Getting some air

On July 3, 2023April 4, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography7 Comments

It was early April and I was still keeping an eye on the lone baby eagle in the neighborhood. He was still doing quite a bit of flapping. Our neighborhood is in the Coast Guard flight path but I rarely see them. This morning I caught one flying low past the nest. The eaglet didn’t seem to notice.

Mom was yelling at an osprey that had gotten too close to the nest and then chased him away. The osprey nest is just down the field in the next tower so there’s going to be some territory overlap.

The intruder.

The baby was getting some serious air.

The baby hopped over to the edge of the tower and started flapping. I was worried he was going to take off and not make it back up to the nest but he didn’t jump off.

He grabbed a stick on the nest and was either playing with it or moving it out of the way.

He was getting some high jumps and was moving around the tower.

Ibis flying by.

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!

Soon I’ll be flying – Skywatch Friday

On April 17, 2014April 9, 2014 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography15 Comments

It was a perfect Sunday afternoon in early March. I was standing in a small dirt parking lot next to the farm. The parking area is often used for a riding area so there was dried horse poo all over. At least I wore my old already cruddy hiking shoes. It was late in the day and I think I missed the late meal but the baby eagles were active. Junior was flapping his wings several times. He was just starting to get lift off, practicing for that big day when he finally takes off. It wasn’t this afternoon. I think it was still a little early and he had a little more practicing to do. One parent took off and Junior was screaming “Wait for me.” The parent circled several times and then landed again. Maybe he was showing Junior how it’s done. I haven’t been back since this day. I’m sure by now both kids are flying around even though they may hang out in the area for a while. I stayed for several hours and then it was time to go home and cook dinner. I felt like I was covered head to toe in dried horse poo powder so a long shower was taken before dinner.

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Baby eagle flapping his wings

On March 24, 2014March 25, 2014 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography12 Comments

Junior is getting to be a big boy (or girl).

It looks like he’s just figuring out what those big things attached to his body are.

He looks determined.

Already looking majestic at just a month or two old.

He’s trying really hard but not really going anywhere.

Mom brought in a snack. It looks like she has a piece of fish hanging out of her beak. What is that hiding behind Mom? It looks like another baby. I only saw one baby on my first two trips to the nest. Now, 3 weeks after that first trip when the baby was a fuzzy gray pinhead, I see another one. The second one must have been much younger and stayed down in the nest.

Look out below on the left! Junior had a little too much fish for dinner.

On the farm next door, white ibis were snoozing on a big dead tree.

On my 3rd trip to the eagle’s nest back in late February, the baby was big enough to really see. He was sitting up and flapping his wings. It was exciting to see the 2nd baby. He looked just a little behind in size than the first one. Since then, they both have been doing well. More on that later.

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