Eagle Family Report: Oh, my, my, my!
I got my first glimpse of a chick in the Eagle Family nest.
That is mom Kate touching the chick with her beak.
At the moment the eaglet is a light grey fluff ball with big eyes and a big beak.
If you go to the Arkive site (one of my favorite wildlife sites) at https://shar.es/1YXPoz
you can see an excellent closeup photo of a chick – wish I had the set up for that kind of photo!
Kate was surveying the cove when she saw an intruder.
It was another fully mature female bald eagle. One I did not recognize.
Instantly Kate was out of the nest and above the other female.
Kate stayed in the higher position, talons dangling in a threat posture.
She herded the other female out of the cove. Both eagles were screaming.
When Kate got the intruder far enough out over the main lake, she turned and bolted for the nest.
Mom mission accomplished.
to see a short slide show of the interaction, please go to https://flic.kr/p/EKGqCA
While out at the lake yesterday, a friend spotted a snake.
We soon had T. J. Hilliard there to identify the long thin snake that I am holding.
It is a queen snake Regina septemvittata.
It is nonvenomous, is a water snake, and a native species.
The queen snake has very specific living requirements.
It is only found where there are clean running streams and water sheds.
The presence of the queen snake can help us know that the condition of Jordan lake is great!
the photo is curtesy of T. J. Hilliard
Yeah! The ospreys are back at the lake!
They have been spotted from north to south and side to side on the shorelines.
This male osprey has gotten himself a fine fish for his supper.
I watched, amazed, as Hershey the smallest male bald eagle on the lake set his talons and took this huge carp.
Hershey weighs about 10 pounds. The common carp weighs at least 2 pounds.
Hershey never got the fish more than 3 feet above the water.
He essentially crashed landed on the shore and flopped over on the fish.
He stood up, jumped all over the carp, and eventually left the carp on the shore.
This is the only time I have seen any eagle take a carp!
