 Love Bonds - Bald Eagle Pair
Photo and linked video used here with permission and courtesy of Friends of Big Bear Valley. Click on the photo to watch the web camera. www.friendsofbigbrearvalley.org
It may be cold outside, but love is in the air... and has been for quite some time for Bald Eagles. This pair at Big Bear Valley, within the San Bernardino National Forest in Southern California, have had eggs to protect since January 25. Click on the photo above to watch the eagle nest web camera courtesy of Friends of Big Bear Valley. Or view both the nest camera and wide-angle camera at their website - www.friendsofbigbearvalley.org/
In Maine, February is considered the pre-nesting period in which pairs engage in courtship flights, repair and add on to their nest, and have increased sensitivity to the area around it. I will never forget the day long ago, in Boulder, CO, where I was a ranger on patrol, having the luck and privilege to see two bald eagles in a courtship display - together, they flew high into the air and then grasped each other's talons and flung themselves into a whirling cartwheel freefall. They let go of each other before coming too close to the trees and ground, then raced back into the sky to repeat the display. I was mesmerized and sure I was standing mouth agape in awe all the while... collecting flies, as we say here in Maine!
Learn about Maine's Bald Eagles - how to identify them as immatures and adults, their natural history and nesting ecology, and the success story of Maine's Bald Eagle recovery at this Maine Inland Fisheries and Wildlife
Bald Eagle webpage.
Happy Nature Watching!
Jocelyn
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