Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Eagles at the nest

I am linking up with World Bird Wednesday   and Nature Notes

I have to edit this post. I do not want people or birders to think I was close to the nest.  I was standing a good distance away from the nest and I did comment below my photos are cropped for a closer look.  Also, I do not give out nest locations for any bird. I believe the birds can get stressed.

Hubby and I were on our way on Saturday for a hike in one of our favorite Maryland parks when we noticed this eagles nest. Actually, first we noticed the guys with their huge cameras standing in the road looking at the nest. . We got there right when the male eagle was flying off the nest to another tree where it grab a branch and flew back to the nest . 


All these photos have been cropped to get a closer look. The Eagles are a common sight in Maryland and they have made such a great come back. For me seeing the eagles will always be an awesome sight to see. I have been lucky to see both adults and juveniles fly over my yard. Hubby and I have seen the eagles at our lake and flying over the fireroads near our house.




It seemed like the female was directing the male as he moved the tree branches around on the nest. Usually eagles will build their nest in large trees near rivers or the coast. They will use the same nest year after year. If the old nest is damaged from the wind the eagle pair will rebuild the nest within a few weeks near the nesting season. They are territorial and the nesting territory is one to two miles. The eagles will look for a mate around the age of 4 or 5 and will mate for life.





To see more beautiful birds and nature photos from around the world please visit Springman's  World Bird Wednesday   and Michelle's Nature Notes.  Thanks to Springman for hosting World Bird Wednesday and to Michelle for hosting Nature Notes.  I also thank everyone for stopping by to see my post. I hope the rest of your week is great.


62 comments:

Maude Lynn said...

Gorgeous shots! I've only seen an eagle in the wild once, but I'll never forget it.

Linda said...

Wonderful photos! We have an eagle cam at our botanical gardens and have had the opportunity to see them from that. Sadly, the mother was killed by an airplane this spring so the babies had to be moved to a sanctuary to be cared for until they could be released. I have seen them when we were out on the river in our boat also. Always a treat!

Anonymous said...

What an awesome photo opportunity!! So happy you were able to be there. I love the females look in the second photo, kinda like she is a little frustrated with her mate at his placing of the branch! :)

CameraCruise said...

Beautiful shots of the eagles!
Thanks for sharing.
Hope the rest of your week is great too.
Mette

Bob Bushell said...

A phenomenal view of the Eagles in their nest. And, I love your "word verification" SAY NO.

TexWisGirl said...

i am SO jealous! really wonderful, eileen!

Barbara Selkirk said...

Eileen, those photos of eagles are simply amazing and beautiful... Love love love them - what a sight that must have been. Eagles are among the birds I long to see and only get to view them once in a while...thanks for making my afternoon!

Melbourne Australia Photos said...

Wow! What magnificent birds they are!
Well-captured, Eileen.

caite said...

love that first one, with it's wings spread.

Carletta said...

What a wonderful experience for you and great shots to remember it by! I'm so envious. :)

Along These Lines ... said...

Nice shots. You've got a birdseye view

Unknown said...

Great series of shots!! Boom & Gary of the Vermilon River, Canada.

barbara l. hale said...

Great seeing these eagles. It's really good that they are making a comeback.

theconstantwalker said...

Wonderful images of a bird I dream of seeing one day..

Betsy Banks Adams said...

Hi There, OH---I'm just so jealous--I can't stand it... I think I need to move to MD..... There are some here in TN--but I still have never seen one. I have to get my eagle-fix by watching the live camera at Decorah, Iowa... I even get addicted to watching them on my computer!!!!!

Most of my people have taken off Word Verification. Some of the newer ones haven't --and most don't even know what it is or if they have it... Good ole Blogger uses the embedded form (Yuk) and word verification as their default....

Hugs,
Betsy

Sallie (FullTime-Life) said...

Wonderful Eileen. I haven't seen much activity yet at the nest near us.

holdingmoments said...

Such magnificent birds. Great captures.

Kay said...

OMG! What wonder photos of the bald eagles. I have always wanted to see them for real. When Ben was alive and we used to visit the redwood forests of northern California, I always hoped to get a glimpse of them but it never happened.

Nancy said...

Talk about being at the right place at the right time! Awesome photos, Eileen.

PS -- I don't have Photoshop either. I use Pixler.com (a free online photo editor). I have a video tutorial in my sidebar about adding textures in Pixlr. You might want to give it a try. :)

Rohrerbot said...

OOOOOOOOOOO!!! What an incredible find! I would have been hanging out by that tree the entire day:) Lovely series. Thanks for sharing:)

Nadege, said...

Awesome shots.

diane b said...

Wow he has a big twig in his mouth. They build a substantial nest. mate for life...that is nice....I wish humans could manage that more often.
Great shots of a fabulous bird.

Gillian Olson said...

Great shots, I am really surprised, I thought it was way too early for Eagles to be nest building.

Anonymous said...

Great pictures! In which park did you see these eagles? I live in Maryland and have been looking for bald eagles with no luck

mick said...

Great photos of the Eagles. They are majestic birds and you are fortunate to be able to watch them so closely.

Lew said...

Great shots of these homebuilders! I have not seen any close to us.

Elaine said...

Fantastic series of shots! You must have been very excited to catch them building their nest. You don't really realize how huge a nest they make until you see it in person.

BlueShell said...

Lovely pictures!
And yes: those words are terrible...

Kisses, BS

Nature Rambles said...

Wonderful shots! Love them all...especially the one of the eagle landing on the nest.

Kenneth Cole Schneider said...

Nice views of the nest! Our Florida eagles perform a "reverse migration" after nesting season, heading north to your area, especially Chesapeake Bay. They leave here around May or June and return in October.

Karen @ Pieces of Contentment said...

They really are a strong, majestic bird. Must be wonderful them to observe in real life.

jane said...

Beautiful shots of the eagles - are they sea eagles do they eat fish - we have Ospreys quite close to us in Wales on a RSPB site - they are migratory and will arrive in April - Thanks for sharing - Jane UK

Kerri Farley said...

These are SO cool!!

Carver said...

Eileen the shots of the eagles are fantastic. We have a couple of places the eagles nest but I've only seen them on the web cams. Part of the reason is there are so many lakes to walk at near me that I usually don't get it together to go to the eagle nesting sites even though they are only 10 and 20 miles away. I have walked at the two different lakes that have eagles but have never managed to spot the eagles.

Linda said...

wonderful photos of the eagles nest. I just did a post today about word verification,love that image you have and will check into getting it

Jen Sanford said...

Very cool!

Brian King said...

Love those shots, Eileen! I wish we had eagle nests around here. That would be great to see.

Dianne said...

I have never seen an eagle in person
these photos are a treat

Rambling Woods said...

They aren't common near me but I wish they were..Fantastic shots catching the home remodel...I am following one nest online and they are such amazing birds...(thank you for not having the word verification, sometimes I can't read the letters over and over again.)..Michelle

EG CameraGirl said...

Wonderful post, Eileen!

joo said...

Wow, Eilee, these photos are so great that make me a bit envious:)
Hugs
j.

NatureFootstep said...

goreous shots. I love seeing them as I never seen a nest in the real world.

laurak/ForestWalkArt :) said...

wow eileen!! those are GREAT eagle shots!! especially the first one... landing in the nest!! awesome!

Anonymous said...

How exciting to see this. Great shots of the eagle pair on the nest.

Phil Slade said...

A wonderful bird to have so close to home Eileen. Just a walk away, you are so lucky. Great shots too.

Reena said...

Such awesome captures! Last year I followed the Decorah Iowa Eagles webcam as they laid their eggs until they flew off! Their webcam is on 24/7 so it was so easy to follow. Many schools were doing the same.

Chris said...

Wow very nice message Eileen! The pictures of the eagle at the nest are swonderful! I would love to enjoy that kind of encounter but it is strictly forbidden here to get close to nest.

ShySongbird said...

Wonderful captures of magnificent birds, Eileen. What a privilege to see them close to home. Something I can guarantee will never happen to me ;-)

I also loved the photo of the Woodpecker on the previous post and the beautifully colourful Pine Warbler.

Your hiking pal is just gorgeous, I do enjoy seeing her :-)

Springman said...

Wonderful shots Eileen. It is a constant temptation to creep up to close to get an exceptional picture. I have been guilty.
You have had a wonderful experience here. Thank you for sharing!

Anonymous said...

What beautiful captures, amazing, such wonderful photos of nature.

Unknown said...

I appreciate all your comments and I will always try to return the favor and visit your blog.
Have a great day, Latest Nature Pictures

Stewart M said...

Hi there - great pictures - pretty clear they have been cropped, unless of course you have a NASA lens on your camera body - shame somebody had to moan about disturbance.

Cheers - Stewart M

Mary Howell Cromer said...

You did great with these images Eileen. I have a pair some 45 minutes away, have not gone yet this season. It will be neat if you can keep up with this nest and share updates...a great experience to witness these wonderful events in nature

tiptoethruphylsgarden.blogspot.com said...

You are so lucky to be able to see them!Wonderful pictures!Most of my photos are cropped & enlarged too.I`m going to get that no word verification too when I have time.Waiting for granddaughter`s arrival today,will get not much posting done today,phyllis

Nancy said...

Wow! These are amazing shots, Eileen. Congratulations on capturing these marvelous birds. Blessings.

Diane Writes said...

Fantastic! I enjoyed each picture Eileen!

Autumn Belle said...

Great shots of nature. Love the bright skies and bird pictures!

eden said...

Great captures of the eagle. Wish I can see them in the wild too.

aurbie said...

Great job on those eagles. Super-Wow!

aurbie said...

Know what you mean about not giving location. I use a telephoto lens to photograph ospreys. There is limit in Maryland as to how close you can get to their nests, but most people don't know about the limits. I wish the DNR would post limits near nests on the water. They certainly know where they roost.

betty-NZ said...

Thanks for sharing such a stately bird!

Celeste said...

Eagles and people are the same it seems - female directs the male where to move the furniture! :)
Great photos.

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