Two Falcons

First is the male Peregrine at a territory up the Blackfoot flying around yesterday with a partially eaten coot. As Peregrines almost always catch birds in the air, I wonder how he caught a "mudhen" that always dives underwater. A mystery. Then a male kestrel from this morning, snapshot while out on my quest for nests. By the way, Jay Sumner of Montana Peregrine Institute found 3 new Peregrine territories in the last 3 days in the field- Blackfoot, Bitterroot and Clark Fork. Way to go!

Fish and Chicks

Fast Food

Inspection of dozens of photos and all I can think of this greyish mass that it's roadkill of some sort, a large mammal's viscera. This was the first of three deliveries in about 30 minutes, three chicks visible in the nest. Yummy.

Last Night's Beach Party

More on the way, feeding chicks...roadkill, I think.

Hi, Kids

Fish On a Friday

I have a photo of the female feeding the young slivers of fish and finally a delivery by the male. It looks like a sucker, minus the head. They really do target these "trash" or non-game fish, trout anglers. The water is still fairly clear, but spring run-off and murky water is just around the corner making fish-catching in the river tough. More squirrels on the menu.

Three, Count 'Em!

You could probably hear my shout, "Three!" last evening at feeding time. And careful scrutinizing of the images makes me think she was feeding them fish; not the usual ground squirrel. The male flew in to the nest tree and she resumed her household chores. This should mean three times the food deliveries and activities compared to last year. I'm lucking out.

The Whole Crew

The delegates from the International Wildlife Film Festival today in a little tour, thanks to our best pal, Adrian Caddy! Might be time to bust out the Canon GL and make some more little films, with such an inspirational crew. IWFF the rest of the week at the Roxy Theater in Missoula.

Tonight

Captions, Anyone?

I posted this on Facebook, and apparently a fun pastime is to caption photos.  We got: "You put your left foot in..." "So ya wanna talk about it...on my terms?!" and "Ahhhhh..."

One Squirrel, Coming Right Up

 One chick's head is just visible on the left of the nest. He brought in a couple Columbian Ground Squirrels last night!

TWO Chicks!

Proof - and two chicks in the eagle nest with tonight's first image of the year's young, just one photo of both out of dozens taken. I saw the female feeding somebody morsels of ground squirrel but had no idea what would show up in the photo, shooting from across the river. Chick number two just briefly showed himself for this shot.

Quick Trip

Barry Gordon and I beat a hasty retreat from Missoula yesterday and drove/boated to his cabin at Flathead Lake on Wildhorse Island. He was doing a quick check on things, making sure no porcupines (or vandals) had broken in over the winter and all was perfect. And, there waiting for us was "his" Osprey in the nest, apparently it WAS her when he whistled from the dock and over she came! Halleluya and a long, long journey from the wintering grounds to the same summer haunts year after year. I'm heading back very soon, with more time to get some shots when the male shows up. Or a new male, which may also be obvious if he doesn't respond to Barry's whistle. You can learn more about this nest on our Blog from last August. Exciting times.

Said, Time and Time Again

"How many Bald Eagle photos do you need?" by Tom Davis. The second from tonight, female splitting the scene for a little while: