Post by baja252 on Jun 11, 2014 19:14:49 GMT -6
I haven’t posted photos in a while, so here are some photos from May to get caught up.
Early one morning I arrived at the end of the cove to find Elsie carrying a stick.
She landed in one of the E’s favorite trees with it, but I couldn’t see what she did with it. I stopped as usual and just drifted in the hopes of not disturbing her activities. About that time Stein came flying over the trees with a big bunch of dried grass.
He makes a few slow wide circles around the cove in what looks like his way of saying, “Hey look at what I’ve got”.
He finally lands next to Elsie and immediately the screeching begins.
Next the wing flapping starts. Looks like a full blown marital spat is taking place.
After a minute or so they settle down and stop screeching. Perhaps a compromise was reached? Elsie then takes off across the cove.
She makes an equally impressive display of slow wide circles around the cove, exactly like Stein did with his grass. I’m memorized at this point, something is definitely going on but I’m not sure what. I quick turn back towards Stein, he’s still in the tree. I have drifted down a little and with Elsie now gone look at what I see!
Sticks and grass in the fork of the tree, wow is this the start of a new nest? No time to think, I turn back to Elsie over the cove and see this;
This isn’t a landing position, this looks like she is dropping on prey! Is she going to grab a squirrel or something right out of a tree? I can’t even get my head around the different things I’m seeing and all of the sudden she literally crashes into the trees. I can’t see much, but I hear wings flapping violently as they hit the leaves and limbs. I even hear cracking as a large stick falls to the ground. This is unreal!
I waited for what seemed like a full 20 seconds before the noise stopped and she came flying over the trees. It’s not a squirrel…….
It’s a huge stick! What the heck is going on? Is this nest building or some game of one upping each other? She turned and actually flew in a circle around the cove with her prize. When she circled around again you can see how big the stick really is.
As Elsie headed towards Stein in the tree, he suddenly took off, flying right over me as he turned to fly up the cove and back towards the nest.
It was like he didn’t want to be there when she landed. I couldn’t follow them both, so I watched Stein to see where he was going. After it became obvious he was leaving the area, I turned back to see she had landed in the tree and dropped her stick as opposed to placing it in the tree. Even after thinking about it for weeks, I’m still not sure what they were doing, but I think Stein got the message that she is the top dog at stick gathering.
As a side note, I have been watching the tree for a month now and most of the sticks and grasses have fallen out and I haven’t seen any new nest building activity. This tree is at the water’s edge and only 50’ high over the water, I don’t think it would be a location that they would build a serious nest.
Later in the afternoon I went back and found Elsie sitting in a tree. She looks like she hiding in plain sight. In a couple weeks when the leaves are fully out you won’t be able to see her if she’s sitting in the same spot.
After about 10 minutes of sitting with Elsie, I spotted Stein flying down the cove towards me.
As he got closer, he flew right by Elsie and landed in a different tree. Perhaps still a little miffed from the earlier events? They usually sit together.
Allow me to change the subject just for a second. Look at the above photo again, specifically Stein’s tail. As pj says, “Stein is the most perfect eagle I have ever seen”. Perfect slicked back snow white feathers on his head and a perfectly formed white tail. The only dark spots on his tail are very high up, almost on his back as you can see in this close up from another photo.
Stein’s perfect tail, glowing in the sun at takeoff. (I love these “mistake” photos)
As Stein landed in a tree, Elsie looked a little perplexed that he didn’t fly in next to her like normal.
Not one to apparently hold her earlier dominance over his head, she immediately flew over to him.
In comparison, Elsie has a few dark spots on her tail.
I watched The E’s for about an hour. They just sat there together watching the cove. The water was alive with carp that day. They were in just a few inches of water splashing all over the place, right under the E’s.
Remember the TV show, The Addams Family? Remember Lurch, the Butler? When Stein is intent on watching something, he reminds me of Lurch.
A few other random photos from last month.
Stein sitting in the shade on a hot day.
Stein taking off, he should be on a postage stamp.
A couple hundred yards north of the nest, can you spot Elsie?
Naturally, she’s sitting in the highest tree on the hill. This is the same tree Stein sat in and watched the power company install the safety devices on the power poles.
Early one morning I arrived at the end of the cove to find Elsie carrying a stick.
She landed in one of the E’s favorite trees with it, but I couldn’t see what she did with it. I stopped as usual and just drifted in the hopes of not disturbing her activities. About that time Stein came flying over the trees with a big bunch of dried grass.
He makes a few slow wide circles around the cove in what looks like his way of saying, “Hey look at what I’ve got”.
He finally lands next to Elsie and immediately the screeching begins.
Next the wing flapping starts. Looks like a full blown marital spat is taking place.
After a minute or so they settle down and stop screeching. Perhaps a compromise was reached? Elsie then takes off across the cove.
She makes an equally impressive display of slow wide circles around the cove, exactly like Stein did with his grass. I’m memorized at this point, something is definitely going on but I’m not sure what. I quick turn back towards Stein, he’s still in the tree. I have drifted down a little and with Elsie now gone look at what I see!
Sticks and grass in the fork of the tree, wow is this the start of a new nest? No time to think, I turn back to Elsie over the cove and see this;
This isn’t a landing position, this looks like she is dropping on prey! Is she going to grab a squirrel or something right out of a tree? I can’t even get my head around the different things I’m seeing and all of the sudden she literally crashes into the trees. I can’t see much, but I hear wings flapping violently as they hit the leaves and limbs. I even hear cracking as a large stick falls to the ground. This is unreal!
I waited for what seemed like a full 20 seconds before the noise stopped and she came flying over the trees. It’s not a squirrel…….
It’s a huge stick! What the heck is going on? Is this nest building or some game of one upping each other? She turned and actually flew in a circle around the cove with her prize. When she circled around again you can see how big the stick really is.
As Elsie headed towards Stein in the tree, he suddenly took off, flying right over me as he turned to fly up the cove and back towards the nest.
It was like he didn’t want to be there when she landed. I couldn’t follow them both, so I watched Stein to see where he was going. After it became obvious he was leaving the area, I turned back to see she had landed in the tree and dropped her stick as opposed to placing it in the tree. Even after thinking about it for weeks, I’m still not sure what they were doing, but I think Stein got the message that she is the top dog at stick gathering.
As a side note, I have been watching the tree for a month now and most of the sticks and grasses have fallen out and I haven’t seen any new nest building activity. This tree is at the water’s edge and only 50’ high over the water, I don’t think it would be a location that they would build a serious nest.
Later in the afternoon I went back and found Elsie sitting in a tree. She looks like she hiding in plain sight. In a couple weeks when the leaves are fully out you won’t be able to see her if she’s sitting in the same spot.
After about 10 minutes of sitting with Elsie, I spotted Stein flying down the cove towards me.
As he got closer, he flew right by Elsie and landed in a different tree. Perhaps still a little miffed from the earlier events? They usually sit together.
Allow me to change the subject just for a second. Look at the above photo again, specifically Stein’s tail. As pj says, “Stein is the most perfect eagle I have ever seen”. Perfect slicked back snow white feathers on his head and a perfectly formed white tail. The only dark spots on his tail are very high up, almost on his back as you can see in this close up from another photo.
Stein’s perfect tail, glowing in the sun at takeoff. (I love these “mistake” photos)
As Stein landed in a tree, Elsie looked a little perplexed that he didn’t fly in next to her like normal.
Not one to apparently hold her earlier dominance over his head, she immediately flew over to him.
In comparison, Elsie has a few dark spots on her tail.
I watched The E’s for about an hour. They just sat there together watching the cove. The water was alive with carp that day. They were in just a few inches of water splashing all over the place, right under the E’s.
Remember the TV show, The Addams Family? Remember Lurch, the Butler? When Stein is intent on watching something, he reminds me of Lurch.
A few other random photos from last month.
Stein sitting in the shade on a hot day.
Stein taking off, he should be on a postage stamp.
A couple hundred yards north of the nest, can you spot Elsie?
Naturally, she’s sitting in the highest tree on the hill. This is the same tree Stein sat in and watched the power company install the safety devices on the power poles.