Just a few tidbits to enhance your viewing pleasure. The eagle you see on the nest feeding the young can be either the female or the male, as they both take turns raising the eaglets. See if you are able to notice that one parent is notably larger than the other. That would be the female. Female eagles can weigh 10 to 12 pounds, while males are usually in the 6 to 8 pound range. Surprisingly light for such large birds, eh? (Females can have an 8 foot wingspan, and males about 6 foot.) Eagles nest in the winter (hence the nice show going on right now), and the young have often fledged by February. Young eagles take several years to develop the white head and tail of the adult birds. They are usually either solid brown, or brown with various white markings here and there as they are maturing. They have longer wing & tail feathers than the adults, so they often look larger. When you see a turkey vulture silhouette soaring towards you, you will notice a shallow "V" shape to the wings. (Called the "dihedral" angle). When you see an eagle soaring towards you, the wings will be held straight out & flat, with no dihedral angle. So it is often easy to distinguish that the large soaring bird in the distance is probably a turkey vulture rather than an eagle. A huge percentage of an eagle's diet is fish, which is why they so often nest near bodies of water. They will catch fish in their talons the same way an osprey does, but will also steal fish from other birds any chance they get. Why do all the work when another bird has done it for you? And one last tidbit to ponder. Eagles mate in flight. Talk about "feeling the earth move!" ;o) Marcia

Well, yesterday I decided to go a little deeper with my investigations and set off for the new nest site with binocs and the spotting scope. I hate messing with the tripod, and it's tough to be able to quickly pan left to right if something nmoves, but boy you feel like you are right next to your subject!! I was in for yet another surprise. Sure enough, a single eagle was poking around on the ground after something when I got there. The bird continued for a short time, flew up to the nest, and then began climbing up into a thermal . Immediately after this, I spotted the second bird rising up from a group of trees to the north, following the first. I hadn't been able to see this other bird so I was excited to see both were around. I had my sister on the cell phone giving her the details when the third bird appeared. I was certainly not expecting this. The three were rising incredibly fast...the first two were already small specks, and I had quit following them with the binocs. By the time I noticed the third eagle joining them, it was too late to say for sure if it had the white head and tail, but I think I did make this detail out before it got too high. Not being 100% certain, I can't say whether it was a juvenile or an adult. At first I tried to tell myself it had to be a turkey vulture, but there was no mistaking it and it soon caught up with the first two as they drifted off to the west. But what the heck was a third bird doing at the nest site? I guess I have questions for an eagle specialist....I think I read that they are monogamous. Was this a hopeful interloper? Maybe the other nest two miles away has a male that swings....How long does the chick (chicks if it's a really good year) from a single season hang around after it fledges? And of course, this wasn't last year's bird at all if it already had the white feathers. I guess one thing that needs to be done is to atake out the old nest back at the highway and see if there's a white head hunkered down in there. It's possible we have been missing the activity and sitting is already taking place. Later, two of the three birds did return to the nest, with one sitting on the nest itself and the other taking up a post at the perimeter. Then it got too dark for the scope and I decided to pack up and head home. So , the story continues!! BTW, several people stopped to see what I was doing, and a few of them were people I know who live right across the field from the nest/s. I managed to get some good info from several of the ones who stopped. Amazingly, the couple who live closest to the site thought the smaller nests were swan's, and had not even noticed the huge monster so out of place there in the middle of them. When I told them it was an eagle nest and that there was a bird on the nest right now and held out the binocs, they just said how nice and drove off. Before they left though, I did ask them if they could recall what month the herons had been coming back to the nests, and they said closer to April. That was the time of year when we first found the rookery, and the leaves were just coming on. Then another fellow pulled up, and seemed a bit more interested. As it turned out, he had just been in charge of logging this same area last year (yippee) and decided at the last minute to leave the few big trees right around the site. He said you could walk right up underneath it all (although the mess and the ruckus was unbelieveable)and they didn't even seem to notice. Then in the fall they just vanished. He thought something bad must have happened but I wonder if they didn't just fledge and move on. so that's the story for now.

Me too, mimipadv. Nature is not for the squeamish. Has anyone else heard of Wild Heart Ranch in Claremore, Ok? They do a lot of great work. They rehab and return eagles (and many other animals) to the wild. Their FB feed is always interesting. http://www.wildheartranch.org/default.asp

Grew up there. It isn't easy being a fan of any Philadelphia team (they will almost always break your heart), but I do stick with them. Of course, having been born north of Green Bay (don't ask-dad was there for a year with his co.) and owning a share of the Packers, they are my number 1 team. Nonetheless, you give me hope Faron. it is always nice to have two winning teams to cheer for during the season. Now, we are outside DC, so with luck, the Eagles will prevail over the team here. ;)