wild birds

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By How Many Eaglets?
It was cold at Jordan Lake this morning.
Really cold.  Wind chill of 13 F.  And then it got really exciting.
A 2-year-old bald eagle zipped through the trees carrying a fish.
Right behind it was an 1-year-old eagle wanting to steal the 2-year-old’s fish.
And then, well, see if you can keep up with the fish and the number of eaglets!
You may need to go full screen to see them all.

By Busy Pine Warbler
My friend and I had spent the morning at Jordan Lake watching eagles, gulls, crows and killdeer.
We were all packed up and getting ready to head out when my friend noticed a tiny bird being busy in the grass.
Nothing to do but I took out my iPhone and started to quietly walk in on the pine warbler.
The little bird tolerated us and so I slowly, gently walked forward.
There followed several minutes of joy on my part and a studied indifference on the bird’s part.
I hope you enjoy the short video.

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!