Hello Eagle Friends,
Happy Father's Day guys. Today was a perfect spring day in the valley. It was 78 degrees when we arrived and mostly sunny.
Dave and Em came with so we could spend Father's Day together.
There was no activity at nest 7.
At nest 1 we watched Dancer fly in with a fish as we hiked in. I heard a few screams over who was eating first, and by the time we reached the post D'ODEE was sitting on the edge of the nest staring down at us. Sometimes eating left over's is better than
not eating at all.
This next two-three weeks the parents will be bringing the food by, not always in to the nest and they'll call their eaglets trying to encourage them to fly off the nest and follow them. The food will become more scarce too.
After Daniels Charlie finished eating he joined D'ODEE up on the top of the nest and cried out a few times as he saw one of the parents flying in the distance.
When we were getting back in the truck I noticed some fairly large black caterpillars feeding on the top of a branch. "Oh Em, I know where all those caterpillars were coming from that you pulled out of the puddle last week."
"Where?"
"Look up." There were at least a hundred hungry mouths slurping leaves in to their grinding, chewing, mowing mouths.
I lowered the branch and Em took a few home.
"What kind are they mom?"
"I think those are morning cloak caterpillars, another of my favorites."
Here it is midnight and they'll about eaten me out of leaves and home. I'll have to bring more leaves home tomorrow.
Time passed fast and we hiked out to go to nest 2. There was a empty feeling about that nest before I even looked for Terry
Gail. Then we heard an eaglet crying out, but it wasn't coming from the nest, but the grove of trees to the south. Terry Gail
officially fledged today. She turned 70 days old today.
When I left the valley at dusk last night I stopped and was going to take a shot of her on the north side of her nest, but then I decided it was too dark. So I have this picture in my head of her walking around on the north side of the nest in the dark, little did I know I'd arrive today and she'd be gone.
I knew from the way she was flying the other day it would not be long before she left the nest. I have never seen an eaglet
fly so majestically and with just perfect control of their wings on the winds at such a young age. She was born to fly early.
I think her picking Father's Day to make her flight to eaglehood was a symbol for all our fathers to fly higher and reach the winds that hold your dreams.
I left a note for Headquarters that Terry Gail fledged. They'll get that in the morning when they open up. Maybe it'll make someone smile, maybe it'll make someone look up in the sky, maybe it'll give someone that warm feeling of accomplishment.
At nest 6 the twins were up on the nest. All I saw was silhouette's but those black detail-free figures were our eaglets, Freedom and Soar.
At nest 5 the twins were up on the nest there too. They'll be leaving sometime in the next couple weeks.
At nest 3 we found Victory Bell up on the north side of his nest picking through food. I looked for eagles around nest 4, but
they were not visible today.
Em and me found a newly hatched bullhead swimming in a puddle left over from the flood. Another puddle had four or more
tiny fish of an unknown species. They were transparent and only a few centimeters long. It's amazing what life can survive in
a few tablespoons of water.
From daphnia, to baby dragonflies, snails, bullheads and minnows, sometimes the best viewing of a marsh isn't the big waters but the small puddles that offer a miniature glimpse of life.
As we left the valley the deer were just coming out to graze. I kept looking for bucks, but found only the does. We laughed as one was feeding nearby and she finally realized I was there. The look on her face was worth more than a thousand words.
It was a great day. It was late and we were all hungry so we drove to an A & W in St. Charles, Minnesota. I was laughing when three kids maybe 2, 5, and 8 were ordering their dinner with their parents. Then the oldest child said, "You and dad take that romantic spot there, we'll all sit up here at the counter."
How precious there concern was that mom and dad had a romantic moment to themselves, in between, "I'm missing a chicken strip." "You can't take mine---Mom." "Dad. She took my fries."
I'm looking forward to day 160.
See you on the journey--
Lisa
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