BALD EAGLES NESTING ON MY PROPERTY

scratch'n'peck said:

Here is another photo of the eagles on the same perch on a recent evening when the lighting was better.

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They definitely look like two males and a female.

scratch'n'peck said:

It's interesting that with birds of prey, females are larger than males.  I think of the smaller eagle on the left of the photo as "little guy."

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Wow, I didn't know that. Now that's truly fascinating.

I'm updating this thread rather late in the nesting season, however I don't think many will notice. But I like keeping a record of the eagles even if it is mostly just for myself.

Earlier in the season, I got video evidence that this is a mating trio of bald eagles. The video is poor quality, but the continuous shot shows one male mating with the female at the beginning and the other male showing up near the end and mounting the female. You can fast forward through my unscripted droning to fill the void between the action.

The nest blew out of the tree during a windstorm. In this video an eagle flies off the swaying nest 50 seconds in.

Here the eagles perched, buffeted by the wind, as the rest of the nest was decimated. The next day, I found a cracked egg shell with the nest debris under the tree.


They started rebuilding the nest in the same tree, but another high wind event a few weeks later destroyed their work.

The three eagles have been hanging around another tree across the wetland from my house. My neighbors have seen them working on a new nest. Although it is unlikely that eggs will be laid this late in the season, this could be a start on their nest for next year's season. A few of my neighbors have a better view of this nest than the last location. Although it is farther away for me, the angle of view is favorable because I am looking from higher ground. Maybe I will be able to see over the edge of the nest a bit with binoculars or the telephoto lens. Just the tail of the third eagle is visible behind the perched eagle in this photo. I'll just have to wait until next fall to see how things develop. I learned of another eagle trio that hatched two eggs this year that is actually being followed by a web camera. Sadly the mother seemed to be killed by other invading bald eagles. Amazingly the two fathers have both continued feeding and protecting the young, and the eaglets are getting big as fledging time nears. See this link for details: http://stewardsumrr.org/webcams/bald-eagle-nest-cam-live/