When I visited the Pacific Northwest I said it rained all the time and I got zero photos. It did rain the whole time. But zero was an exaggeration. I got these.
Out birding (in the rain), I came across a young eagle. Probably a teenager as eagles go. Very nervous, craning his neck, looking all around. I soon learned why.
As he flew over later….Wham! An adult attacked from above and both plummeted toward the ground crashing through the trees. By the time I got there the young one was high tailing it. But straight up was a pair of adults making tight circles and calling....a little eagle happy dance.
Eagles take a long time raising their young. The babies grow fast and fledge early, but they don’t know how to fend for themselves. At all. For a long time. So the parents have to spend all their time feeding otherwise full grown birds. Sometimes for months. Then as the young birds mature they start harassing the parents and stealing their food. The adults of course finally do get tired of this.
So I think this young bird was ready to go but had a pretty cushy life in the nest freeloading off his parents. And as all young eagles do had grown surly and obnoxious.
Now I consider myself a well-qualified expert and it seems pretty obvious what was going on here. They were simply trying to persuade the kid to get his own apartment.
No, no, no. I don’t mean I'm a bird expert. Goodness no. I'm talking about helping raise four kids. Trust me on this. It’s nature’s way. : )
Bird-Call Bonus: Scrabble words made from fledge :)
