wild bird

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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 Gang of Eight Bandits at Big Pine Nest

Jordan Lake: Over the last couple of days I have observed a new to me bald eagle behavior. I have watched immature bald eagles raid the nests of adult eagles. Those raids have always been a one on one situation. This Gang of Eight Bandits is harassing not only the Big Pine Nest but also the H&G nest. So far, thankfully, I’ve not seen any of the immature bald eagles actually make it into either nest. But I will not be surprised if that does happen. I have watched paired adult eagles tag team when they were catching gulls on the water. I am beginning to wonder if this Gang of Eight Bandits might not try to tag team one or both of the nests. I will keep watching and praying that it is only harassment that occurs. As I have said before, this activity really puts a great deal of strain and stress on the parents at Big Pine Nest because they are dealing with both human and eagle intrusions. I have put the immature photos in no particular sequence other than the most interesting youngster is first. It happens to be the four-year-old – and it is indeed a masked bandit. There are 3 one-year-olds and 1 two-year-old and 3 three-year-olds and the four-year-old that make up the Gang of Eight Bandits.

4-year-old bald eagle
1-year-old bald eagle
2-year-old bald eagle
3-year-old bald eagle
1-year-old bald eagle
3-year-old bald eagle
1-year-old bald eagle
3-year-old bald eagle

By Big Pine Nest update

Jordan Lake. The Captain and I were out on the lake yesterday afternoon doing bald eagle nest checks. We came across this unknown adult bald eagle sitting at the northern Sentinel Point for the Big Pine Nest. I did not recognize this bald eagle. Notice that this eagle has feathers growing out of her nares/nostrils. Quite a distinct marking, yes? We saw this eagle at 1:28 PM. We went wandering off to check other nests around the lake. At 2:24 PM we came back around to Big Pine Nest and there was mom Loblolly sitting where the unknown eagle had been perched earlier. While we were watching, as you can see, mom jumped off of the Sentinel Point perch and went barreling down the shoreline, turned sharply past the nest and disappeared in the tree line. I was trying to photograph the little speck of Loblolly in the tree line, when back around the same track that mom Loblolly had taken, came that same unknown adult bald eagle (the one with the nares feather). The unknown adult went zipping right past the nest and headed north up the lake. Dad Pitch stayed hunkered down on top of the eggs, protecting them. Very interesting episode! Hard enough on Loblolly and Pitch that humans are intruding, much less having another adult eagle show up in the area!

Unknown Intruder, with nares feathere
Mom Loblolly
unknown intruder again
Dad Pitch, can see a bare white streak of his head

By Big Pine Nest: Eggs Have Been Laid

Jordan Lake: Eggs have been laid! This afternoon the Captain and I were out on his boat doing nest checks. This photo was made at a distance of an eighth of a mile – 660ft. You cannot see this view from anywhere on land. So please remember that and let’s remind everybody to not actually enter the shelter area. In this kind of cold weather if either parent comes off those eggs and leaves them for even a few minutes the eggs will die. An attempt at getting a sighting or a photo from land is not worth the loss of a single egg. You have to look carefully to see Dad Pitch’s eye through the branches – the yellow arrow is just below his eye. Dad is small and sits down low in the nest.

By H&G Bald Eagle Nest update

Jordan Lake. This morning Hershey and Godiva were mating. So it’s not long now before eggs are laid. It is a very delicate dance as Hershey stands on Godiva and balances himself. He is standing on his balled up feet so he will not hurt her with his talons. There was a whole lot of chattering between the two of them.