Today's Wildlife Highlight!

[RedGinger]

Thanks, everyone! It was so cool. I will always carry my camera with me, now. You never know what you will see when you live in such a wild place. We've seen two bobcats together, bear, lots of cool birds, and now the eagle, up close. I like the Herons and Osprey too, Eileen. As someone said, you can't help but feel patriotic when you see one of these majestic birds.

 

[RedGinger]

Eileen, when we have the windows open, we always hear hawks cry as they fly by. Haven't caught a picture of one, yet.

 

[towhead]

Great pictures!

The Canadian Geese brought their little yellow fluff balls out yesterday! They are precious! -Julie

 

[RedGinger]

Thanks, Julie. I enjoy your wildlife pictures a lot! P.S. Sorry your little bottle has taken so long. What with gas, transportation, etc., it's taken me awhile. It should be there very soon. [] And I can't wait for you to get it!

 

[RedGinger]

Thinking back on it, this eagle looked big enough to be a small child, sitting up in that tree. Any other bird, I may not have noticed. I'm glad I had Joe with me to help me make the identification and do the driving.

 

[randgrithr]

We have an eyrie-style nest at the top a gigantic tree in our backyard which was first noticed late this winter, but I am not sure who's living in there yet. There was some ruckus a couple of weeks ago, so I think it was "newlyweds" having a good time. []

So far the only other sign of potential raptors has been the discovery of half a squirrel on the front lawn, some starling nestling carcasses out in the cul de sac, a dead mouse here and there... much as I love birds of prey, I wish they weren't such messy eaters. [:'(]

We are on Long Island Sound so the yearling eagle was doing great with all the fish he could get locally, but they decided to re-home him upstate because as he'd get older, a bird with an eight foot wingspan would need a lot more food than can be found in suburbia, and might have easily carried off someone's cat or small dog. Also would likely present a tempting target for poachers. All the same I miss having an eagle around.

Eileen

 

[RedGinger]

ORIGINAL: randgrithr

We have an eyrie-style nest at the top a gigantic tree in our backyard which was first noticed late this winter, but I am not sure who's living in there yet. There was some ruckus a couple of weeks ago, so I think it was "newlyweds" having a good time. []

So far the only other sign of potential raptors has been the discovery of half a squirrel on the front lawn, some starling nestling carcasses out in the cul de sac, a dead mouse here and there... much as I love birds of prey, I wish they weren't such messy eaters. [:'(]

We are on Long Island Sound so the yearling eagle was doing great with all the fish he could get locally, but they decided to re-home him upstate because as he'd get older, a bird with an eight foot wingspan would need a lot more food than can be found in suburbia, and might have easily carried off someone's cat or small dog. Also would likely present a tempting target for poachers. All the same I miss having an eagle around.

Eileen

That's so cute! We have a little Wren house, here. My mom found it in the woods and gave it to me. Joe renovated it this year, as some animal got into their nest and took a couple boards and who knows what else out of there [][] I thought it would be funny to put a sign out front, "For Wrent!".

I always worried about foxes and owls when I had outdoor cats. Good thing mine are all indoors now, as we live in an area with so many predators. You can hear the coyotes yipping and calling at night.

Good thing they re-located your eagle on both counts. Poachers infuriate me. We have a bullet hole or two in the garden shed from idiots who can't read no trespassing signs. I know the deer and bear populations need to be kept under control (even though we are encroaching on their areas), but I think some of those traps are really inhumane. We also have some beavers that have decided to come onto land. Luckily, I have not seen them. Those, we can't do much about until we have permission, I think. Nevertheless, it doesn't help when I go out to sunbathe and get teased that they are going to come after me! They have a reputation for being very mean.

Oh, we also have fisher cats that are on the comeback. Those, I do not want to run into!!

 

[swizzle]

Here's my latest run in with wildlife. Can you see her?

Here's what she's guarding.

She made her nest right on our deck railing under our rhododendron. She's getting use to us running up and down the stairs and now she doesn't fly away unless we poke around the bush a little too close. I took the pic about a foot away. I know she's a long way from a magestic eagle but I thought she was still worth sharing. I'll post pics of the chicks when they hatch too. Swiz

 

[RedGinger]

Really cool. Can't wait to see the hatchlings. What's her name?

 

[swizzle]

Uh....Robin the robin?!?