Amazing Eagle Watch, Sun, 15 Nov 09

[Trisha]

Tom, Humberto, Carolyn and I all watched a single adult this morning as it acquired a stick to add to the nest. When I arrived it was perched in the tall pine west of the nest on the favored branch. Tom reported that it was eating on the nest when he arrived at 7am and then later flew to the tree where the 4 of us observed it staring in all directions, as usual.

We all noticed after about an hour that it became antsy (pulling at feathers, fluffing, moving around a bit on the branch, and pooping twice.) We suspected (and got our cameras ready for) a takeoff. Before it flew, it stared straight at the field by the high school and I thought maybe it would head that way. (a good guess!) Very quickly, it lifted off the branch, heading across Pines. All four of us took off running, following the eagle as it landed near the top of the dead tree in the southeast corner of the vacant field along Pines. As soon as we arrived....we could tell it was leaving again. It was facing due east, with its body and head almost parallel to the ground....a pose I haven't seen very often. It took off somewhat northward and only went a few feet before in a strong, twisting movement, it descended sideways, and with its talons, grabbed at a long branch. It held on as it turned east until the branch snapped with a very loud crack! We were all so excited to finally see the actual selection of a stick for the nest!

It flew directly back across the road with the forked branch tightly secured in its talons. By the time we could view the nest, the adult was in flight again to the tall pine just to the east, along the wire. About 10 minutes later, it flew back to the same favored tree west of the nest, along the wire. A short time later it flew again to the very top of the pine just behind. We had never seen it there before. In about 10 minutes it flew off to the northeast and hadn't returned when we left a half hour later.

For some reason I had assumed that the eagles got the sticks for the nest by picking them up from the ground.....as when they pick up the straw from the field. After the eagle left the dead tree where it broke off the branch I noticed that almost all the branches looked freshly broken off and there really aren't many branches left at all. This must be a favorite branch collecting tree! Previously this season, the eagles seemed to be coming in from the south carrying their branches.

We all were snapping photos so hopefully will get some posted soon. (Sorry Ken about not using the new form......I'll need some help/practice on that....now I'm trying to see if I can remember how to downsize my photos so they can be posted. I still have to trim them and Humberto said he could add them to the forum for me if I need help) Quite a special morning of eagle watching!

I was also surprised that Tom saw the adult eating on the nest already....all this nest activity makes me wonder if the courtship has begun and if the eggs may come earlier this year? Only time will tell, and hopefully lots of watchers will post their observations so we can follow their progress in starting a new family....such an interesting and rewarding experience!

[Jill W]

WOW!!  What an interesting and exciting report, Trisha.  Thanks!

I never knew that the parents pulled sticks from standing trees for building or rebuilding a nest.

I doubt I'll be able to get there until after Dec. 5th, when I return from being away for 2 weeks.

Jill

[NewMexiKen]

Great report, Trisha!

This FORUM will resize your photos for you. Just click on "Insert Image" and select the photo from your computer. Select "Resize-- Medium size" before inserting the photo, and it will be perfect for displaying.

If you wish to use one of your photos that is already in FLICKR, you can resize it right there in FLICKR. Click on the photo to display the menu above the picture. Then, select "All Sizes" above the image, and then select the Medium Size (or the larger size, which will just fill the screen). Below the picture you will see two boxes-- copy the URL in the second box, which is headed: "2. Grab the photo's URL:" Then, just paste the URL in the FORUM menu in the box that says "Or copy an image from the Internet:" No need to change its size otherwise.

Try it-- you'll like it!

 

[NewMexiKen]

Trisha, since you have had more trouble uploading to the FORUM, I have taken the liberty of sending one of your FLICKR photos here as a test. You took this on November 3rd:

[Carolyn J]

What a gorgeous shot that is, Trisha! Thanks for posting it, Ken.
It was a very interesting day at the nest Sunday!

[Trisha]

Thanks, Carolyn, and thanks to you too Ken for the posting. The quality is much better with the way you sent them. I got some more of the branch sequence up on FLICKR....so feel free to post them also. I'll try to see if I am sending thumbnails as you suggested and that's why the quality is so poor. I wish this technology came naturally to me....I am definitely not intuitive in this regard!