Day 162, Wednesday, 6/18/08, Year Four Dancer & Daedee: Snow Falling on Eagles

Hello Eagle Friends,

Today was a balmy 80 degrees in the valley. The sun was shining and we had blue skies the entire time.

Em came with me today. We found no activity at nest 7.

At nest 1 however, the twins were taking turns practicing their flights across the nest. Then Em made up a story about her new
pet salamander they found at her aunts house. It was very impressive, and even the eaglets were leaning with their heads tilted, "Em, look up, the eaglets are listening to you tell your story."

They were probably listening to her sweet, soft voice and her laughter that is contagious.

We waited for Daedee or Dancer to bring in the dinner.

At nest 2 we found Terry Gail perched up on her nest just staring out into the great outdoors.

When we arrived at nest 6 the eaglets were just stepping out of view. I managed a couple shots, but nothing to hold up for the world to see. The gnats were blanketing the upper grasses, rising and dropping in a wave of no less than a hundred thousand
specks at a time.

I shouldn't have said anything, but I did and because I did, I had to stop. It all started with, "Em do you want to see a bunch of
toad tadpoles?"

"Yes. Where?"

"Okay, I'll pull over. Most of them will be dead by tomorrow because the water will dry up by then."
"Mom, we have to save them."
"Em we can't save all those. They will become food for other birds, or insects--you know I would if I could."

She never heard a word I said. She was in the process of dumping out my bottled water, at a buck I might add, to fill it with ditch rainwater--and a few dozen tadpoles--as many she could catch. "Help me mom!" I couldn't resist the innocent pleas
for her desire to save who we could, and soon I found myself scooping them in my hands and dumping them into the little water bottle. They'll become part of our aquatic life in our pond.

By the time we reached nest 5 the eaglets were wrapping up the day and I think, flipping for the sunrise perch in the morning.
I got a couple shots of the twins I have watched grow from a half mile distance.

At nest 3, we found Victory Bell, up on the nest. Em wasn't interested as she was too busy searching for monarch caterpillars, "Mom, this leaf has bite marks, come here and help me find some caterpillars."

Instead, I turned my long lens on her, and I photographed a scene my parents must have seen a thousand times or more when I was her age, flipping through the milkweed like a blackjack dealer dealing a 21.

I'm looking forward to day 163.

See you on the journey--

Lisa