Hello Eagle Friends,
Presently, the evening ticks by without wind or storm. That has not been the case however, all day. When I reached the valley the temperature was around 55 degrees, by sunset it had dropped to 37 degrees and the rain had changed to sleet.
The wildlife was abundant today. The weather is not something they seem to fret about, but rather go on with their lives despite what storms challenge them.
Once again, I found no activity on nests 7 or 8. I actually was able to take clear shots of both today while the rain quit for awhile.
I hiked out to nest 1 and found Daedee, the nest 1 female up on her Look Out Tree perch. I could her the twins crying from their nest and I could, for the first time in days, see their little bodies moving around behind their pine bough and cottonwood curtain.
I took several images of one of the eaglets, the one with the pale beak dipped in light gray. Every day that passes, I grow more confident that I'm a day closer to seeing them daily. Daedee sat behind me and preened, looking around and watching the skies for intruders, and Dancer.
I decided to hike over to my north post to see if maybe I could see the eaglets from that side better today. No such luck. Daedee flew in about ten minutes later and fed the babies. I could see tiny pieces of fur flying in the air and some pieces of the animal stuck to her wet beak.
As I hiked to my truck I found myself stepping over clumps of slugs who gathered in several spots all to feed on the same plant matter. Then I found a little insect, a wasp of some kind, and it was finding refuge from the rain and strong winds behind a small willow branch.
As I left the rain came down and didn't stop until sunset. At nest 2, I found Judy on the nest. I was only there a few minutes when I heard her cry out and saw two geese flying up and right past her on the nest. She hovered over her baby and watched the geese as they left.
I found a small green heron on a marsh. He was busy preening the rain off his feathers. By the time I reached nest 6 the only bird that appeared to be dry was Linda up on the nest. The geese were all covered in rain drops that rolled off these well oiled feathers. I kept looking for a gosling to peek out, but they haven't not hatched.
There were two great blue herons fishing the marsh. The one is the one I photograph almost daily. I can't figure out why these great blue herons stand in the same rain storm as all the other birds, yet never get wet? It's like the rain misses them completely.
I moved on to nest 5 and found the eagle on the nest. The rain was pouring and I watched and shot pictures of a sandhill crane that was thoroughly soaked to it's down. I expected it to walk and shake off the water, but it didn't.
By the time I reached nest 3 and 4 the rain had lightened up some. Both eagles were on their nests. I shot pictures of a pair of Canada geese that were feeding on the fresh grass that has come up through the black ash from the controlled burn two weeks ago.
By the time I reached nest 2 again, the sun came out so quickly I had to race to set up my camera and tripod. The sun came out only to set, but when I look at that sunset picture above, I remember two things, the way the light saturated Judy's face up on her nest, and the expression she had watching the sun go down reminded me of Damian and Dorothy, the 2007 twins from nest 1. I remembered how they would climb to the top branch of their nest tree, nuzzled into each other and watch as that orange sun disappeared.
I finally figured out my answer from my question the other day, "If April showers bring May flowers, what does April snow and sleet bring? It brings unexpected sunsets full of memories."
I'm looking forward to day 111.
See you on the journey--
Lisa
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