April 16, 2015

[Maria Rosa Drake]

Both eagles were at the malelauca trees this morning at 7am.

[NewMexiKen]

Interesting, Maria Rosa! Only 24 minutes later (at 7:24 AM, which is about 30 minutes after sunrise) I saw this adult flying quite high and heading SSE from the nest area towards the big lake in Sunset Lakes. It was about 1 mile SSE of the nest area.



Then, an hour later I found an adult roosting on top of one of the electrical poles along the unpaved portion of Miramar Parkway, about 1.5 miles SE of the nest area. This one appears to the an early 5th year adult, as evidenced by dark tail and tail covert streaking and possibly a few dark head feathers. May be a female based upon very long halluxes and deep gape that extends more than 1/2 way under the eye.

There is no way to say for certain that this is the same eagle I saw earlier or whether it is the new PP female. Chances are good that it is, but I do not think anyone has gotten a good photo of the top of her tail to see if this distinctive pattern matches hers. (If someone has such a photo please post or link to it).