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Yesterday was especially thrilling as we stood with our various apparatus pressed up to our eyes. Perhaps it was the dark blue sky and brisk wind out of the north bringing very clear, fresh air. The eagles were soaring around the nest area between feedings as much as I have ever seen them. I wonder if they were enjoying the weather as much as I was? At one time just over the nest area, but very high, was one of the eagles, a turkey vulture and an osprey soaring in a line. It was awesome being able to compare the 3 all together. One of the eagles flew very low over the road and gave some arriving watchers the thrill of a lifetime as it went right over their heads!
I heard the chicks for the first time in the nest when the adults were both away. I was somewhat surprised that they sounded much like other baby birds....kind of a string of very rapid "cheeps." The sound was nothing like when the adults are heard calling to each other.
The other highlight was when 1 of the adults flew north and then circled back over the field across the highway to the northwest. We saw it circle very low and was out of sight for a few seconds and then came up and headed to the nest with a white bird in its talons. The adult stood very high on the front rim of the nest as it held the remains of the bird with its talons and pulled at feathers and strips of meat.
The young were both right beside and grabbing the pieces from the adults beak as they were pulled off. One other thing we observed was that at times if both chicks were eating and no one was reaching out to take the food the adult would eat it. When the adult was finished with the dissection of the bird, it made our watching complete as it flew to a bough on the tall pine just to the right, along the fence line, to clean up after a messy meal. It was a perfect pose for the shutterbugs!
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