birds

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By Jordan Lake: Practice!

While on the Haw River above the main lake, a friend and I watched a pair of immature bald eagles practicing the maneuver known as a death spiral. I managed to get one of the talon to talon grabs that the youngsters were practicing; when they get really good at this skill they lock both feet to both feet. This is a critical skill for a bald eagle to learn as it is part of the breeding behavior of a potential breeding pair of bald eagles. The upper bird is a 4-year-old and the lower bird is a 3-year-old.

By Jordan Lake: Falcon! Merlin!!!
I was tracking a fish-carrying osprey with my camera when I realized there was a small bird also tracking the osprey. Hmmm. Too late in the season to be an eastern kingbird chasing an intruder away from its nest. Too big for a kingbird anyway. But not as big as an American crow. And, oh, the pointed wings and the facial markings sure said “merlin”. Oops! I have never seen a merlin at Jordan Lake before late fall – some migrate here for the winter. A puzzle, but it was great to see the small falcon. Oh, and I think he was just curious about the osprey, especially since the merlin was smaller than the fish the osprey was carrying.