Adding to the Nest

I happened to be watching the eagle nest this morning and was treated to getting pics of them adding another piece to it. I can see the nest from two locations and both are fairly far away. Our guess is that the nest is probably at least 600 to 800 feet away from the two vantage points. So, even with my long lens, the photos are a bit grainy. I still enjoy watching them and sharing what I see.

I watched one of the eagles take off. I did my best to track him through the trees.

He (or she) came out into the open and then turned back toward the nest.

He flew straight at a dead tree and without slowing down, he grabbed the end of a dead branch. I heard a loud crack as he snapped off a long piece and continued on through the trees back to the nest.

He appeared to land with it exactly where he wanted it.

The other eagle flew back into the tree just above the nest. They seemed quite pleased and continued to guard their magnificent home.

Birds coming back to Ding

It was great to see a few more birds hanging around at Ding this morning. It won’t be long before the white pelicans return, too!

Our bird expert friend, Hugh, will need to tell me what type of bird this is below. It was in a tree across the street from our home. I don’t know if it is juvenile Great Egret or Little Blue Heron in its white phase or maybe even a Reddish Egret in the white phase. I think it is a juvenile bird, though!

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Eagles 10-11-18

Latest photos of the eagle nest!

I was busy trying to get a shot of the eagle in the nest. I looked at the photo on the back of the camera and saw the second eagle hiding up to the left on a branch!

So, I changed to a different location to get a better angle on the second eagle. It put me farther away, but with the long lens, I was still able to get a photo.

Ding, Pond Apple Trail and Bailey Tract

We hit three good places to see wildlife on the island this weekend. While I didn’t get any great photos, I found several different species to photograph.

I heard something overhead on Pond Apple Trail. It took me a couple of minutes to actually see this big guy. He blended in pretty well.

We couldn’t see his tail, but his body was at least 3 ft. long. Since their tails are always long, I’d have to say he was at least 5 ft. or more.

This female Anhinga flew from a fence post to the top of a tree nearby just so I could get a better pic! ;-)

The little Anhinga below seemed fairly small. It made me think it might be a young one.

It wasn’t scared and seemed pleased to pose for a closeup!

When a butterfly lands on the ground in front of you, of course you take a photo.

We were on our bikes at Pond Apple Trail, when we looked up and saw 2 adult Eagles fly by and land in a tree probably about half of a mile away. Then, we saw two juvenile eagles flying around. By the time I could get my camera out of the backpack, these were the only pics I could get. And we were just too far away to get good photos! But, when you see 4 Bald Eagles at one time, you take pics anyway!!

The first pic is of the 2 juvenile eagles flying above the tree.

One of the juveniles landed awkwardly in the tree above the adults as the other one flew on out of our sight.

The Bailey Tract was closed for a few weeks for work to be done for marsh restoration. Now that it is open, hopefully we will start to see more wildlife returning after the weeks of disruption. We saw this pretty Tri-Colored Heron amongst the new plugs of marsh grass.

My husband spotted this small gator in the weeds/water along the side of the path.

Our drive through Ding yesterday morning was pretty uneventful. But, I snapped a couple of pics. You can see the transmitter on the back of this Reddish Egret.