FEBRUARY BIRDS

 

   

This is  E-9, the local Eaglet  – 56 days old and almost  as big as its parents.  And almost ready to hop out of the nest.

When it first leaves the nest, the eaglet will spend several days doing short test flights  to a nearby perch in the same tree and then returning  to the safety of home.  (This is called branching).    The parents will still bring food to the nest during this stage, because it will be a while before the eaglet is able to fly far enough to catch its own food.  These days, there are always a lot of photographers at the Pasture or at the churchyard next to it .  Everybody wants the perfect first branching picture.    

 

 

 

 Here's dad (at least according to one of the other watchers — I have never learned to tell the male and female apart).   He was on watch duty on Saturday morning when I stopped by– keeping an eye on Junior in the nest below and possibly modeling branching behavior for it.

 

 

 

 I was happy to see this Kestrel Hawk occupying the same snag where  I photographed  him a couple of weeks ago, the last time I stopped at the pasture.  Not only because I got better pictures  but also because I mis-identified it before and this gives me a chance to correct my error and thank the birders who helped me get it right.

    

We went for a nature walk at Lakes Regional Park one day last week.  The Anhinga below wasn't the prettiest bird we saw that morning, but it was very interesting watching it work for its dinner:

 

 

We saw it dive for that fish and then perform quite a dance spearing it and tossing it to keep a good hold on it, all the while swimming for shore, where it may have had a nest.

 

 

 

 It doesn't show up very well against that old log, but the fish is still in its beak in the above picture.   

 

This is the way we usually see these birds  … perched on a log, drying out their wings.   Anhingas don't have natural oils in their feathers, the way ducks and most water birds do, so they have to air dry them.

 

 

Linking this week to SATURDAY CRITTERS; OUR WORLD; ALL SEASONS; MOSAIC MONDAY; NATURE NOTES; WILD BIRD WEDNESDAY; and WEDNESDAY WATERS;  Thank you to all of the gracious and generous hosts.