American Bald Eagles

Any day you see an eagle is a very good day.

~Frank Leonard

Truer words were never spoken, thank you Frank. We are fortunate to have an increase in the bald eagle population in our region and there are several nests that are actively incubating right now. My hubby and I went to two of them today and we were able to observe one eagle on each nest, each tending to incubating duties. I was hoping I would observe an incubation duty exchange or a feeding, but was happy just to be able to see one of these regal birds on the nest. The pictures below are of a nest that has been active for over ten years now, some people tell me it's actually been as many as twenty years. Although the nest is fairly close to the road it is within a state game lands and the area is restricted to all but authorized personnel, which keeps the area close to the nest relatively undisturbed. There is also an abundant food source including fish in the creek that runs below the nest. In spring the creek is swollen, attracting many migrating and resident waterfowl that are fair game for the eagles.

In a couple of months from now the nest won't even be visible from the road as the leaves fill in.

This red-tailed hawk was soaring near the nest looking around the game lands for its next meal.I don't think that the eagles' nest near my home will be active this year. Tom Wasilewski from the Presque Isle Audubon Society Eagle Watch Program thinks that there might be another nest further up the creek. I think he may be right because the eagles are still being seen up there. We are trying to get permission from the landowners to go further up the creek. I'll let you know if we find anything:)

Toni and I will bringing you more information about the local eagles on our new blog, Presque Isle, Naturally. The eagles' nest that is on Presque Isle does not appear to be active at this time but we are not giving up hope yet.

Wild Wednesday at Presque Isle

It was a sunny but chilly day on Presque Isle when I headed down to test drive my knee and search for all the wonderful waterfowl and other wildlife people had been reporting on the park. I was not disappointed, by my knee or the wildlife, like the pair of ring-necked ducks above.

A handsome male ring-necked duck, head held high.
This is a great black-backed gull in flight. The great black-backed is the largest gull in the world. Presque Isle is lucky to host this gull as well as the smallest gull in the world, the little gull during migration.

A pair of turkey hens trotting to catch up with the flock.

The resident great horned owl appears to be incubating in the same snag as last year.Perhaps the highlight of my trek was seeing this immature bald eagle scare up a large raft of ducks and swans.

As I sit here now posting this, looking out my window at the sunny day, I wish I were back at Presque Isle. Then I think, how could I share this beautiful place if I weren't sitting here posting this? There will be more sunny days as spring draws nigh and more good fortune to share.

Stay tuned to more highlights of Presque Isle as Toni and I debut a new blog, Presque Isle, Naturally where we will both share our adventures at Presque Isle and introduce guest contributors who share our passion for Presque Isle.

Pontooning on Pymatuning

As many of you know, May is the height of spring migration at Presque Isle State Park. I've tried to get down there as much as possible this month but couldn't make it Sunday as my hubby and I had made plans with friends to head out to Linesville Marina. We rented a pontoon boat and motored out onto Pymatuning Lake. I was a little bummed that I couldn't get out to PISP but not for long after I saw what Pymatuning had in store for us. First, as we were heading out towards the spillway I spotted an immature bald eagle in a tree in the distance. My boatmates indulged my request to head closer to the eagle. Of course, he took off once we got a little too close. We followed him to his next post and it must've been his lunch time because he dove from his perch and caught a nice fat sun fish. I was able to get a couple of decent shots but naturally would've preferred to be closer.

After about an hour or so on the boat we docked to have some dinner on the Ohio side of Pymatuning. Just as we finished I saw what I thought was an owl fly up from the roadside into a tree. "No way!," I thought to myself, "an eagle and an owl?!" Of course, I had my binos with me and was able to see the back end of what I thought must be a barred owl. After spouting an expletive, I got up and walked the 100 feet across the park and street and into the woods to find the owl. Did I mention I have very understanding friends and family? After several minutes of searching in the dense underbrush I flushed the owl out. I was able to watch him fly away but did not see where he was headed. I tramped through the woods several yards and noticed an owl box high up in a tree above me...and just several more yards away sat...the barred owl!! I was not at a good angle to see his face or get a photo so I hiked a little deeper into the woods out around him to get a shot from the other side. He was actually quite cooperative and posed for many shots. Knowing my family and friends were probably ready to shove off I headed back to the picnic table. I showed them the shots I had gotten and encouraged them to come up and see the owl. My hubby and daughter obliged and got a good look at the handsome owl. Naturally, as long as I was there I took a few more shots.

We did shove off after that and we saw many more cool things including some common terns, cormorants, and many ring-billed gulls. We had a terrific time with our friends, Barb, Ed, Rick and Christine, oh, and of course, Zena. My grandson Emory (aka The Firstmate) proved himself a worthy seaman and actually walked a little better on the boat than on dry land!