Hey, thanks eagletwatcher! That is exciting news. I will find my camera and post a couple more pictures. I took several, but they are all dark with the powerful blue sky in the background. If I recall, I believe its feet were dark colored, not yellow like a bald's.

Here are some other pictures of the bird in question. Sorry the sky is so bright and overpowering.

I have received a few private messages indicating the bird in my previous posts is most likely a Golden Eagle, possibly an immature Golden Eagle. Hopefully I will see it again and the lighting will be better for me to get a better shot. But, that is pretty exciting for me, as I had not seen one before.

A group of us went out to Big Lake and paddled out to Ahjumawi State Park on Saturday. We did see one mature bald eagle and a huge flock of something big and white. There were thousands of them, whatever they were. But they were at least a half mile away and the binoculars didn't help in their identification.

The weather here has been quite miserable for over a month. Rain, wind, snow, hail: You name it we have had it. Well, we haven't had a hurricane, tornado or an earthquake. We have been able to kayak a few times. We've been on Big Lake a couple times, Baum a couple times, Hat Creek and Fall River. I will have a couple photos to post soon.

The pelicans, osprey, and turtles are now abundant again on Baum. Little gosslings are waddling around everywhere with their parents. It is awesome. This lake is like paradise.

But I have a question.:

Today we were out on Baum Lake. Remember the pictures of the eagles' nest there? I mentioned last year I was worried about the tree because it appeared to be dying at the top. Well today's observation of the nest and the nest tree has me wondering what is going on.

The eagles' nest is much larger than it was last year or even a few months ago. So, the eagles must have been working on it, right? The funny thing is I have not seen them near the tree for quite some time; like three or four months. All the eagles I have seen lately at Baum have been flying very high. That's not to say they haven't been in the tree, I just haven't seen them there.

But the other thing that is weird, especially since the nest is so much larger, is the tree appears to have turned into a great blue heron rookery. At first I saw one small nest a little above the eagles' nest. It was occupied by a great blue heron. Later, I noticed there are several nests in the tree. They are all about the size of herons nests. There is a heron rookery about 3/4 mile from the eagles' nest tree on another leg of the lake. Is that weird? What happened to the eagles? The eagles and herons wouldn't cohabitate a tree would they?

I took some pictures of the tree and nests and will post them tomorrow. I don't have my camera with me now.

Experts please give me/us some insight.

Well, I just did a short search to find an answer myself. There have been eagles that have taken over a heron nest and used it as their own. They then were opportunists and took the young herons for their meals and to feed their eaglets.

But the situation here is in reverse. The herons have moved into the eagles area. Maybe herons just aren't very smart.

I'd still like to hear some opinions on this.

Hey Eagle Eye!
I would say this is going to be one interesting situation this next month or so!!! Keep your eyes glued to this nest because I wouldn't be surprised if those eagles move back in and chase those herons right out of there!!! Unfortunately, Herons don't stand a chance against eagles, so hopefully they will retreat peacefully..
You need to get a camera that can take video, this could be some good footage!
Keep us posted!

We went back out to Baum Lake yesterday. I watched the eagles' nest with my binoculars for about ten minutes. I saw some movement in the nest. Then I saw what I thought looked like an eagle's head come up for a second. Remember, I am in a kayak, so stability is an issue for me when using binoculars. So, today I am going back with a friend and we are going to watch that nest with our scopes from the fishing pier until we can confirm there is an eagle in the nest and that there are herons in the outer nests.

Here are some photos taken in the last couple of days.

Here are a couple close ups of the same tree.