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Hello all,
A few years ago one of our neighbors (who has about 5 acres in the middle of town) let a cell phone company put up a tower on his property. It is probably about 500 feet from our house and we were not thrilled about it but we figured we would probably never be hit by lightning again with a lightning rod like that close by.....
Well, shortly after the tower was completed, a pair of bald eagles found it and began nesting there. I was amazed as I was under the impression that they didn't use man made structures to nest in....but there they were, no mistake. They even beat the local ospreys to it. That was also a surprise because around here osprey nests are everywhere, on telephone poles and everything else.
We watched the nest, my husband bought me a highpowerd telescope at a yard sale and I keep it set up just inside our back door. All I have to do is step out the door with the tripod and aim it at the nest. cool. The eagles had been having two babies a year for the last 3 years. Then they leave for the summer. It's that time of year again....the babies arrive in Dec or January and by this time they are fully feathered and flapping their wings up there.
This past Tuesday morning, (my day off so I was sleeping in) my husband came and got me up, saying "you better come look at this". I'm thinking, "ok, the dog did something in the house and I will have to clean it up" but hubby led me through the house to a room whose window looked out on the south side of our back yard.....there sitting on the ground, looking really ticked at the world was a huge baby eagle! The thing had to measure 24 inches tall sitting there less than 6 ft from me. So, the first flight did not go well....
We are so lucky that our 85 lb boxer did not go around the house when he went out to potty that morning....or we would have been on our way to the vet clinic to get him patched up. This bird would have been more than a match for our big dog and it would have been ugly.
After taking a few pics through the window, I called the wild life folks and they said they would be out in about an hour or so. Meanwhile the big bird strutted around our back yard like he owned the place. He hopped up on my bonsai display shelves which are about 4 1/2 feet tall and he didn't appear to be injured in any way. The wild life folks arrived to size up the situation and after seeing where the nest was it was decided that the parents (who would normally look after the chick until it could fly) would probably not come into our yard to feed it. I suggested just taking the chick (it seems so ridiculous to call something that large a "chick") back over to the field below the tower to let the parents do their thing but the lady from wild life rescue thought it would be better to take the eagle back to her place and make sure it wasn't injured, see if it would feed, and then they would release it or take it to the bird of prey rehab in Altimonte Springs. She did promise to let me know what happened but I haven't heard anymore about it.....
So, that was our excitement for the week.
susieq
A few years ago one of our neighbors (who has about 5 acres in the middle of town) let a cell phone company put up a tower on his property. It is probably about 500 feet from our house and we were not thrilled about it but we figured we would probably never be hit by lightning again with a lightning rod like that close by.....
Well, shortly after the tower was completed, a pair of bald eagles found it and began nesting there. I was amazed as I was under the impression that they didn't use man made structures to nest in....but there they were, no mistake. They even beat the local ospreys to it. That was also a surprise because around here osprey nests are everywhere, on telephone poles and everything else.
We watched the nest, my husband bought me a highpowerd telescope at a yard sale and I keep it set up just inside our back door. All I have to do is step out the door with the tripod and aim it at the nest. cool. The eagles had been having two babies a year for the last 3 years. Then they leave for the summer. It's that time of year again....the babies arrive in Dec or January and by this time they are fully feathered and flapping their wings up there.
This past Tuesday morning, (my day off so I was sleeping in) my husband came and got me up, saying "you better come look at this". I'm thinking, "ok, the dog did something in the house and I will have to clean it up" but hubby led me through the house to a room whose window looked out on the south side of our back yard.....there sitting on the ground, looking really ticked at the world was a huge baby eagle! The thing had to measure 24 inches tall sitting there less than 6 ft from me. So, the first flight did not go well....
We are so lucky that our 85 lb boxer did not go around the house when he went out to potty that morning....or we would have been on our way to the vet clinic to get him patched up. This bird would have been more than a match for our big dog and it would have been ugly.
After taking a few pics through the window, I called the wild life folks and they said they would be out in about an hour or so. Meanwhile the big bird strutted around our back yard like he owned the place. He hopped up on my bonsai display shelves which are about 4 1/2 feet tall and he didn't appear to be injured in any way. The wild life folks arrived to size up the situation and after seeing where the nest was it was decided that the parents (who would normally look after the chick until it could fly) would probably not come into our yard to feed it. I suggested just taking the chick (it seems so ridiculous to call something that large a "chick") back over to the field below the tower to let the parents do their thing but the lady from wild life rescue thought it would be better to take the eagle back to her place and make sure it wasn't injured, see if it would feed, and then they would release it or take it to the bird of prey rehab in Altimonte Springs. She did promise to let me know what happened but I haven't heard anymore about it.....
So, that was our excitement for the week.
susieq
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