Post by baja252 on Sept 22, 2014 19:33:05 GMT -6
I imagine it’s been a long summer for the E’s, with no juvies to raise they have had a lot of free time to do whatever they want. I thought perhaps they would go somewhere else for the summer, but so far they have spent most all their time in the area around the nest.
Elsie has settled into a pretty consistent routine, each morning you can usually find her somewhere along the far side of the main channel.
Her favorite tree this summer.
She likes to sit in the shade and watch the boats as they go by.
A few times I have been lucky enough to see her catch breakfast on her way across the lake.
Stein really doesn’t have a set schedule that I have noticed; he just hangs out on various points around the area. One morning we had some friends staying at the house. I was in the kitchen making breakfast and our friends started yelling from the bedroom that there was an eagle in the tree. I grabbed my camera and took this photo of Stein out their bedroom window.
In the afternoon one or both of the E’s tend to hang out in the back of the cove. If I’m going out in the boat I usually drive by to see what they are doing. A few weeks ago as I approached the end of the cove, I could see an eagle in the water. From far away it looked like Elsie, but her whole body was almost under water so I wasn’t sure. They usually they just wade in a few inches of water but she had over half her body in the water. I didn’t want to bother her, so I stopped far away and went to the opposite side of the cove. By the time I got stopped and got my camera out, she had moved into shallower water. I was so focused on Elsie in the water; I didn’t realize there were two other eagles in the cove with her.
I cropped and tried to lighten the following photos so you could see the details better.
Apparently done with her bath, she walks out of the water and shakes off.
She flaps and fluffs her feathers, shaking as much water off as she can.
A quick jump in the air and some more flapping to dry off.
She still looks pretty wet to me.
With one downward pump of her wings she’s off towards the far shore.
It’s amazing to me how birds can fly in the rain and take off when they are wet. I have seen Stein dive into the water going after a fish only to take off again while being half submerged with no momentum what so ever. It’s quite an accomplishment for a bird without webbed feet. That’s not their usual method of fishing; they are more snatch and grab, like the photo above. I think osprey’s are the ones that have really perfected the art of crashing into the water to catch fish, watch this video Emlizard posted on chat the other day it’s unreal.
vimeo.com/29536906
Okay I’m off track we’ll get back to ospreys later, right now back to Elsie. She looks a little low to me; the shoreline is approaching pretty fast.
Finally, she pulls up and heads for a favorite limb of hers.
I have at least a hundred photos of her sitting on that same exact limb and I was expecting a normal landing, so I stopped taking pictures………… mistake!
Lucky for me I kept watching and two seconds later I realized my mistake and started taking photos again. It looks like she had so little momentum when she pulled up, she completely missed the limb!
Was she too wet and heavy to glide up to the limb or did she just plain misjudge her landing? Either way now what’s she going to do? She’s actually trying to hold on to the trunk of the tree! Eagles have very strong talons, but surely even they can’t support her weight in this position.
It’s amazing to see how she rotates her wings around the tree trunk and gets in position to push off and fly away.
With one flap and a push off she flies over to my side of the cove. I guess she must of just misjudged the landing, she looks like she's flying fine now.
At the exact moment I took that photo, I heard loud screeching coming from the trees right behind her as she flew by. Stein was apparently in the tree behind me the whole time and I didn’t even know it! I did a quick scan of the tree, but I couldn’t see him so I turned back to Elsie who had landed in a tree. The look on her face says it all. I’m reminded of my mother giving my dad “the look”, when he was going to take a picture of her that she didn’t want him to take.
I have never seen her so soaked. If I go back to the photo of her pulling up and zoom in further you see how wet, messed up and stuck together her tail feathers were. I think this along with the added weight of the water caused her to not get much lift and resulted in her not gliding up onto the limb like she expected.
Stein screeched again from behind the trees and she snapped her head around towards him.
She then took what I call the “curved neck position”. I see this often when they are really intent on watching something. She looks like she’s looking at me, but she’s really looking past me across the cove.
A couple minutes later she took off again. She flew past Steins tree and landed on a limb 30 yards further down the shore. Just like before, Stein still out of sight was squawking the whole time she was in the air.
As I sat there trying to be still because they were so close, I couldn’t help thinking how strange this all was. What was she looking at, I didn’t see anything across the cove. Why was Stein squawking both times she flew by? Did it have something to do with the failed landing? They regularly fly around, passing by each other as they change perching spots and all with rarely making a sound. Something was going on, but I just couldn’t put the pieces together on what it was. I kept looking and scanning the trees and I finally spotted Stein through the leaves. He’s just below the center of the photo.
Elsie sat preening herself in the nearby tree and clearly had no interest in anything else. Whatever Stein wanted she clearly wasn’t interested in anything but drying off. I sat sill for the next few minutes and as I drifted down the shore I got a better view of Stein. He wasn’t watching me; he was looking across the cove. I knew if I turned around to look he’d probably take off, so I stayed with my camera on Stein. I was rewarded with that decision 10 seconds later as he launched out of the tree.
As he flew across the cove my curiosity finally got the best of me and I lowered my camera off Stein and turned to look across the cove. Everything looked 100% normal to me as Stein flew into a tree. I was shocked to see the split second Stein disappeared behind the leaves of the tree, a juvie shoots out the other side of the tree.
Reflecting back on the events, I believe the juvie was in the tree the whole time Elsie was taking her bath. I guess she didn’t care about him being there and Stein did, and that is why he was making a racket.
As interesting as that all was it wasn’t over yet. I needed to decide what to do next. I figured I’d leave the E’s and follow the juvie to see where he went. By the time I got going he was out of sight. Lucky for me he stopped to circle over the nest and allowed me to catch up enough to spot him again. He stopped circling and headed towards the main channel. I kept following him and just on the other side of the Island he suddenly circled back right over me as I stopped. He dropped his feet as he glided down indicating that he’s going after a fish.
I stopped and drifted as he dropped down not far from me.
Success!! He grabbed the fish in one very smooth slick move and in very rough water, very impressive. The green blob on the left is the island.
Overall it was one of the most interesting 30 minutes I’ve spent with the E’s.
The next day I spotted what I what I believe to be the same juvie sitting in a tree on the island.
Does he look thin and small to you? He does to me. We know he knows how to fish, so he’s not starving, he’s just small. For this reason I believe he’s a male and I also don’t think his re-appearance over and over again this summer is coincidence, I think he’s definitely an offspring of the E’s.
Even though the E’s are staying around the nest this summer, that doesn’t always make them easy to see. They enjoy hiding in plain sight.
Perhaps it’s a case of; like father like son. The juvie is back three days later.
About an hour later he showed up at the nest.
Sometimes what I think I see is later proved wrong after I see the photos I’ve taken. I thought the same juvie was back, but go back to up to the photo of his tail in the photo of him carrying the fish. Now compare it to this photo of the juvie in the tree when he moved to another tree.
I think it’s a different juvie. Much more white on the tail and bigger.
A couple weeks ago an osprey turned up at the nest. For the next 10 days I saw ospreys everywhere I went on the water. I had never seen one at the lake before, but I must admit I don’t really know much about them, so they were probably around and I just didn’t notice them. I believe they are migrating and passing through the lake area. Here are a few photos of them around the lake.
They really have a long neck and move it around a lot as they scan the area.
Ospreys are very interesting birds. As I hope you saw in the video above they crash into the water to catch a fish. I saw it a few times, but never really got a good picture of it. I saw stein chase one, but I was too far away for photos, maybe next year I can them together.
A few days later while I was on chat, Elsie flew in. I took these photos out the kitchen window.
Suddenly she flew straight down out of the tree.
I ran to the door, but she had already missed the fish, pulled up and landed on the neighbors dock.
The take-off, look at those talons grasping the railing.
Earlier in the summer she lost a few feathers and her tail wasn’t looking to good. It’s now filled in and rivals the beauty of Steins. I love how she drags her wing tips across the water when she's flying low.
Stein of course, still wins the most beautiful tail contest.
I guess that’s enough for now. I’m not sure if this forum will continue after the end of the month, but if it does I will continue to post photos here from time to time and update you on what the E’s are doing around the lake.
I want to thank Thumper and Sue for all they have done for the E’s and for everyone that enjoys watching the cams. The window into the E’s lives that they have provided us with has been an amazing experience and one we will never forget.
And finally I want to thank everyone for your support and encouragement in my hobby. The E’s have helped me become a better photographer and I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to photograph them and show you some of what they do when they are away from the nest.
Elsie has settled into a pretty consistent routine, each morning you can usually find her somewhere along the far side of the main channel.
Her favorite tree this summer.
She likes to sit in the shade and watch the boats as they go by.
A few times I have been lucky enough to see her catch breakfast on her way across the lake.
Stein really doesn’t have a set schedule that I have noticed; he just hangs out on various points around the area. One morning we had some friends staying at the house. I was in the kitchen making breakfast and our friends started yelling from the bedroom that there was an eagle in the tree. I grabbed my camera and took this photo of Stein out their bedroom window.
In the afternoon one or both of the E’s tend to hang out in the back of the cove. If I’m going out in the boat I usually drive by to see what they are doing. A few weeks ago as I approached the end of the cove, I could see an eagle in the water. From far away it looked like Elsie, but her whole body was almost under water so I wasn’t sure. They usually they just wade in a few inches of water but she had over half her body in the water. I didn’t want to bother her, so I stopped far away and went to the opposite side of the cove. By the time I got stopped and got my camera out, she had moved into shallower water. I was so focused on Elsie in the water; I didn’t realize there were two other eagles in the cove with her.
I cropped and tried to lighten the following photos so you could see the details better.
Apparently done with her bath, she walks out of the water and shakes off.
She flaps and fluffs her feathers, shaking as much water off as she can.
A quick jump in the air and some more flapping to dry off.
She still looks pretty wet to me.
With one downward pump of her wings she’s off towards the far shore.
It’s amazing to me how birds can fly in the rain and take off when they are wet. I have seen Stein dive into the water going after a fish only to take off again while being half submerged with no momentum what so ever. It’s quite an accomplishment for a bird without webbed feet. That’s not their usual method of fishing; they are more snatch and grab, like the photo above. I think osprey’s are the ones that have really perfected the art of crashing into the water to catch fish, watch this video Emlizard posted on chat the other day it’s unreal.
vimeo.com/29536906
Okay I’m off track we’ll get back to ospreys later, right now back to Elsie. She looks a little low to me; the shoreline is approaching pretty fast.
Finally, she pulls up and heads for a favorite limb of hers.
I have at least a hundred photos of her sitting on that same exact limb and I was expecting a normal landing, so I stopped taking pictures………… mistake!
Lucky for me I kept watching and two seconds later I realized my mistake and started taking photos again. It looks like she had so little momentum when she pulled up, she completely missed the limb!
Was she too wet and heavy to glide up to the limb or did she just plain misjudge her landing? Either way now what’s she going to do? She’s actually trying to hold on to the trunk of the tree! Eagles have very strong talons, but surely even they can’t support her weight in this position.
It’s amazing to see how she rotates her wings around the tree trunk and gets in position to push off and fly away.
With one flap and a push off she flies over to my side of the cove. I guess she must of just misjudged the landing, she looks like she's flying fine now.
At the exact moment I took that photo, I heard loud screeching coming from the trees right behind her as she flew by. Stein was apparently in the tree behind me the whole time and I didn’t even know it! I did a quick scan of the tree, but I couldn’t see him so I turned back to Elsie who had landed in a tree. The look on her face says it all. I’m reminded of my mother giving my dad “the look”, when he was going to take a picture of her that she didn’t want him to take.
I have never seen her so soaked. If I go back to the photo of her pulling up and zoom in further you see how wet, messed up and stuck together her tail feathers were. I think this along with the added weight of the water caused her to not get much lift and resulted in her not gliding up onto the limb like she expected.
Stein screeched again from behind the trees and she snapped her head around towards him.
She then took what I call the “curved neck position”. I see this often when they are really intent on watching something. She looks like she’s looking at me, but she’s really looking past me across the cove.
A couple minutes later she took off again. She flew past Steins tree and landed on a limb 30 yards further down the shore. Just like before, Stein still out of sight was squawking the whole time she was in the air.
As I sat there trying to be still because they were so close, I couldn’t help thinking how strange this all was. What was she looking at, I didn’t see anything across the cove. Why was Stein squawking both times she flew by? Did it have something to do with the failed landing? They regularly fly around, passing by each other as they change perching spots and all with rarely making a sound. Something was going on, but I just couldn’t put the pieces together on what it was. I kept looking and scanning the trees and I finally spotted Stein through the leaves. He’s just below the center of the photo.
Elsie sat preening herself in the nearby tree and clearly had no interest in anything else. Whatever Stein wanted she clearly wasn’t interested in anything but drying off. I sat sill for the next few minutes and as I drifted down the shore I got a better view of Stein. He wasn’t watching me; he was looking across the cove. I knew if I turned around to look he’d probably take off, so I stayed with my camera on Stein. I was rewarded with that decision 10 seconds later as he launched out of the tree.
As he flew across the cove my curiosity finally got the best of me and I lowered my camera off Stein and turned to look across the cove. Everything looked 100% normal to me as Stein flew into a tree. I was shocked to see the split second Stein disappeared behind the leaves of the tree, a juvie shoots out the other side of the tree.
Reflecting back on the events, I believe the juvie was in the tree the whole time Elsie was taking her bath. I guess she didn’t care about him being there and Stein did, and that is why he was making a racket.
As interesting as that all was it wasn’t over yet. I needed to decide what to do next. I figured I’d leave the E’s and follow the juvie to see where he went. By the time I got going he was out of sight. Lucky for me he stopped to circle over the nest and allowed me to catch up enough to spot him again. He stopped circling and headed towards the main channel. I kept following him and just on the other side of the Island he suddenly circled back right over me as I stopped. He dropped his feet as he glided down indicating that he’s going after a fish.
I stopped and drifted as he dropped down not far from me.
Success!! He grabbed the fish in one very smooth slick move and in very rough water, very impressive. The green blob on the left is the island.
Overall it was one of the most interesting 30 minutes I’ve spent with the E’s.
The next day I spotted what I what I believe to be the same juvie sitting in a tree on the island.
Does he look thin and small to you? He does to me. We know he knows how to fish, so he’s not starving, he’s just small. For this reason I believe he’s a male and I also don’t think his re-appearance over and over again this summer is coincidence, I think he’s definitely an offspring of the E’s.
Even though the E’s are staying around the nest this summer, that doesn’t always make them easy to see. They enjoy hiding in plain sight.
Perhaps it’s a case of; like father like son. The juvie is back three days later.
About an hour later he showed up at the nest.
Sometimes what I think I see is later proved wrong after I see the photos I’ve taken. I thought the same juvie was back, but go back to up to the photo of his tail in the photo of him carrying the fish. Now compare it to this photo of the juvie in the tree when he moved to another tree.
I think it’s a different juvie. Much more white on the tail and bigger.
A couple weeks ago an osprey turned up at the nest. For the next 10 days I saw ospreys everywhere I went on the water. I had never seen one at the lake before, but I must admit I don’t really know much about them, so they were probably around and I just didn’t notice them. I believe they are migrating and passing through the lake area. Here are a few photos of them around the lake.
They really have a long neck and move it around a lot as they scan the area.
Ospreys are very interesting birds. As I hope you saw in the video above they crash into the water to catch a fish. I saw it a few times, but never really got a good picture of it. I saw stein chase one, but I was too far away for photos, maybe next year I can them together.
A few days later while I was on chat, Elsie flew in. I took these photos out the kitchen window.
Suddenly she flew straight down out of the tree.
I ran to the door, but she had already missed the fish, pulled up and landed on the neighbors dock.
The take-off, look at those talons grasping the railing.
Earlier in the summer she lost a few feathers and her tail wasn’t looking to good. It’s now filled in and rivals the beauty of Steins. I love how she drags her wing tips across the water when she's flying low.
Stein of course, still wins the most beautiful tail contest.
I guess that’s enough for now. I’m not sure if this forum will continue after the end of the month, but if it does I will continue to post photos here from time to time and update you on what the E’s are doing around the lake.
I want to thank Thumper and Sue for all they have done for the E’s and for everyone that enjoys watching the cams. The window into the E’s lives that they have provided us with has been an amazing experience and one we will never forget.
And finally I want to thank everyone for your support and encouragement in my hobby. The E’s have helped me become a better photographer and I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to photograph them and show you some of what they do when they are away from the nest.