Joy, Laney, and I went for a hike at Shades State Park this afternoon. One of our stops was at Prospect Point, overlooking the Sugar Creek. The day was gorgeous, and the view alone was enough to encourage lingering, but two immature Bald Eagles stole the show.
These pictures almost look fake to me. The eagle landed on the perfect perch, with the perfect background and lighting, and stayed just long enough to get these pictures. Photos taken near Grand Lake on Trail Ridge Road.
The young eagle from the pair I have been watching all year has now left the nest. Although he could have flown any day in the last seven, it is still exciting to see the fledgling out on his own. (Disclaimer - I have no idea about the gender of the fledgling.) I was scanning the nest this morning, with no luck, when I heard him begging from a nearby roost. He was on the same tree where the adults spent a lot of time perched. The adults took turns bringing him fish. Eagles aren't good at handing over fish, and dropped one while I was watching. The fledgling flew off later in the morning.
This is just a close-up of the first picture. The low light level and distance did not allow for many good photo opportunities. The white flecks on the fledgling sure seem to create a camoflauge effect with the sunlight through the trees.
Here is the fish that the eagle dropped. I imagine that it is a carp of some kind.
I have been going back out to the Bald Eagle nest to see how the pair has fared. They laid their egg(s) back at the beginning of March. Now there is a pretty large eaglet in the nest. In the first photo, the female is sitting in a nearby roost tree.
Here is a wider angle view of the nest tree. The silver maples in full leaf in the foreground make it harder to find the nest in the sycamore.
Here is a zoomed in crop of the nest. See if you can find the eaglet. He is pretty brown and has a gray beak. Bald Eagles do not get the full white head and tail for four to five years. It is a little bit of a challenge to locate the nestling at this distance in poor light, but it is possible.
The pair at the nest.
Bald Eagle on the nest near the White River, Morgan County, IN. Note the coir log, an erosion control device sticking out of the side of the nest. I saw her flying in with this five foot section this morning. I guess she wanted a souvenir to remember the construction by.
I finally got a decent picture of the eagle on the nest. The female has been spending more time there lately and was arranging sticks today. I have seen both of them breaking off branches on the wing and adding them to the nest. This morning was the first time I had seen Bald Eagles mating. They both sat on the same branch together for over an hour and a half. The female would call and then slide closer to the male before mating. The female is on the left in the two pictures.
I have been monitoring a pair of Bald Eagles along the White River every morning. It has been fun to get to know them better. They have a large nest in a Sycamore and a favorite roost in another Sycamore (as pictured in the photos). The photos are from a quarter mile away in low light, so they are not as sharp as they may have been.
This was the first Bald Eagle of the day. All in all, we saw five or six Bald Eagles, depending on whether the last one was a different individual or one all ready seen.
Joy spotted this adult Bald Eagle by Ridgeway Resevoir on Thursday morning, March 9. There were several other eagles sitting around the resevoir.
