My Favorite Eagle nest came down!!!

[EricD]

Worried about the high winds yesterday I cruised out to my favorite Eagle Nest. Found them all perching and enjoying the fish pop's just brought in. Shortly after I left my friend called me to tell me that the tree split in the upper section and the nest came down.
Juveniles have been rescued by the Audubon Society and are doing well. Should be able to bring them back to this location in a few weeks for release. Went by again late last night and found the Adult's flying real low looking for the young...quite a tragic event!

I will keep ya updated.........




Early morning during the wind.........

One of the Juvi's getting so close to flight......Lucky they were able to flutter down to the ground during the fall

As you can see this tree was in bad shape and we new this day was coming..20 feet of tree is missing from the break you see here......

 

[BAmereihn]

with the beauty nature comes the tragedy of nature

 

[sinjans]

Thats very sad to say the least. Is that a dead chick in the photo? Sad

 

[EricD]

Thats very sad to say the least. Is that a dead chick in the photo? Sad

No...both Eaglets survived with minimal injury. What you see is part of the food that was in the nest...that was a dead Coot, there were also 3 large fish as well.
Audubon will contact me when they bring the young one's back to release and reunite with the Adults. That will truly be a Kodac moment!

 

[Overread]

Very sad, but at least only the nest and tree were lost

Out of interest how do you expect the parents to respond to the return of their young? If it were only a few hours away I could understand them being quite accepting but after a few weeks would they see them as their young or as competition in their territory?
I take it the young are being kept now to ensure that they remain safe until they can fly

 

[farmerj]

we lost our eagle nest last year. Rather harsh to see.

 

[EricD]

Very sad, but at least only the nest and tree were lost

Out of interest how do you expect the parents to respond to the return of their young? If it were only a few hours away I could understand them being quite accepting but after a few weeks would they see them as their young or as competition in their territory?
I take it the young are being kept now to ensure that they remain safe until they can fly

Yes I am confident! 2 years back (the same nest) one of the Eaglets fell out during a wind storm as well (about same age). Audubon rescued him and brought him back 3 weeks later and the Juvi joined the family right away.
The Audubon does this a lot and the feel confident all will re-unite. The Adults will stay in the area for a couple more months anyway. They will except the juvi's back and begin to teach them to hunt.

Can't wait for the release date!!

 

[sinjans]

Well that quickly turned in to a good news story. Keep us updated if you don't mind.

 

[Shocknawe]

wow thats terrible but at least they survived and should have a good future....so out of curiosity where did you sit to get your shots? Many of yours seem almost eye level so I naturally assumed you were on a bluff somewhere...doesn't look like there's many hills there....let alone the tree being in the middle of a cemetary..

 

[lvcrtrs]

Yeah for the Audubon Society. Glad to hear the resources are available to help the babies.

 

[pbelarge]

Following your posts on the eagles for a while now.

Never knew the shots were from a tree in a grave yard... I always thought you were traveling to a bird sanctuary or some place similar.

I wonder where they will nest next year???

 

[EricD]

wow thats terrible but at least they survived and should have a good future....so out of curiosity where did you sit to get your shots? Many of yours seem almost eye level so I naturally assumed you were on a bluff somewhere...doesn't look like there's many hills there....let alone the tree being in the middle of a cemetary..

Its all in the Geometry! (LOL) Stand back 100 feet and shot with at least a focal length of 500MM. Nest had a low side which made it even easier.

 

[molested_cow]

Well at least the coot has a place in the grave yard!

 

[Art Photographers]

Just cant believe that happened there. Trees snapped in half, power lines snapped in half on my block. Everywhere on the Island trees are uprooted. To think that the whole East coast got effected the same way. Keep us posted Eric! I hope everything goes as planned.

 

[Eco]

Eric, so, my wife wants to go to Florida and while I have family down there I don't really want to go......but I keep seeing your pictures of the eagles. So, I was thinking about going and seeing if I could link up with you on one of your photo shoots of the eagles. Your latest news is horrible....for the eagles....your favorite spot...and well now for me.....oh yeah and the wife.

I feel for your loss! Thumbs up on all of your great work that the eagle nest has helped you with in the past.