The bald eagles who raised their single young this year have left my backyard nest and so has their eaglet. But their nest has gone as well. Compared to previous years, it looked pretty crumbly this past season. I wonder if this fall they will return to build it again.
I remember well the lucky photo I took one Halloween Day a few years ago of one of the adults flying past my kitchen window carrying a long limb of Scotch broom in its talons to renovate the nest. I called it my Eagle Witch on its Broomstick. So perhaps one or both eagles will return this fall to build a new nest from ‘scratch’ because the fork between the two main branches of the tree is totally empty.
David Hancock recently told me that he is spending this fall driving around collecting and delivering nest materials for eagles in similar circumstances where he lives on the Lower Mainland.
Meanwhile where I live on Vancouver Island the eagles have gone but a big bunch of squawking crows sweep daily back and forth over my backyard lawn and adjoining beach for social get togethers on the otherwise empty nest tree branches where a short time ago this year’s eaglet was practising its wing exercises. “Stone the crows” is how many of my fellow Aussies feel about this colourful busy body of a bird but crows do have a colourful vocabulary – a raucous mix of croaks and gargles. Click Here for American Crow Sounds
Meanwhile, adding to the drama, turkey vultures explode into the sky from the tops of neighbouring trees and make patterns in the sky – circling, gliding, hovering – riding the thermals before heading south to winter in California and Mexico.
After Meow my beloved cat got her cheek and back bloodied by an eagle (I presume) earlier this spring, she has now taken up residence in the cool tall grasses behind the neighbour’s garage. I don’t know if she is escaping the eagles or the unusual heat. A bit of both I bet.
Watch out for a future blog on my beloved feral cat Meow who one day many years ago caught a rat by my outside chimney – and stayed – to now eat with me in the kitchen and sleep on my hands at the computer when I try to work.
