24/7 protection required for the nest.
Earlier this week, there was some nice action at the nest. The female was sitting on some eggs and the male flew in with soft material for inside the nest.
Then late in the day yesterday I was there again.
As the day was ending, after 40 minutes of waiting to see if Papa eagle would return to the nest, finally he arrived and settled in a tree down the way. Suddenly he began to squawk as did the partner in the nest.
Here was the reason: not one but two juvenile eagles, possibly their own offspring from the year before, were arriving. He flew to a tree closer to the nest and the two young ones perched right in the same tree.
A few minutes later yet another juvenile arrived, this one older and perhaps only a year from being an “adult” eagle. You can see that the head is nearly all white and the tail feathers are also turning white. This one also landed on the tree but far enough from the others that I couldn’t get them all in my viewfinder at once.
Till now, the eagle in the tree was just squawking, but finally he (or so we thought) returned to the nest. As soon as this eagle reached the nest, the other (which we now know was actually the male) flew out to chase the others off. (The male has a ring on his foot, which is how we can tell.) There was a lot of eagle action for the next several minutes, coming and going, but the light was nearly gone. Nonetheless, it was really interesting and fun to watch.
