Pride Goeth Before the Spring

I was nest watching from Eastwood Lake today and saw something that I thought was interesting. At about 1:45 PM a juvenile bald eagle emerged from behind the trees along the Mad River west of Harshman Road. I watched him as he flew across Harshman and began flying above Blue Lake heading towards Huffman Dam. I was wondering if it might be Pride as he flew by. When he was about 1/4 of the way over the lake I noticed either Jim or Cindy dropping from high out of the clear blue sky directly above the juvenile. When they were around 70 feet apart the juvenile sheared off towards Route 4 and the adult sheared off towards the nest.

I have seen the adults aggressively chasing off other passing eagles lately so I am thinking that the juvenile may indeed have been Pride and got the message from Mom or Dad. The lack of aggression on the adult’s part seemed to indicate that it was not really seeing the familiar juvenile as a threat. Jim and Cindy will become more aggressive towards him but after repeated shooing-offs the now 11-month-old eagle may lose interest in his parents and relocate or simply wander away.

Incidently, I have met many eagle enthusiasts at the lake lately. If you are one of them, welcome to the blog. If you are not, thank you for hanging out with us here. With the new eaglets in March and warmer, sunnier and less windy (it was gusty again today) weather approaching, I hope to meet many more soon.