February 5 - Eagle balancing act

[NewMexiKen]

This morning we arrived at about 8:15 AM to do a welfare check on the eagle nest. There were no adults in sight and no eaglets were visible in the nest. In a few minutes an adult Bald Eagle flew in from the west and tried to roost on the very slender top branches of the nest tree.





At first it was unable to find a secure perch on the left side of the tree, but after a great deal of flapping and balancing it settled on the right topmost branch, which bent down under its weight.





Based upon slimmer proportions and low forehead, I believe it was the male. After only a minute or two he flew off low and to the southeast. Dave from Davie had arrived and we watched the nest for signs of an eaglet. About an hour into our watch, I had turned off my camera and was just folding up my monopod and was ready to depart when an adult eagle flew in from the NW, this time with a prey item that may have been a small fish (or is that the foot of a coot or grebe hanging down?).



I could not be sure of the sex of this bird. It fed the young and we hoped to see one or more eaglets, but the nest rim seems to be quite wide and the cup must be on the far side of the nest. Dave may have captured some images of an eaglet (which I invite him to share with us on the Forum), but I took over 100 shots of the nest and saw no sign of one.  

[hall48]

As Ken mentioned in his post I (Dave from Davie) arrived shortly after he did and we both took numerous photos of the Adult eagle after it arrived at the nest with what appeared to me to be a fish.


Like Ken, I shot well over a hundred images. The top of an eaglet's head was barely visible on only two images. I placed an arrow on the image I am posting to show where the top of the head appears as it is unlikely that you would be able to tell it was a head unless you has seen all the images I had taken before and after it appeared.

 

Just after Ken left the adult flew to a tree just to the NW of the nest and stayed there for 10 to 15 minutes.



The adult flew back to perch directly above the nest and was still there when I left shortly before 10:30 am.


David Hall