Monday, March 12, 2007

Nesting

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Guess what I stumbled upon, while beachcombing on Big Hickory Island? A Bald Eagle nest! Again, I must apologize for the lack of zoom on my antiquated Kodak digital, but you keep ignoring my pleas ;-)

He or she (one way to determine the sex of an eagle is to examine its beak - hello! do I look crazy to you?) let me creep up pretty close, but as you can see, was clearly concerned, so I did not overstay my welcome.

What I found fascinating reading up on our national bird is that:

1. They mate for life
2. They use the same nest year after year, ergo...
3. ...Over the years, some nests become enormous, as much as 9 feet in diameter, weighing two tons (2.75 meters and 1800 kg)
4. While on the nest with very young eaglets, parents move about with their talons balled into fists to avoid accidentally skewering their offspring.

Aw, how sweet is that?

24 comments:

Pat said...

Isabella, I never knew those facts about the eagle! The size of the nests in time is really something to think about! My goodness!

I drove past an osprey nest on top of a telephone pole today and saw some movement up there so maybe they have started to lay eggs.

Thanks for visiting my blog! And yes, that poem is so special to me! ;)


Pat's Photos and
Guelph Daily Photo

Jing said...

cool shot!!
:))
so sweet of those eagles!!
so faith they are!!
so careful they are!!
...

lovely shot!!

jing
shanghai daily photo

Anonymous said...

Where was mom eagle ? I think, she just was planning to attack you and to defend her nestling :)
I wish you a happy new week, Isabella!

alice said...

Clearly more impressive than my ridiculous magpie's nest...

M.Benaut said...

Isabella, you risk your life daily to bring us beautiful wildlife photos, they mean a lot to us foreigners. It is fascinating to see the variety of wildlife throughout the world.

Nathalie H.D. said...

Oh Isabella come on, stop whingeing about the lack of zoom, all we'd have left to look at would be the eagle's eye !

(or beak, you would argue? so we'd know the beast's gender? hasn't your mother told you these are rude questions to be interested in?

LOL

Great photo as always!

Deb said...

So I guess the other thing we've now learned about bald eagles is that they accumulate a lot of junk throughout the years, just like people! I wonder if they cart stuff off to storage units every few years, have garage sales, etc....

Jilly said...

Sounds like they are a good deal more loyal than many humans and better parents too.

And a wonderful photograph, zoom or no zoom.

J x

Anonymous said...

up to two ton nest. I guess the tree must be pretty big as well to hold that size of nest.

Olivier said...

tres belle photo, et merci pour tous ces renseignement sur les aigles chauves, on en manque à Evry pour chasser les pigeons ;o)).


very beautiful photograph, and thank you for all this information on the eagles bald people, one misses some in Evry to drive out the pigeons; O))

Gerald (Ackworth born) said...

Wow this the second picture of bald eagle I've seen this week. I think the other one was on the Oliver: Outhouse Capital of Canada blog.

Oya said...

I never saw such big nest...

Mandy said...

my that is a big bird

The Wellspring said...

ooooo, cool shot, despite the antiquated Kodak digital - he he he - and I like the history that goes along with it. Amazing about the potential size of the nest - WOW! (think you could track one down of that size??)

~Lisa

Anonymous said...

Izzy, you do not need a zoom lens. It is quite obvious, if not clear, that these particular eagles are actually direct descendants of the original American Eagles that George Washington made the American nation use on all their coins.
These eagles are not just any old "Canadian" or even "Alaskan" eagles, if you look at the beaks (sex notwithstanding) you might confuse them for a moment with "Californian" eagles but the "steely" look in the eyes tells the story.
I have to go now, it's time for my medicine.

Meg said...

Isabella,
So, how is it going/did it go? I'm on penicillin starting last night, my appointment 4 weeks and a day from now, and last night, my face became noticeably lop-sided because the painkiller can't keep the swelling down. I hope you're all spiffy and cured and ready to run a full marathon!

Anonymous said...

Never thought there were Bald Eagles in Florida. Reminds be of "Stephen Colbert, Jr" but here I hope beak means beak.

Nikon said...

Great shot isabella - no zoom after all of those alligator shots?
I don't think we've re-established any eagles here in RI yet.

Nikon said...

Isabella, do you mean you have a fixed -focus lens on a point-&-shoot camera? Like a smei-wide angle all of the time? If you want a close up you walk up to the subject?
This can be fixed easily.

Nikon said...

That should be semi-wide angle.....

Nikon said...

I just read your comment on Nelson Daily Photo - hang in there!

Nikon said...

Isabella, I have my first digital camera - I bought it used & broken on Ebay for $18.00 A Canon A75. A $12. circuit board fixed it ( also from Ebay), so I have a $300. camera that is working fine.
If you want to avoid waiting for one of these deals to show up again -CNET reviews the top digitals out there:
http://reviews.cnet.com/Digital_cameras/2001-6501_7-0.html?tag=cnetfd.dir

Sony Cybershots, & The Casio Exilim seem to be popular

isa said...

Nikon - thanks for the advice (I will check out those models) and for the sympathy :-)

And for not laughing at me ;-)

Anonymous said...

Wonderful picture. Thanks for the cool info.