Sitting Tight

Dale Matson

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Golden Guard

For the time being, everyone seems to be “sheltering in place” including the eagles in the several nests that I am keeping track of. At this point, I would say we are about 10 days out before the chicks begin to hatch out of their eggs.

I want to note a couple of things in my nest watching. The first thing is that the eagle nest is kind of a miniature ecosystem. There is all manner of small birds that seem to live in lower portions of the eagles’ nests. Maybe this is a kind of defense for the smaller birds. I’m not sure what the eagles get out of it.

The eagle pairs also “partner” in in sitting on the eggs. In particular we have noted that shortly after sunrise the eagle “guard” on top of the tree switches with the eagle on the eggs. We have noted this three times. In our three visits to the golden eagle nest in Madera.

Of course, once the chicks hatch, initially only the two nests that I can observe from above will I be able to see the chicks. Both of those nests involve difficult and long climbs for me.