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I am frequently given advance notice of an eagle's pending arrival by the cries of its accompanying bird-tourage. This happened Saturday afternoon (5-26-18) when one of the Pt. Edwards eagles flew north over the marina. Usually the crows and gulls just buzz an eagle, but this crow made physical contact.
The eagle did a 180* turn over the ferry and returned south followed by crows. I'm not sure if the Caspian tern in the photo was following the eagle or just passing by.
One crow caught up to the eagle, made physical contact, then backed off. It is nesting season, which I suspect is why the crows are more aggressive than usual.
I keep returning to the Pt. Edwards nest to search for sights or sounds of hatchlings. I saw neither Sunday afternoon (5-27-18), but I got some nice shots of one of the adults stretching its wings.
I was hoping to get takeoff shots of this bird or landing shots of its mate, but neither occurred after an hour's wait. My parting shots were of the eagle getting harassed by an evil minion of the Dark Lord.
I drove down to the waterfront where I saw its mate perched on the piling near the ferry dock.
The news we have all been waiting for:
Tuesday afternoon (5-29-18) I spotted an eaglet in the Pt. Edwards nest. I first took some grab shots with the 7DII + 100-400L zoom.
I then set up the 1Dx + 500L + 1.4x teleconverter in the hope of getting some closer shots, but the baby chose that time to duck down into the nest.
Tuesday afternoon (6-5-18) at the Pt. Edwards nest. The nest is so large that you can sometimes miss seeing an adult if it is hunkered down at the back of the nest. I did not see this adult until it stood up.
The baby was stirring around, but was hard to see. Look closely and you can see the heads of the baby (right) towards the front of the nest and an adult (left) towards the rear.
Thursday afternoon (6-14-18) I staked out the Pt. Edwards nest. I had barely set up when one of the adults shot out of the nest and landed in the yard of a house down the street.
A pack of crows flew into the yard and started raising ****. The eagle flew up out of the yard and headed back toward the nest, flying very low over the street while being chased by crows.
As the eagle flew over me, I could see that it had caught a crow.
Unfortunately the camera was around my neck and I had accidentally knocked the shutter speed down to 1/320. Many of the photos were marginal. I would have preferred to be shooting at 1/500 if not 1/1000.
Saturday (6-16-18) was too sunny to take photos at the marsh, so I drove up to the Pt. Edwards eagle nest. I was feeling lazy and decided to sit in a lawn chair and shoot handheld with the 7DII + 100-400L II telephoto zoom. One of the adults was in the nest along with the eaglet.
I added the 1.4x teleconverter when the eaglet popped up to stretch. The feather shafts on the underside of its wing are still developing.
The adult fed the eaglet a fish(?) dinner. The eaglet is now big enough to screech when it wants to be fed.
I checked the Deer Creek nest and confirmed that it is now home to at least one eaglet.
I drove back up to the Pt. Edwards nest Monday evening (6-18-18) while my son was playing tennis. This time I mounted the 7DII + 500L telephoto + 1.4x teleconverter on a tripod for closeups. Mother was across the street in the sentinel tree while baby was standing upright in the nest.
Eagles can't sweat, but they do pant when it is warm.
Screeching alerted me that father was near by. I caught his fly-in with the 1Dx + 100-400L II telephoto zoom, which I had hung around my neck for such an occasion.
I took one last flight shot then ran to the camera mounted on the tripod, which was aimed at the nest, to get some shots of the eagle landing in the nest.
It fooled me and landed on top of the nest tree. It must have been somewhere cool as it was not panting.
Mother, meanwhile, was being pestered by crows seeking revenge for the death of their comrade two days previous.
As I was leaving to pick up my son, I drove to the south side of the nest.
I checked the Deer Creek nest Tuesday morning (6-19-18) while the light would still allow for good shots of the eaglet using the 7DII + 500L telephoto + 1.4x teleconverter.
I was met with a surprise. The Deer Creek pair has two eaglets this year like they did last year. The second eaglet can be seen on the right side of the nest. One of the parents arrived, but it perched on the opposite of the tree as the nest and I was unable to photograph it.
Later that afternoon I saw one adult eagle on the beach below Sunset Ave. and a second adult flying near it. I was unable to get any good photos due to the heat waves off the sand and water. They took off north, leading me to believe they were the Hutt Park pair.
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