One male that chased every goose off the ice. As he ran after his opposition he the birds went tumbling head over wing and both broke through the ice. The dominant goose went right back after the goose and tackled him again until he flew off.
There were about twenty common mergansers that had arrived.
The light was so low by 4 PM that the deer came down off the bluff. The sight of them on the edge of the marsh sent the geese into the air. They circled and came back while the young deer drank off the edge.
I moved on to find three immature eagles flying and crying out with two adult eagles. This is the area I think there may be a 7th nest. Then I saw an adult eagle on the back of a frozen pond with an animal underneath it.
I put my big lens on expecting to find a dead raccoon or fox, something that was hit on the road but made it to the back of the marsh before it collapsed.
The light rain coupled with the low light made shooting conditions nearly impossible, still I tried. I moved to the edge of the marsh in full view of the eagle.
The eagle jumped up on the animal and as it did the fins came up. That's when I realized this was a fish the size of a small fox or raccoon. I shook my head trying to figure out how that eagle pulled that size of a fish out of that pond. It had to be ten or fifteen pounds.
The eaglets perched in trees above the adult crying out which made me wonder if the eaglets were offspring of this adult eagle. Suddenly, the adult eagle pounced on the fish and tried to lift the fish and carry it off, but the picture I have is two feet
clutched tight with a fish in mid-air dropping back into the snow.
I moved on to find the nest 5 eagle on their nest for day 4 incubation.
By the time I reached nest 3 and 4 the fog had set in and I could barely see the nests, let alone eagles on them. I could hear
the eagles back at nest 3.
No rabbit today.
I finished my beat and started back tracking.
When I reached Sweetie, the red-tailed hawks 13:30 post, I found a barred owl who used his perch in the evenings.
It made me curious why birds used the same perches on trees? What made them more attractive than the other branches?
I wanted that shot of the barred owl, but he disappeared into the dark forest before I could even raise my lens.
It was already 17:30 and the darkness cast a deep blue shadow into the settling fog. Nest six was under a covering of fog, and
when I reached The Mayor at his post he was set against a blue fog.
By the time I reached Judy on the nest she was just getting up and turning her egg or eggs and then laid back down.
The deer were out covering the fields, running in through the fog and looking back to me.
It was a day I will never forget. A day of many blessings and I thank the Lord for all of them.
I'm looking forward to Day 55.
See you on the journey--
Lisa
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