Bald Eagles

Here's a pair of Bald Eagles I saw at Duke Island Park last week.

Someone said they saw an eagle in a tree along the path I was taking, so I was certainly paying more attention than usual to the trees. I was just about at the point of thinking I had either gone past the eagle without spotting it or the eagle had flown off. That's when I spotted these guys.

I'm pretty sure that the guy had said he saw "an eagle", so seeing 2 of them up in a tree was actually better than I expected. I didn't have the best line of sight in the world, but it still provided a pretty good view of them. I don't know whether the guy only saw the adult eagle (perhaps mistaking the immature eagle for a cluster of leaves/branches), or whether a 2nd eagle landed in the tree after the guy left. I wasn't exactly sure what the darker bird was until I got my binoculars on it.

I have to wonder exactly what was going on here. The tree was on the opposite shore of the Raritan River, so it was a reasonable place for a Bald Eagle to be looking for some fish to eat. But what was a full grown Bald Eagle doing hanging out with an immature eagle? The immature eagle looks too old to be under the care of a parent (I'm going to guess the immature eagle is about 2 years old), and is way too young to be the adult eagle's spouse. Perhaps the adult eagle was indicating that this territory is taken, and that the juvenile should leave? Or maybe the adult eagle has no territory of its own, and these were just 2 eagles checking out the local competition?

The adult flew off down river 1st, and then the immature eagle flew off in roughly the same direction. I headed in that direction myself but failed to spot either of them a 2nd time.

April 4, 2022 at Duke Island Park
Photo 186782144, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Tussock Moth Herd

Image
Some caterpillars are usually seen in large numbers (like Armyworm Moth caterpillars and Eastern Tent Caterpillars ), while most are more solitary. The Milkweed Tussock Moth caterpillars (more about them are here ) seem to be slightly social. I'll sometimes see them alone, but more often I'll see them in groups of 2-9 members. In the 1st picture below, you can see there is a clear size difference in some of these individuals. I'm almost certain the little one in the middle is in an earlier instar than the others (though they lack the colorful tufts of fuzz in their earliest instars). August 31, 2021 at Washington Valley Park Photo 167477945, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) In the picture below, it's clear that these caterpillars don't require a lot of personal space. August 31, 2021 at Washington Valley Park Photo 167477979, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)
Read more

Copper Underwing Caterpillar

Image
I believe this caterpillar to be a Copper Underwing [1]. At least the coloring and the dorsal hump (near the left end of the caterpillar) seem consistent with the Copper Underwing. These caterpillars are not what you'd consider picky eaters; my Caterpillars of Eastern North America describes their diet thusly: Many wooded plants including apple, basswood, blueberry, cherry chestnut, current, grape, greenbrier, hawthorn, hickory, lilac, maple, oak, poplar, raspberry, rhododendron, viburnum, Virginia creeper, and walnut. Wikipedia adds: Ash, privet, honeysuckle, rose, and service trees. That's a pretty wide range of trees and shrubs. One of the challenges of finding them is that they could be almost anywhere; the other challenges are: Their green coloring blends in pretty darned well with the average leaf. They have a habit of feeding underneath leaves, so they're probably not visible when looking down at their location. They have a tendency to move from leaf-to-leaf; if you
Read more

Eastern Pondhawks

Image
I'm going to try something different today with my Eastern Pondhawk pictures. I'm going to let ChatGPT do my blog today. (ChatGPT is an AI program that you can converse with in a pretty human way; an explanation of it is here .) Me:  Can you tell me something interesting about the Eastern Pondhawk? ChatGPT:  The Eastern Pondhawk (Erythemis simplicicollis) is a dragonfly species that is native to North America. It is a medium-sized dragonfly, with a wingspan of about 3 inches, and can be found in a variety of habitats, including wetlands, marshes, and ponds. One interesting characteristic of the Eastern Pondhawk is its mating behavior. Male Eastern Pondhawks are known for their territorial behavior and will defend their territory from other males. They will patrol their territory and will try to mate with any females that fly into their territory. Another interesting fact about the Eastern Pondhawk is that it is a fast flyer and is able to hover in midair. It is also an import
Read more