I arrived at the nest area at about 1:30 PM. No sign of any eagles on the dead Melaleuca trees or anywhere else in the area. I left at 2 and returned about 30 minutes later. At 3:15 one adult eagle appeared on the nest. It stayed for about 30 minutes, was not doing anything except looking around and then flew away. I left at about 4:30.
On the way home, I stopped by Long Key just west of Flamingo Road and saw some of the birds roosting in the trees by the entrance. I was surprised that they had not shut the gates as they usually do that promptly at 5 PM. Turns out there was a night hike to see the wildlife there, so there were lots of cars parked in the lot.
I took a few pictures there
http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/579072559uVnnyP. I'm pretty sure that the pictures of the Great White Egret are of the same bird who got into some trouble (about 10 minutes after I took its picture) with getting a foot tangled on something at the bottom of the shallow water. I noticed that he was near the bank in a few inches of water and his wings were spread and he almost looked like he was lying down. I went closer to see what was wrong and he struggled a little bit (but not much) to get away from me, but he was unable to walk or fly away. Long story short, two other people saw me looking at him, came over, and tried to help. The gentleman found a long stick and was able to gently move the water around and nudge the bird from underneath the body. Somehow, the bird was able to get free of whatever he was tangled up with and flew away. Whew! I was afraid that he would not make it through the night without some help and it might have been difficult to get someone who would know what to do and come there on a Sunday evening.
Jill
Locked
