Nest 25 - Seawright - 2015 season

[boonibarb]

 
This is where we will post fotos, videos & discussion of Nest 25 & its territory!
This Nest looks across lovely Tribune Bay to the high banks of High Salal on the other side of the Bay.
You can also see the tip of Helliwell from here, & the lighthouse at Lasqueti.
At low tide the shore is shelves of tilted rock, covered in seaweed & marine life.
i bet the Midhshipman fishing is good here.
Last year there was spotted at least one Eaglet at this Nest.
You can read the postings from last season, 2014 here.

Read the postings from 2013 here.

The postings from 2012 begin here.
 
The 2011 season can be found here.

2010 is here.

wren*s beautiful map of Hornby showing all the Nest locations & their productivity can be found here.
 

[boonibarb]

 
i got a call from a neighbour of this Nest*s territory, saying it was like the movie The Birds at her house, & had been for days.
There was a dead Seal on the beach out front of her place, & the Eagles were swooping & diving & hanging out in her Trees!
So i went to check this out.
i walked in to her yard with my eyes on the Tree tops, but the first i knew of Eagles there was when they flew off darnit!
There were probably at least seven fly offs.
But this lovely one stayed & checked me out while i took a few portrait fotos of them.

april 21 2015 14:24 - three year old Eagle
 


It was raining, & you can see the drops flying past in these fotos.
 


Looks to me to be a two year old Eagle, just entering their third year!
Beak still quite black, eye light brown, light head feathering under the chin & on top of the head, giving this youngster the dark eye stripe of a three year old.
 

 

 

 
https://www.flickr.com/photos/43214021@N08/17070892237/

[boonibarb]

 
The body feathering is so interesting & lovely on this one, too.
 
april 21 2015 14:26 - three year old Eagle
 


Finally this one flew off & headed across the Bay.
Perhaps to where there was another dead Seal, on Spray Point, which is the dividing Point between Little & Big Tribune Bays.
 

 
https://www.flickr.com/photos/43214021@N08/17071033547/in/photostream/

[boonibarb]

 
This Eagle flew in & landed nearby, & gave me a bit of time to take some fotos of them.
My camera is not liking this rain, & the same settings are giving fotos that almost look black & white or sepia-toned!
 
april 21 2015 14:31 - two year old Eagle
 

 


This one is showing us their lovely tail.
 

 

 

 
https://www.flickr.com/photos/43214021@N08/17253483356/

[Cawatcher]

How exciting am so gad they are getting good food

[winterwren]

I was spying on the Little Tribune nest yesterday morning when I heard a lot of noise from this territory.
I could hear loud screeps and I saw two eagles flying — one with feet sticking straight out!

I had a look with the big lens... Sure enough, a fledgling on the wing, this early!
I headed to this nest; turns out the adult had delivered food to the nest and the eaglet followed. I found him or her standing on the nest. After a few minutes that eaglet flew off... Carrying something!
Landed on top of a tree, sat there complaining. Then finally ate what he or she had been carrying from the nest: a fish!

This I had never seen before.

I'm looking at my nest survey notes from last 2 years. Last year there were two eaglets, and one was branching when I visited on June 24. The year before, one eaglet, already flying but still making nest visits on July 10. Definitely an early nest but this seems really early.

Photos will follow.

[winterwren]

Here's that eaglet flying with typical fledgling elegance...   
This is photographed from near the Little Tribune nest.

July 1, 9:43



As I approached Nest 25, the adult had left the nest and was perched nearby.
9:47



There was an eaglet on the nest, and at first I didn't know if it was the same one I had seen flying.
Something is clinging to his beak.
9:50


To be continued!

[Tigerlady105]

Excellent documentation of a need for flying lessons!   

[winterwren]

Well his flying wasn't all that bad, it turned out, Tigerlady...

While I scanned the surrounding trees for a second eaglet, this one took off. I just caught him with the corner of my eye and at first I though he had some nest material snagged on his talons.

I found him again in a nearby tree and saw he had carried something on purpose...
A fish!
July 1st, 9:53 am



He then sat there, not eating, complaining loudly, for 3 whole minutes, until one of the adults showed up.
This looks to me like the perfect teenaged eagle's hissy fit:
9:56



"Monster Eaglet" pose...



Parent just stands there, looking stoic...
9:57



...Then eventually has had enough.

[winterwren]

Surprise, surprise...
After the adult leaves, the eaglet suddenly becomes capable of eating on his own!
July 1st, 9:59 am



Partway through, though, the tail end of his fish is hanging precariously...
10:01



... And soon drops to the ground below with a big splat.
This is up the bluffs, out of my reach, so I can't do anything about it.
Someone might have a strange surprise while mowing the lawn.
There is still some fish left, though, and the eaglet eats it all.




Still perched on the same tree but I have moved to a different viewpoint now that he's done eating.
One last photo before I walk on to the Dunlop nest.
10:20

[jeavverhey]

That is an amusing series of photos Wren - thanks for the smiles - when I was helping at MARS there was a sparrow that behaved like that when the student intern was present - s/he squawked endlessly until she  went outside and then suddenly ate his mealy worms.

[Tigerlady105]

   Nice photos and report, Wren.   

[winterwren]

On my return from Dunlop Point, the eaglet had changed perches and still had a lot to say...

July 1st, 11:17