Spring time babies!

Anyone who knows me knows I LOVE seeing bald eagles.  We have a pair nesting right by the weir and we frequently (daily) see this pair and others flying around the house.  As a special birthday present, I received a call from Aaron that some students were there to tag the baby eagle and to come down if I wanted to watch.  I couldn't really see the student tagging that well, but the momma eagle was flying around and was NOT pleased, so I got to see her a bunch.  The baby Eagle was estimated to be about 10 days old and they need to be 6wks old in order to tag.  The students thought that their first breeding attempt probably failed because of the unusually cold spring.  If the eagle is large enough to tag they usually bag it up and lower it to the other student working on the ground.  She then takes blood and chest feather samples and measures the baby.  She'll then place an id tag on its leg and replace it in the nest.  Since this baby was too small they said they probably won't be back to tag it since they have too many other nests to visit in the next few weeks - isn't that awesome?  The nests are found by aircraft who fly overhead AND look for eggs in the nest.  Crazy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The nest is in the tallest tree you see in this picture:
 

 

 

 

 

There were lots of calves out with the bison and they were close to the road so I made Aaron stop on Saturday so I could snap a few photos:
 

 

 

 

One calf chased the turkeys in the background, but I didn't get a pic of that!