In the midst of the excitement of Wynd having fledged and then Ice was in the air – the 3 year old immature eagle returned.
At one point both Kate and Petruchio were chasing Brassy (as a friend has labeled this troublemaker).
Kate quickly broke off to let Petruchio continue the air battle and she went to the nest to protect their fledglings.
As you can see, Petruchio, though considerably smaller than the probable female Brassy, wasn’t giving an inch.
The battle raged across the cove, through trees, above the nest and finally out of sight a couple of minutes later.
Way to go! Petruchio.
VIDEO of Ice flying into nest at http://youtu.be/59pWgaa6_UY
NOTE: due to operator error, mine, the video has no sound, sorry. Please turn on some background music and watch.
Ice fledged sometime this morning. That’s him, in the photo, concentrating on his landing.
In the video when Kate the mom shows up with a fish, Ice shows up from the right, flying in for his food.
At first I didn’t see Wynd, then I began to notice action in the limbs above Kate and Ice.
They showed me where Wynd was; funny watching the two birds trying to figure out just what is over their heads.
Turning around on a limb is a difficult exercise and so Wynd, once again, does things the hard way.
She more or less falls back into the nest and promptly moves Ice out of the way and moves him away from the food.
VIDEO of Wynd’s Adventure at http://youtu.be/-xtLieIP77Y
Wynd disappeared from the nest 3 days ago. It was about time for her to fledge so I didn’t fret much the first day.
Day 2 I kept looking for her. This afternoon she returned. I saw her making takeoffs and landings, working her way to the nest.
Then I lost her for awhile only to see her just below the nest in some trees. The way she gets back into the nest is astounding. I managed to get it on video.
Typical eagle she immediately started looking for something to eat. Wynd has fledged.
Ice has watched. He will be fledging soon too.
I just hope he does it in the more normal style of small flights to near by trees for a few days and then the long soars around the cove.
On the video watch below and left of the nest in the trees there and once you spot Wynd be patient as she works her way back into the nest.
Kate was attacked by a 3 year old bald eagle at the nest as she was trying to deliver a fish to her chicks
story and video are at youtu.be/L-1FbdiI94Q
NOTE: the wind was howling and so the video has shake and noise – sorry about that
I hope you get to see at least the opening 2 minutes: I have never seen Kate flying so fast
the first photo is soft because the attack occurred as I was setting up my equipment and I took the shot in a hurry
the immature eagle was below my shot
the second photo is of Kate streaking after the immature eagle – they were traveling so fast I caught Kate partially blurred and missed the 3 year old
note that Kate is still holding the fish in her talons
you can see the chicks in the nest to the far lower left
doc ellen's journey 