Dale Matson
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Before I visited the nest again we
got a significant amount of rain over several days. I was concerned for the
eggs and the adults who would have to sit on the eggs under such horrible
conditions.
The next trip up I became even more
concerned when it appeared that the Golden was spread over much of the nest. I
could make nothing of it and hoped that the bird was simply brooding the chicks
that may have been newly hatched. I had one flyover by the other adult and
decided to leave.
I was concerned as I made my next
trip that had become a twice a week visit. Would the nest be empty? Did the adult
die and buzzards clean things up?
When I got there, the adult flew
from the nest and as I sat down to photograph the nest, two white balls could
be seen with unaided eyes. The two eggs were now two chicks. They moved around
the nest on unsteady legs and I got both photos and somewhat shaky video. I was
really excited and could barely wait to get back to tell Sharon about the new
chicks. There were two new Golden Eagle chicks and the previous visit was
probably the adult brooding the new chicks in the cool morning air. At that
point in their lives, the chicks were not able to thermoregulate.
My next trip up, I included a
tripod for video. This added another 3 pounds to an already heavy camera bag,
water, spare batteries and food. The area along the lake has almost continuous
winds which is why the Goldens like it there. They are able to soar on the
updrafts and glide for minutes at a time. I was also impressed with how they
could weave their way through the trees at near ground level looking for
squirrels, rabbits and other land animals. I have seen them down by the lake
going after the coots too. Unlike bald eagles, the goldens generally are not
fish eaters. As I tried to video the chicks, the wind kept moving my tripod
around so I decided to try my video attempts hand holding the camera and lens
and eliminate the tripod from the pilgrimage.
Sharon usually comes up with me
once a week and on this particular occasion, I took a few preliminary photos to
make sure my camera settings were optimal. We were now going there in the early
morning to avoid the heat as the season progressed. As I reviewed my photos, I
looked and looked again. I said to Sharon, “Is it possible we missed seeing one
of the chicks all this time?” She said that I must be looking at nest debris.
We left our customary location to
get a little closer and sure enough, there was a third white fuzzy chick about
two thirds the size of the other two chicks. We then surmised that this was a
runt, hatched later but we never noticed a third egg. Maybe it was in an area
of the nest we couldn’t see. Well, we were now hoping this chick would survive
also.
When we returned home, I reviewed
all my photos which were accumulating at an alarming rate (I had to buy a
separate 256 gig USB memory stick for just the golden eagle photos). I had even
deleted the poor shots. No, there was no prior evidence of a third chick. Well,
the odds were against the chick since most of the time only two eagles survive
to fledge.
It also concerned me that I had
only seen the remains of an animal on the nest once. It seemed like all the
YouTube videos had golden eagle nests littered with various and sundry animals
partially eaten. I was hoping the chick would not become emergency rations for
the larger two chicks. And yet….it still bothered me that we had not seen this
third chick before.
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