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By Big Pine Nest update: Mom Loblolly

Jordan Lake: Yesterday, late morning, Captain Doug and I were out cruising and checking on bald eagle nests. We went to check the Big Pine Nest and there was Mom Loblolly incubating her egg(s) and we could fully see the upper half of her head and her great big beautiful eye. Captain Doug and I went on about the lake checking out other nests and so we came back by Big Pine Nest early in the afternoon. Now we could barely see the top of Loblolly’s head and could only make out a bit of her eye. The difference in the two photos and why in the first one you can see her eye and in the second photo you have to look hard to see the rim of it? That’s because in the late morning photo there wasn’t any one in the parking lot at the shelter. When we came back by in the early afternoon we could see people standing in the parking lot. Mom Loblolly was definitely keeping tucked down into her nest and as out of sight as possible.

Mom Loblolly
Mom Loblolly Staying As Out of Sight as Possible

By Big Pine Nest: Mom Loblolly Chases 3-year-old Bald Eagle

Jordan Lake: Here is what I caught yesterday of the interaction between Loblolly and the three-year-old gang of eight member. 1st photo: the three-year-old is sitting up in the tree quite proud of itself. 2nd photo: Mom Loblolly is at about Mach 3 heading straight for that three year old. 3rd photo: the three-year-old has realized that he is in danger and in a very wrong place as he turns and is trying to launch. 4th photo: above the pine branch you can see a blurred Mom Loblolly‘s head and below that same branch you can see the tail of the three-year-old. 5th photo: the three-year-old catching its balance on a branch before it leaps out. 6th photo: the scared and fleeing 3-year-old passed me in a hurry. 7th photo: mom Loblolly is heading back up towards the nest area. In yesterday‘s video you can see mom Loblolly enjoying a bit of a rest and some grooming after the ouster of the obnoxious three-year-old bald eagle.

3-year-old Gang of 8 Member
Mom Loblolly Heading for the 3-year-old
3-year-old Realizes the Incoming Danger
Mom Loblolly Head Above Branch & 3-year-old Tail Below Branch
3-year-old Trying to Balance as it Flees
3-year-old Fleeing Past Me
Mom Loblolly Heading Back Towards Nest

By Big Pine Nest update

Jordan Lake: Three of the three year olds – actually that’s all of the three olds of the gang of eight – have been pestering the nest this morning. Mom Loblolly finally caught one of them not really being on guard and she chased the 3 year old hard. I hope to put up some of the photos of that chase later. But thought I would share this natural minute of Loblolly after she did the chasing and she’s doing a little bit of grooming. Hope you enjoy the little video. #DocEllensNaturalMinute

Mom Loblolly

By Big Pine Nest update

Jordan Lake: Mom Loblolly brought a nice-sized fish to a tree for her breakfast yesterday. She ate it in a hurry, keeping a close eye out for any of the Gang of Eight. When Loblolly finished her meal, she did a short skip over to an outer branch of the tree where she was perched. Mom’s head nodded and cocked and I could tell she was looking for a repair stick for the nest. Up in the air Mom went and she did indeed break a fair-sized branch away from the tree. I watched in concern, not that the load was too big for her (it wasn’t), but because instead of making a straight line for the nest, she suddenly veered. At the point where the parking lot at the shelter came into her sight, she dipped a wing, and detoured out more than a 1000 feet before heading much further up the shoreline. Around the northern bend of the shoreline, Mom with her stick turned back towards the nest. Instead of a few wing beats to get to the nest with her stick, Loblolly’s flight was about tripled. I don’t know if it was visitors in the parking lot or possibly one of the Gang of Eight that caused the large detour. Either way I mused on the extra energy Loblolly was expending in an effort to get a stick to the nest for the repair. With all the high gusty winds we have had lately, I would not be surprised if several of the bald eagle nests at Jordan Lake have been in need of repair. I just wish Loblolly wasn’t having to make detours for any reason.

Mom Loblolly

By Loblolly Was Very Angry…

Jordan Lake: Big Pine Nest. This morning I saw four of the Bandits of the Gang of Eight. In these two photos you see first Mom Loblolly and she was very very angry and upset and yelling. In the second photo you can see why Mom was so upset. In the upper left of the photo is one of the yearlings from the gang and it is circling above her. Right after I took this photo Loblolly took off, still screaming, after the immature bald eagle and they both disappeared up lake. Please note that I added a little bit of blue to the sky so that you can see Loblolly better… I took these photos in between rain showers this morning, about 9 AM, and all of the photos were gray on gray on gray.

Loblolly
Loblolly to the right; intruding 1-year-old at upper left

By Big Pine Nest: Worry!

Jordan Lake. Doc is getting rather WORRIED. Besides the intrusion of humans, the parents at Big Pine Nest are now having to contend with the intrusion of immature bald eagles. All parent eagles have two or three or more sentinel trees, where they sit so they can watch the nest and watch the surrounding areas. The parents switch between the sentinel points during the day because that’s telling other eagles that inside the area where I am perching, I am staking out my territory: inside this area is MINE and you stay away. Well, with human intruders coming into the parking lot, that has pushed Loblolly and Pitch into using only two out of the three most frequent territory perches that they like. So, I watched as a three year old bald eagle came out from the area of the parking lot at shelter 8 and went fishing. Parent bald eagles do Not allow immature bald eagles to fish in the area immediately in front of their nest. As soon as Dad Pitch realized there was a problem, he turned around and chased the three-year-old eagle back out of the area. So you can see the problem: instead of being able to stake out a territory by using several sentinel trees, the parents are now limited to only two points because of the human intrusions and the immature bald eagles have noted this. I watched a second immature eagle pull this same stunt. This is very dangerous as we all remember what happened over at First Nest when an immature eagle got into the nest and ate the eggs there. I keep calling and sending emails to those who can close the gate. I ask all of you to please continue to go to the petition at https://chng.it/hRtHXdzg9z and sign/share and to call and to send emails to contacts found on https://www.facebook.com/100063040248633/posts/285177876926885/ . Thank you! (photos 1&2 is the 3-year-old bald eagle; photo 3 is Dad Pitch; pink smudge is from branches I was shooting through).

3-year-old bald eagle
3-year-old bald eagle
Dad Pitch