Hello Eagle Friends,
It was a high 70s, rainy day today. When it wasn't raining it was drizzling, and when it wasn't drizzling everything was so soaked that the entire valley sprinkled as I walked through it. It felt good to pull out my plastic rain jacket from my trunk. For the first time since last fall, it really does seem like spring is staying.
I found no activity on nest 7.
I hiked out to nest 1 and found Daedee, the female eagle up on her afternoon perch on the Lookout Tree. She peered back at me through the clumped, wet leaves of the tall, lanky cottonwood tree. Her expression and the mood demanded this be shot B&W. That is what I shot it as. That'll be in my book, if it doesn't get cut.
Daniels Charlie at 7 weeks was flapping up and he actually lifted up off the nest, which seems early. I wonder when these two will fledge. I wonder if they'll fall out of the nest, get blown out, or just go on their own when they are ready.
The rain starting coming down heavy so I pulled out my poncho to cover my gear and shot from underneath. I think every photographer should have the experience of shooting under the cover of a bright yellow rain poncho draped over his or her tripod holding a huge tank lens and camera body while the rain pours through the arms and hood.
So there shooting in near-impossible lighting, minding my shutter speeds and F/stops when I heard a loud "Ppphhh. Phh. Phhh," come up behind me.
I don't know if there are even words that would express the exhilaration of having a doe that came up and snorted while I was under my poncho, but maybe just one word,"Oh," could lead to an entire short story or essay contest for an outdoor writer
club to finish that scene.
By the time I lifted my yellow veil to meet her eyeballs to muzzle, she was already gone.
D'ODEE Brian Michael stood up in the nest and began beating his wings and knocked them straight into Daniels Charlie. Then the two eaglets sat by each and the scene with the rain falling on their slicked back feathers was something to remember.
I hiked out and ran into Steve from the DNR. He said, "You're pretty dedicated to be out there in this weather. You must know those eagles as well as your family."
I said, "Yes, I think I do. I poured a half gallon of water out of my boots."
He said, "I better keep moving or I'll end up as soaked as you are."
Terry Gail the 57 day old eaglet of nest 2 was sitting under an overhanging branch, and appeared to be relatively dry in comparison to Daniels and D'ODEE. The light was fading fast with the heavy cloud cover so I moved on to nest 6.
I found no activity there at all. I think it was about a mile later that all the critters seemed to be stirring. I found a family of geese whose little gosling's are in their "teddy bear" stage. They are so adorable with their adult feathers coming in covering up their bright yellow down.
One goose stood up and ran towards his mom, flapping his one foot wings on each side as he ran.
Then I did a U-Turn to reach nest 5. There was a toad, the third one of the day, that I went right over, but didn't hit. I picked him up and put him on my notebook to make a couple notes. He hoped over and sat by my goose sketch of the gosling's I had just
photographed.
The twins were stirring and flapping their wings on nest 5. I shot the controlled burn area for day 50, and that's when I noticed three Baltimore orioles; two of them males, chasing the female.
The wildflowers were so vibrant going up the bluff, unfortunately the light was so dim it didn't offer the conditions I wanted for capturing their beauty.
As I was driving down to nest 3 & 4, my eyes caught sight of a large object in the middle of the highway. I figured it was a woodchuck drinking rain water out of the gravel, but as I neared the critter I could clearly see trouble.
I pulled over and stepped out of my truck and walked around the 2 foot snapper. She had both hind legs deep in a hole she had carved under the gravel highway. She reminded me of four or five foot snapper I found years ago up north digging a hole in the sand.
I didn't know how I was going to move this turtle, but even with the night traffic, minimal I didn't want to leave her at the mercy of the next vehicles' driver swerving to miss her in the dark.
I looked around for a big stick, but found none. So I reached in and took my tripod out. I figured she'd bit it and I could drag her. My plan worked. It took a couple tries but she allowed me to pull her off to the side of the road.
One she was safe I went back to bury her eggs, if any. I looked into the hole, then reached down under the highway and felt around, but there were no eggs.
I shot my nest 3 and 4 pictures, and found no eagles up or out flying. I did find a serene looking white flower that towered over the marsh by nest 4. That flower had so much peace waving around in the wind, that it made all the rain of today worth every drop.
I headed back, ready for dinner and maybe even a cat nap as I was feeling the day with all the activity and extra duties put on me this past few days. I was enjoying watching the fog settling across the road, the valley, the bluffs and was just thinking about pulling over and shooting a couple scenics when I looked down and saw a large object in the middle of the road.
I knew that I knew God just does not put two huge snapping turtles in your path, in less than an hours' time without trying to tell you something.
I got pulled over and stared the wild beast in the eyes. This one wore a "don't mess with me" attitude in every ounce of it's 40 lb body, at least 40 lbs.
Once again, not a huge stick in site. I had to really think about offering my tripod again for this "turtle in the road" removal. I barely had the leg out when he snatched it shaking it from my hands with such force I almost dropped it. He was like a pit bull refusing to release this metal leg.
Then I looked down and saw a tiny one inch green inchworm, inching across this
turtles shell. That to me showed me that even the littlest creatures can walk on
the mighty shells of those kings and queens of life's ponds.
I'm looking forward to day 147.
See you on the journey--
Lisa
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