Day 180, Sunday, 7/6/08, Year Four Dancer & Daedee: Snow Falling on Eagles

Hello Eagle Friends,

It would have been a gorgeous day had the humidity not been so high making it difficult to take a deep breath. The temperatures were only in the low 80s but with the high humidity it felt much hotter.

I found no activity on nest 7.

As I reached the willow trees on my first leg of my hike, I came upon a small red squirrel with a black walnut cinched in his yellow teeth. He watched me closely, peering out from behind a broken branch, I think he may have thought he was hidden from my view, as he kept ducking back behind the broken branch.

Two other red squirrels chastened him from their perches in nearby trees, either warning him to get away, or sit still. He sat perfectly still, only his eyes moved and then he slowly slunk down again.

I hiked out to nest 1 and found, surprisingly, both twins together on the north limb. I was closely observing how Daniels Charlie would spread his wings, forcing D'ODEE further down the limb and I wondered if he wasn't trying to encourage him off the nest tree entirely.

This went on for several minutes and maybe Daniels was just trying to find his way around D'ODEE who was blocking his exit path off the tree that he has been using.

Then with little warning to get my camera's ready, both eaglets fell into a submissive pose. For the first time in several days D'ODEE was trying to figure out his way to jump over Daniels back into the nest as Dancer dropped off a "bloater".

Dancer sat on the edge of the nest, winded both from the weight of a water-swollen fish, and the exasperating humidity stealing his breath. Daniels had already snatched up the fish and was crying out as D'ODEE neared the nest.

Dancer flew off after a few minutes and went back towards the river. He takes good care of those eaglets, both on and off the nest. Like a good father, he seems to always know when they need water over food.

The thunderstorm never hit, but the light was so low I could barely get any "keeper" shots beyond Dancer's departure.

I looked for the red squirrel on my hike out but didn't find him.

Nest 2 was empty and today it began to feel like a January day out there, but then again, in January I was at least seeing Judy or The Mayor on the nest, feeding, building or resting.

The twins were up on nest 6, but the light was so low I could barely see them.

Fourteen weeks, and the nest 5 twins are still at more at home on the nest than in the air. We'll see what this week brings.

Nest 3 I didn't see Victory Bell, and I wonder if he fledged off that upper branch sometime today and I missed it?

I found no visible activity around nest 4.

It was a wonderful day in the valley.

We have another monarch hatching tomorrow. It'll probably come out of it's chrysalis around 6-7 AM.


Em and me stayed up playing cards late, and watched a couple movies.

I'm looking forward to day 181.

See you on the journey--

Lisa