Monday January 10 at 7:40AM

[NewMexiKen]

Mary Lou and I arrived at the site at about 7:40 AM. As we were parking, I saw one adult fly in to the nest from the right (west). It or the other adult departed and disappeared low to the left only about 10-15 seconds later. After Mary Lou crossed over to the median she looked up and saw an adult standing high on the nest with its back to us.  It could either have been an incubation shift change or a food drop, but we believe it was the former, because we saw no feeding activity on the nest.

To our surprise, we then saw the top of the head of a second eagle, low in the nest to the right. This was confirmed by (poor) photos. The eagle that I saw flying off must have actually circled and returned immediately without us noticing. The standing eagle did look down to the right at its mate, but there was no other interaction.

After about five minutes, the eagle that had been standing up flew to the left (east) and then disappeared in the woods heading south. The second eagle was still sitting deep in the nest and was usually not visible except for occasionally showing the top of its head. We departed after about 45 minutes of observation, as the sitting bird remained low.

We checked the melaleuca stumps and other roosting trees near the nest, but did not see the second eagle again.

Since the incubating bird was sitting very low, the first egg may not have yet hatched. It was a bit unusual to see both birds linger at the nest together. We hope others can get out at intervals to report on the birds' behavior.

[Kathy]

I was driving by the nest today at 10:26 am and saw one of the eagles in the malaluca ( spelled wrong lol) trees with it's wings slightly extended and kinda droopy perhaps drying itself?  Did not see eagle on nest but I did manage to snap a shot from my camera will look at it when I get home and will post if is not blurry

Kathy

Keep smiling so that others will wonder what you are smiling about

On Jan 10, 2011, at 12:16 PM, "NewMexiKen [via Bald Eagles of Broward County, Florida]" <[hidden email]> wrote:

Mary Lou and I arrived at the site at about 7:40 AM. As we were parking, I saw one adult fly in to the nest from the right (west). It or the other adult departed and disappeared low to the left only about 10-15 seconds later. After Mary Lou crossed over to the median she looked up and saw an adult standing high on the nest with its back to us.  It could either have been an incubation shift change or a food drop, but we believe it was the former, because we saw no feeding activity on the nest.

To our surprise, we then saw the top of the head of a second eagle, low in the nest to the right. This was confirmed by (poor) photos. The eagle that I saw flying off must have actually circled and returned immediately without us noticing. The standing eagle did look down to the right at its mate, but there was no other interaction.

After about five minutes, the eagle that had been standing up flew to the left (east) and then disappeared in the woods heading south. The second eagle was still sitting deep in the nest and was usually not visible except for occasionally showing the top of its head. We departed after about 45 minutes of observation, as the sitting bird remained low.

We checked the melaleuca stumps and other roosting trees near the nest, but did not see the second eagle again.

Since the incubating bird was sitting very low, the first egg may not have yet hatched. It was a bit unusual to see both birds linger at the nest together. We hope others can get out at intervals to report on the birds' behavior.

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