Jordan Lake. The air temperature was 40°F. Birds are meticulous about staying clean. I would not want to jump in the lake with the air that cold and water temperature of 50°F, but both the eastern bluebirds and the cedar waxwing (to the right) did just that! They enjoyed their baths. Brrr!

This morning I watched Mama Godiva fly into the upper reaches of a dead tree and snatch a branch out to use to repair her nest. It was a rather pointy and many branched section that she had. But she did manage to get it into the nest. I’ve often wondered when I watch the bald eagles do this, as in the first picture, how the eagle don’t get all tangled up in all the other branches around them. But they make it in and they make it out and they make it to the nest! Go mama Godiva go.

Jordan Lake: Captain Doug and I had just checked the nest and there wasn’t anybody at home. When all of a sudden high through the trees came Captain Dad. He was in a big hurry and he was headed upstairs, so to speak. As you can see he caught up with his lady. That’s Captain Mom in the lead in the photos of the pair in flight. They went up in the air, circling higher and higher and higher and finally got totally out of our sight. Eagles like doing that kind of flying! Especially together as a pair.

Jordan Lake: We have a resident population of double-crested cormorants here at the lake. The residents stay here all year around. However, come the cool weather of late fall and through the winter, we have hundreds of migratory double-crested cormorants that gather at the lake. Here are just a few of them. It is awesome to go to one of the boat ramps or fishing piers early in the cold mornings and look at the hundreds of these birds standing there piled up shoulder to shoulder.

Jordan Lake: Sometimes I admit that I wish I could read a Bald Eagle‘s mind. For instance, this two-year-old bald eagle, this morning, looked at me as if I were some how or other an odd object on the shoreline. I am certain this youngster has seen humans before! But, I did wonder what she was thinking about…