Hello Eagle Friends,
Today was a one a wonderful spring day. The skies were cloudless and lavender-blue. It was 46 degrees when I arrived and 56 degrees when I left.
There was no activity on nests 7 or 8, and I probably should just admit they are 100% inactive nests, still a small hope remains that I will come to them one day and see a hawk or a great horned owl claiming squatter rights.
I hiked out to one of my nest 1 posts and found Daedee up on the nest. I sat for awhile, but the sun was so intense I moved to the river. I still managed to get a sunburn on my windburned face, just on one side. That's what happens when you spend half you life peering through a camera, especially when eaglets are born trying to get that first shot.
Today I heard them. One cry overlapping another. I'm sure there are two eaglets, but I still have to wait to get photo proof. In the picture above Daedee was watching the vultures flying above her. Then she got up and fed an eaglet, then it appeared that she was feeding a second one.
I had limited today so I left and hiked out moving on to Judy and The Mayors, nest 2. Judy was on the nest brooding her eaglet(s).
Maybe tomorrow I'll get the first good shots of 8 day old Terry Gail.
Up at nest 6 I could not tell which eagle was on the nest. There was a muskrat chewing on the plant roots. Across the way was a dark colored woodchuck. This one had a long busy tail, moreso than any other woodchuck I have seen. I saw three woodchucks in a miles distance, all drinking from the road. Unfortunately, that is how many of them get struck by vehicles, too.
I moved on to nest 5, but on the way I saw a familiar bright orange road sign, "Caution Smoke Ahead." The spring controlled burn was well underway by the time I reached nest 5. The guys had burned at least 100 acres by the time I arrived, and I took several shots of them working.
The nest 5 eagle was up on her nest feeding her eaglet(s). As she did, a red-tailed hawk flew back and forth through the white and blue smoke and orange flames running to the edge of the marsh, leaving a black charcoal trail.
Nest 3 and nest 4 eagles appeared content on their nests, but both watching the billowing smoke rising from the marshes a mile away.
Each day I complete, I arrive one day closer to seeing the 2008 eaglets on a frequent basis. I'm already thinking how they'll be fledging in 9 to 11 weeks, on a couple of the nests. That time will go fast.
I'm looking forward to day 98.
See you on the journey--
Lisa
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