Hello Eagle Friends,
It was another perfect Minnesota weather day. The temperatures were mid 80s and it was mostly sunny during the time we were out.
Dave and Em came with, and even with all three of us looking, I couldn't find my small lens that must have fallen out of my bag yesterday. Maybe it will still turn up--they have before, sometime frozen in the water, but at least I found them.
We found no activity on nest 7 which probably doesn't surprise you.
The ticket to the real show was nest 1 today.
After tripping and slashing a gash almost deep enough for stitches, both on my palm and my wrist I thought my night was going to be a total disaster, but instead, things changed shortly after my fall.
We were just starting our opening shots when I heard the eaglets pitch.
Daedee flew in with a turtle. "Em, look--another turtle."
He landed and was pushed out of the nest by the eaglets rolling over each other trying to sink their beak into the hard, algae-covered, spiny shell of a snapping turtle. This one was about 10-12 inches long, and it wasn't moving like the one the other day.
Daedee's beak was bloody and there was no doubt that he'd been feeding on the turtle first. D'ODEE managed to capture it from the clutches of his mother and Daniels went and sat up on the west perch watching and waiting for his turn.
D'ODEE tossed it around in the large nest, and carried it, dangling it from his beak while flapping his wings.
Then he ripped into it and at it down to the shell. Daniels came down and took the turtle when D'ODEE had put it to the side of the nest to practice his flight on a new gust of wind.
He let Daniels take a bite or two, then he walked over swiped it out his beak and swallowed the leg in one gulp while Daniels watched. These two eaglets do that to each other often.
Em was working on her story book and in between the eagles moving around feeding on the turtle and waiting for Dancer to come in, I read her a comic book.
We hiked out and moved on to nest 2 where we found 79 day old Terry Gail back on her nest facing the south, and nodding off to sleep.
At nest 6 the twins, Freedom and Soar were sitting off to the edge so I couldn't see them very well.
At nest 5 the twins were both sitting by each other on a low branch off the north side of the nest. One almost fledged trying to move around the other sibling but luckily, as it flew he or she managed to get back into the nest. The eaglet flapped it's wings up and down, and I would guess that it is probably a female eagle. The wing span is almost the entire width of their nest.
Further on the journey there was a raccoon posing for my invisible camera that I had just stuck in the trunk on my way to nest 3 and 4, figuring I wouldn't see anything.
Luckily, it waited for me to circle, turn around, park out of view, kill my engine, open my trunk, clank my camera while taking it off the tripod, and it even let me focus before it ran off just I clicked my shutter on the lovely canary grass that remained.
I hiked out and found about 30 snowy egrets, a few sandhill cranes, and a dozen great blue herons all fishing the drained pool. There were some squabbles amongst each species--a fishing order it seemed as they all were in a long 500 foot straight line as they fished the narrow stream left in front of them where the tadpoles, frogs and fish must have been plentiful.
I stopped to photograph a young barn swallow which reminded me of one we took in years ago that had been injured. I wrote a small inspirational story about him and my new family. That's what I saw in the twinkling of that birds' eyes tonight--Harmony, our little barn swallow.
It was close to dark when I arrived at nest 3 and 4. I shot using infrared, just for effect, but I shot regular shots too. Victory Bell was up on his nest, and I didn't see any birds flying around or perched from my view on nest 4.
I was hoping this is where I lost my lens yesterday, and I searched heavily but didn't find it.
We left the valley just as the owls called out, "Mom, did you hear that owl? Whoo-Whoo," my girl replied back.
"He'll probably answer you, he might even come in so be ready."
It was a great day in the valley.
I'm looking forward to day 169.
See you on the journey--
Lisa
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