Smugglers Slough Nest 3-14-12







This juvenile was perched in a tree near the nest.

Whatcom Falls Park

Since it is the nesting season, I'm trying to stay on subject .... eagle nests.
I'm failing, but I'll be brief.
Just a quick report on other nesting birds.
The Whatcom Falls Park Barred Owl nest is again active. There has been a BAOW in the nest for about a week.
All I see is the tail hanging out. Note the fresh, green cedar branches that the owls are using to line their nest.


Also in the park, a pair of American Dippers are building their nest at the main falls.


Here are two short videos I recorded this week.

American Dipper singing for its mate

American Dipper nest building

Government Plan to Shoot Owls

For those of you in the Pacific Northwest, Blaine Washington is having a birding festival this weekend.
David Hancock will be speaking at 10:00 AM on Saturday.

Wings Over Water

Hi Doug: Enjoyed chatting with you at WOW. I hope one of our local birding experts (Joe or David) is the featured speaker next year. I am now caught up on your thread and have a couple of questions on the eagle and the poor mallard. Great capture on your part, of course, but any idea if the eagle had zeroed in on the mallard or was it already dead?

Hi Ed * The SS female eagle had flown to a tree about 1/2 mile + away. As it was over the corn field, I had a clear, though distant view. She was perched there for a while and I watched her take off and fly over the flooded field. Many Mallards flushed and she went down to the ground and flew back with the male Mallard. I thought that she had taken a live bird, but I can't say for certain.

After the WOW fest, I went back to Semiahmoo for the sunset. While there I watched an adult eagle leave one of the snags and fly far out over Semiahmoo Bay. It made several dives at a bird. I could see the splashes when it hit the water. The eagle was actually in the water for a few seconds. It then flew off being chased by some waterfowl or gulls. It was so far away that I could not tell for sure if it got one, but I suspect it did. It flew through the channel and headed south over Drayton Harbor. As you know, judging by the feathers under the Semi snags, these eagles eat gulls.


Semiahmoo sunset * 3-17-12

Red River Nest * 3-21-12

One of the Red River pair was brooding.


Smugglers Slough Nest * 3-21-12

It was a partly sunny, but frigid early morning with a stiff wind. One of the SS pair {Ma, I think} was incubating egg{s}.

Smugglers Slough Nest * 3-21-12

Pa SS comes zooming in, and lands in the nest tree.
This pair is totally tolerant of me. This is the third year that I have watched them.
Only once {when one of their babies was about to fledge} did they make it clear that I was not welcome to hang around.
I think they knew that it may end up on the ground and didn't want me around if that happened.