Tonight

First an Osprey attack, actually as I was walking down to the beach so grabbed the camera and hand-held. About 20 swoops on the eagle, whew. Then this of a young Bald Eagle, maybe his daughter from last year. It will only get better and the eagle chicks have hatched, feedings of fish. Whew again.

Non-Lead Bullets

Thanks Mike McTee at the MPG Ranch for organizing this demonstration of lead versus non-lead ammunition, and an eye-opener. Friend Chris Parish of The Peregrine Fund and new friend Leland Brown from the Oregon Zoo are perfect partners in demonstrating and describing why the healthy and ethical choice of hunters should be bullets made of copper or other alloys. Ingested lead fragments can remain in the shot quarry and ingesting them is unhealthy for humans and can be lethal for scavengers like raptors. Chris shot various caliber rounds into water traps (brilliant) and ballistic gel so we could see the relatively clean path of copper and the stuff left behind with traditional lead. Made me want to bust out the ole 270!

 

Back at the Beach

The last two evenings on the river behind the house I was positive I would see an Osprey. Reward just before dark last night when an attack ensued. I have a confession - I was so excited and surprised (and rusty at this photography thing) I forgot how to change the crop mode on my Nikon D800 camera. So lots of shots of ospreys cut in half, instead of the wider shots with both birds. And the Osprey was just above the eagle, oh well. Unbelievable and won't happen again. I mean my blunder, not the Osprey attacks.

Cottontail

A happy shot from New Years Day:

Sunday's Delivery

Last night I spent a couple hours in sun then snow squalls and saw the male eagle land on the slough behind me, wary as could be, but had an idea he was picking up some grass to add to the nest. Finally, after 20 minutes this addition.  If all goes right for these two in their 6th nesting season, chicks around the 10th. Cross your fingers.

What a Find!

Out looking for Peregrines yesterday on the Blackfoot River with Jay Sumner of the Montana Peregrine Institute and his dog Flash found half an elk. Okay, front quarter.

March Madness

Falconry Rendezvous

As the ultimate honor, I was a speaker for the Falconry Rendezvous at the Falconry Archives, The Peregrine Fund in Boise. This annual gathering honors those who have passed with a speech and plaque on the Wall of Remembrance. At the evening banquet I was pleasantly surprised when the audience of falconers broke into applause for that full framed photo of young children reacting to the Golden Eagle, Nigel. And even more delighted when they responded to my request to “hoot like an n owl.” Well, most of them anyway. Falconers tend to not enjoy Great Horned Owls as they may kill their cherished hawks or falcons. This was a major highlight and just what the doctor ordered. Here Tom Cade honors our friend John Craighead, and that photo the falconers liked so well:

Raptor Round-Up Holiday Issue

I mean, Easter Edition. Just up and read it here first. I'm only four months late due to the medical crises that started in November.  Like I say on the front page, Many thanks to our Raptor Backers! You rallied even without the end-of-the-year encouragement and we enjoyed extraordinary sponsorship once again. Read about The Raptor Research Foundation Conference, two trips to The Peregrine Fund, iPod on airplane tails, and the longest list of sponsors ever. Lots stuff. And in living color here:

Spring!

Ravens

The female eagle took off after an incubation change of duties and flew with about forty ravens, but couldn't get a photo straight up into the sky just at dark. Actually, didn't even try. That was a view I will never forget, a slow twirl en masse hundreds of feet up, and so mesmerizing, watching for ten minutes.

My First Ground Squirrel Shots!

BAEA

A shot from St. Patrick's Day of a Bald Eagle that begs, "Hurry up, tail molt!"

First Robin

How appropriate that the first Robin in the yard was perched on the Gyrfalcon sculpture. Below is a "slide" I included in my PowerPoint last Saturday at the Falconry Rendezvous in Boise. That's a sketch by Hans Peeters instructing me how to weld that critical ventral area of "cleavage." Got a laugh from the fellow falconers!