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Hello Eagle Friends,
Today was a perfect day for a Sunday drive, so Dave and Em came with. We had a road trip planned through the river side towns in Wisconsin once I finished my eagle project. The temperature stayed at 34 degrees all afternoon. Em hiked out
to the nest 1 with me. She decided to call our newest eagle post, The Wildlife Study instead of Eagleopia.
"Mom, that's what this is. A place to study wildlife." I hauled our sketchbooks and assortment of professional color pencils
to work on our story while waiting for action on the nest. Instead, I ended up reading her from Beatrix Potter's treasury, and
sketching on my own while she watched.
Daedee was up on the nest. I shot a few pictures which appeared to be an empty nest, however, to a trained eye I could see her eye pressed into the opening of the sticks and a swatch of yellow beak.
When we reached nest 2, I saw a van pulled over to the side of the road and said, "There's trouble." Sometimes I hate how my intuition is right. As I took a few shots of Judy on the nest incubating their 23 day old egg(s), I saw him, an older photographer climbing down the ditch heading towards Judy and The Mayor's nest.
Experience has taught me that I am not allowed to yell or tell the people not to chase after or disturb the eagles. It always ends the same, "Lisa, this is public land, you can't harass the people."
Hmm.
I had to just watch helpless as that eagle as the man with his Pentax, and his seemingly large 75-300mm lens walk up to the nest. I knew the river would stop him from getting too much closer. But these eagles are new nesters, and they aren't used to people coming in so close. I stop everyday, and stay roadside. They know me, but I still would not cross that boundary he just clomped through, snapping sticks as he moved.
I watched Judy sit up tall, and lean forward to see where the man in blue went. His wife came out of their van and watched her husband as he returned smiling. I guess he got his shot. Or, that was the smile of dumb defeat. Maybe the river was too high.
I thanked God for the early spring melt.
It never fails, every spring the people arrive at the time of the eaglets birth, and sometimes they keep the parents away from their nests for hours because they sit too close to their nests. Try taking that complaint to someone in authority though.
We moved on to nest 6. There I found Linda incubating. This is day 8 for them. Above their nest I immediately saw movement, "Look up--do you guys see the eagles--the dad is chasing the eaglet out!"
They didn't see. So I photographed them. Then as the male eagle was almost directly overhead, a half mile up in the sky, he descended down on the persistent eaglet.
The eaglet dropped, flipping backwards, still with his talons out trying to fight his father. Then he came back again, and they repeated the aerial eagle tipping. The mother eagle kept calling out, and the male returned and perched by her.
That's when the eaglet flew east, looking back only one more time.
My heart goes out to those solo eagles. How lonely they must be. If it at least had a sibling it could bid its time chasing and playing with it. With all the other eaglets in the valley, I wonder why I don't notice them together more often. It seems to me the eaglets, at least in my project area, all stay within a few miles of their nest for at least a year.
We moved on to reach nest 5 just as the eagles made their afternoon switch. I only got the still shots, and even those were shot a half mile away, but I saw them. I saw how cautiously the mate came in, landed, waited for his mate to get up, and I watched how gracefully she turned and dove off the nest. Then I watched the who I assume was the male lean in, and take the
nest for day 18 incubation.
Nest 3 and 4 four were both on their nests. Not much else to report.
We headed over to the Nelson Cheese Factory in Nelson, Wisconsin. I did some new stock photos for my files, something other that wildlife, and then we snacked on a variety of smoked cheese, and their delicious garlic cheese curds. I bought a new flavor, it was a mango and melon mixed in with a light white cheese. It was better than a cream cheese spread, and the only thing missing was a toasted bagel and a knife to spread it with.
Luckily, I had my trusty pocket knife on my key ring. We used that to slice our hard summer sausage and slice the cheeses.
After this, we headed up to Pepin, Wisconsin, the birthplace of Laura Ingalls Wilder. I shot pictures of the area. Em had never been there, so we returned and I photographed their home, which was up on cinder blocks. The last time I was here and shot pictures, I sold several of those images to a travel magazine. Maybe luck will strike twice?
The sun had begun its descent and as we were leaving Pepin, I said, "Let's go to The Pickle Factory." So we did. They make a delicious deep-fried dill pickle. The batter is light and crispy and the taste is like no other in this world. The food and service was good.
The only regret I had was I'm from a county that bans smoking. They don't have that law in Wisconsin. The atmosphere was not smoky until we sat down and everyone seemed to light up at once around us. We switched tables twice to get away from the constant cigarette smoke wafting over to the non-smoking side of the restaurant. I left with clogged sinuses, a light headache and a sore throat.
I picked up some great research magazines, and got some terrific shots of their deep fried pickles, and a couple of ice fisherman making their last voyage onto the frozen Mississippi, at least for this season.
I'm looking forward to day 69.
See you on the journey--
Lisa
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