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By JL Bald Eagle Nest report: Ranger nest 3 photos 06/22/2018
Ranger Nest
 
Ah, ha!  This morning the smaller Ranger bald eagle fledgling came flying in, angry and hungry.
 
 
After pausing in the nest and yelling his discontent, he made a short flight hop to a nearby pine tree.
 
 
The fledgling sat there, disgruntled, before soon flying back out in search of a parent.
At this point, the parents bring an occasional fish to the nest with the intent of keeping the fledgling alive but less dependent on them.
They are pushing the fledgling into going fishing on his own.  

By JL Raptor: Ranger Nest Cove 4 photos 06/19/2018
Ranger Nest Cove
 
So, the ospreys have been harassing the Ranger bald eagles.
Turn about happens.
Dad osprey was trying to get a fish he had caught to his nest.
As ospreys sometimes do, he had removed the head from the fish.
On Dad osprey’s way from his perch to the nest, the eastern kingbird found the osprey.
The eastern kingbird is showing a red alert patch on his head because Dad osprey is in the kingbird’s nest territory.
And, oh yes, the eastern kingbird landed on the osprey’s head!
Satisfied with the aerial landing and peck, the kingbird zipped off and Dad osprey got to his nest.
Whew!

By Jordan Lake Bald Eagle 06/16/2018
An Unplanned Gift!
 
At the end of today’s lecture at the Jordan Lake State Park Visitor Center, all of us went out to the ramp behind the center.
We looked and looked for bald eagles, but the only ones were tiny little dots across the lake and over the causeway.
The heat and humidity was fierce and we all finally turned to go back inside.
The flash of a white head caught my eye and I sang out.
A beautiful bald eagle soared over the tree line and right over our heads.
Oh my, what a sight and jubilation as some of the attendees got to see their first ever bald eagle, wild and free.
 
I captured her passage and am glad I can share it here.

By JL Eagle Nest report: Ranger Nest 1 photo, 1 video 06-10-2018
Ranger Nest
The 2nd chick had watched its sibling fledge a couple of days before.
The now emptier nest seemed to spur it to more vigorous wing-wapping and branching.
I watched as it hopped up to the same branch that its smaller sibling had used as a launch point for its first flight.
Suddenly the chick was in the air and I fought to catch up with it way down east of the nest.
Apparently it wasn’t as brave as the other fledgling … it quickly turned around.
With an escort of eastern kingbirds (not happy to find another eagle loose in the air) it returned to the nest.
The fledgling’s landing carried it across the nest.  It jumped to the left perch limb, took a breath and left again.
Took me a  while to find it way, way down the cove.