eagle families of Jordan Lake

Category

By First Nest Bald Eagle report

Jordan Lake: Kate and Petruchio, like all bald eagle mated couples, go through the rituals of courtship every year as a way to affirm their relationship. Here you can see Petruchio (closest to you) and next to him is Kate. They are talking loudly to each other… bald eagles love to chatter! Also note that Kate (as is true of all bald eagle females) is much larger than Petruchio. This is the beginning of this year‘s courtship. I surely hope that I can catch more of the sequence to share, but, only time will tell us that…

By Hershey and the Red-tailed Hawk

Jordan Lake, H&G Nest Report: The bald eagle Dad Hershey at H&G nest, several vultures and a red-tailed hawk were all circling in the same kettle of rising air. For whatever reason the red tail hawk decided to fuss at Dad Hershey. They had a face off, way up in the air! They glared, made threats and then broke away from each other. Dad Hershey then dashed down to the lake and grabbed a fish that a ring-billed gull had dropped. The bald eagle took the fish back to a big branch and was happily eating on the fish when, for whatever reason, the red-tailed hawk showed up and complained and made Dad Hershey duck and scrunch down. Apparently having had it’s say, the red-tailed hawk then sailed off into the tree line. I don’t know what started all the ruckus. Neither bird has eggs or chicks in a nest. So, maybe it was just that the red-tailed hawk had a desire to be crabby. Or maybe I should say hawkish?

By H&G Bald Eagle Nest update 10/31/2021

Jordan Lake: One of the reasons for keeping field notes is to make sure that the researcher’s memory doesn’t confuse facts… I had thought that Godiva and Hershey were early this year in their nest repair. Hmmm. My notes say they started repair work in mid-October 2019 too!

Mom Godiva piles into the nest with a big branch and Hershey, who had been sitting on the brim of the nest piles out.
Hershey is moving out of the way in a hurry.
You can see the new stick … it is a horizontal branch still in Godiva’s feet.
Only 29 minutes later Godiva was returning with another huge branch for the repair work.

By Early Start

Jordan Lake: H&G Nest. Hershey and Godiva have been very chatty of late. They have also started to repair their nest … and they are a month earlier than usual. I am not at all sure what the early start means! In the 1st photo that is Hershey up top and Godiva down below. The bald eagle in flight is Hershey.

By Spectacular Fail!

Jordan Lake: Spectacular Fail! You are seeing the second of three attempts that Mom Godiva the bald eagle made early this morning on a huge striped bass. She had snagged it the first pass and had to drop it. This is her second attempt. Godiva came around, set her talons, and the impact apparently was so great – her weight of about 12 pounds against the approximate 2 pounds of the fish – that the interaction flipped the fish out behind her. Do not feel too badly for Mom Godiva. She came back around the third time and actually got a very good grip on the huge bass and took it back to the shoreline. There she ate her hard earned breakfast.