eagle families of Jordan Lake

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By JL Eagle Nest reports January 09, 2018
First Nest
No photo today, but wanted you to know that Kate is on the nest and Petruchio is helping.
They got through all the wind chill and ice just fine.
 
H&G Nest
Both Hershey and Godiva got through the frozen weather without any problems.
This is Godiva as she flew past carrying a large clump of pine straw and other soft materials for the lining of her nest.
She and Hershey had been in the nest together earlier in the morning.

By BIGGEST and SMALLEST (for the season) birds at Jordan Lake
First Nest
In the photo below Petruchio is eyeing another stick for the nest.
The stick was actually a good sized branch (about 4 feet long) that he snagged but dropped.
The branch was so big I could hear it crashing through the trees below it; but I couldn’t follow the fall with my camera.
 
 
 
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Is smaller than a chickadee and barely bigger than a hummingbird.
The kinglets (golden-crowned and ruby-crowned) are only here for the winter.
The bright yellow streak is an alert patch that all kinglets have,
When they are excited they flip the patch upwards – the cold air helped make the patch really noticeable!

By First Nest report: New Stick for the Eagle Nest 12-29-2017
First Nest
Kate was incubating.
Petruchio went looking for a new stick for the nest – nests are in constant need of repair.
Watch for Petruchio’s feet as he snaps the branch from the dead tree.
Once he gets the stick to the nest, he places it where he thinks it should go.
Kate, being Kate, gets up and checks out the stick placement.
She screams her approval and then bails out of the nest.
It is Petruchio’s turn for doing some of the incubation.
The video may be better to view at my flickr site: https://flic.kr/p/21VmA5W

By First Nest has Eggs!!
Kate is sitting on egg(s)!
I believe she laid them yesterday, Christmas Day.
In the slide show you see her make a 90 second flight of 2 round trips.
She cannot leave the eggs without her body heat for more than about 2 minutes in this kind of weather.
I don’t know if she was looking for Petruchio to see if he was bringing food or she just needed some wing time.
That little white sliver in 2 of the 3 last photos
is what we will most often get to see of Kate while she is incubating.
Stay tuned:  hatching in about 35 days.

By JL Eagle Nest Report: First Nest 3 photos 12/11/2017
All the parent eagles are busy repairing nests and getting ready for a new season of eaglets.
 
First Nest
 
This is Petruchio eyeing the repair work on the nest.
 
He soon left to get another branch or a talon full of soft material for the nest cup.
 
 
This is Momma Kate headed across the cove.
Kate is usually one of the very first to begin laying eggs – usually between December 24 and January 1.