A Five Eagle Day
Last week, we had a “One Hit Wonder.“ We drove the entire Waterville North route and saw ONE Red-tailed Hawk. That was it!
Today, we started out on the Mansfield route with a very thick cloud cover and intermittent snow. In fact, the light was so flat and the weather so bad, we didn’t get any photos worth sharing. We wondered how the day would go. Ultimately, it turned out to be rather productive.
Our route starts up at the corner of the Bridgeport Hill Road and the N. Mansfield Road (locally known as Oil Road). We usually stop there and scan the trees across the road in the West Foster Creek Wildlife Area. This morning, the scan produced a Bald Eagle, an American Kestrel (AMKE), and a Red-tailed Hawk (RTHA). Not bad!
Terry Hayes Road is a short 1 1/3 mile road off of Highway 17 that usually has some interesting birds. The past couple of years we have seen a Great Horned Owl deep in the thicket of a Russian Olive tree. This year we have not seen him. However, the top of a fence post, practically invisible in the snow, yielded an AMKE and at the top of the basalt cliff we spotted an adult Bald Eagle.
We exited Terry Hayes Road and turned east on Highway 17. The next 11 1/2 miles are a rather intense drive. Highway 17 is a well traveled road with 18-wheelers that charge ahead like there is no tomorrow. There is no place to pull over and scan the countryside, and if you want to slow down to observe something, you keep your eyes wide open and on the road. No one is going to slow down for you! In spite of the necessity of being alert and quick, we picked up one RTHA, four AMKEs, and one Rough-legged Hawk (RLHA) on that stretch.
Towards the end of our route we went south of Mansfield towards the north shore of Jameson Lake. By that time it was snowing a significant amount. In spite of the snow, we saw two AMKEs, a Northern Harrier, and four Rough-legged Hawks (RLHA). As we turned around down by the lake to come back, we glanced over at some of the power lines going through the valley. There, sitting on a crossbar almost obliterated by the snow, was a pair of Golden Eagles. One was decidedly bigger than the other, so we figured it must be the pair that have the nest in the basalt above Bennett Lake. It was snowing quite heavily, but a photograph with a 500 mm lens confirmed the ID of the two birds.
So, these two Golden Eagles, along with the two adult Bald Eagles we saw earlier and an additional adult Golden about 3 miles north of Mansfield, equaled a Five Eagle Day. Most rewarding!
Today’s Survey:
Red-tailed Hawk (RTHA) 2
American Kestrel (AMKE) 9
Northern Harrier (NOHA) 1
Bald Eagle (BAEA) 2
Golden Eagle (GOEA) 3
Rough-legged Hawk (RLHA) 5