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I arrived at noon to find the nest fairly quiet and no adults spotted in the area. Very little wing exercising, 1 or 2 eaglets at a time were resting low on the nest. It was quite hot and they were often panting.
Just as I was leaving around 1pm (always....lol) an adult flew in from the east and flew right along the wires heading due west and then all of a sudden turned south and went through the woods to the nest. The eaglets have found their voices as they were calling loudly! It was very fast and I didn't notice the prey item. It must have been small as the eaglets were done eating in just a few minutes!
The adult spent only seconds at the nest and flew to the tall pines west of the nest along the wires (favorite perch). It was only there about 5 minutes and spent the whole time cleaning his beak by rubbing it on the bark and even in the pine needles!
When it took off to the south it circled back over Pines and then began soaring in large circles slowly moving higher and to the north. It was fun to see an adult soaring so beautifully again! I hadn't caught that in a while! I took many photos and determined from them that it was Brown Tip, the male.
I hope as many of us as possible can stop by this weekend and next week to count how many are in the nest! You can accomplish that by just sitting in the car where the turnoff lane begins to the high school and moving forward off the highway until you have a clear view of the nest. With binoculars you can easily see the nest and count. This morning once or twice I saw only 1 or 2 but they move around a lot and soon you will see others. They also stand high on the large nest branches and are covered by the pine needles, especially on the east side. With the arrival of the heat, they are also laying down on the nest but you usually can see a head and tail from this location! Thanks for helping to document this important time in their lives and helping to make sure they are ok after their dangerous first flight from the nest!
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