Bald Eagles in Lyme — Year One
On April 4th, I crept slowly to the edge of Clay Brook at the crack of dawn hoping to photograph wood ducks as I had in the past. Suddenly a bald eagle flew past. I got a couple quick photos.
A few minutes later I noticed A second eagle perched majestically in a nearby tree.
I did get photos of wood ducks that morning. But I did not think the eagles I saw that morning were local residents.
Then nine days later at the same spot I again saw an eagle.
And then it flew past me.
I spotted what might be a nest well downstream, but I was so excited to get some photos of an eagle flying that I did not consider the obvious.
But I returned two days later and the obvious was staring me in the face.
That afternoon I emailed Chris Martin the raptor guru at NH Audubon. Part of our email exchange is included below. I included one of the series of photos above of an eagle flying. In one of his emails he mentioned sub-adult plumage. That can clearly be seen with the not-fully-white face of the lower eagle in the photo above. The upper eagle is likely a year older.
That morning before I returned home to email Chris, I took more photos of the pair in the nest.
And some of the sub-adult flying,
And returning carrying a stick for the nest.
The eagle also carried smaller sticks in its beak.
I managed to get a series of the younger eagle launching from near the nest.
Before I left I walked downstream and took a photo of the area. Clay Brook is in the foreground. Post Pond is off the image to the left. Though it is hard to see, the eagle’s nest is at the far right edge of the photos about 1/3 of the way down the tree. It is in a dead tree in front of a live one in this view.
The photo above is a three-shot panorama. I didn’t realize until later that the panorama included a distant view of an eagle perched high in the left-most tree. You might just be able to make out its shape sitting on what turned out to be their favorite branch with a perfect view of both the pond and the nest.
Here is an mail exchange with Chris Martin on April 15.
Me: Are you familiar with the eagle’s nest in Lyme near Post Pond. I don’t recall seeing it in previous years. Today I watched two doing some construction work. Seems late. Perhaps preparing for next year?
Chris: Nope. This is brand new to our NH eagle nest inventory. I would certainly like to know more details.
Me: It is across Clay Brook from the Chaffee Nature Preserve which is about 500 feet north of the road into Post Pond along Route 10. There are two decent viewing spots. Currently the loop trail has a tree down, but one can get around it. I had just missed an eagle flyby there a week or so ago when I was looking down for wood ducks. Wednesday, one eagle was in a tree when I arrived and soon flew by me. I spotted a possible nest nearby, but it was empty both times. This morning I found two eagles carrying sticks and doing construction work on the nest. I spent about 36 minutes with them, walking between the two viewing spots over slippery boards. An hour later I photographed a pair of wood ducks mating.
Chris: That bird you photographed is definitely new to the breeding game … sub-adult plumage and unbanded. Did the other one look like a full adult bird? Could you tell which one was larger of the two? Very cool!
After a few more mails with directions to the spot and my photos from April 17, Chris wrote: Thanks for the fantastic documentation of this new nest site! They are unlikely to lay eggs this year, and if they do are unlikely to fledge young due to inexperience. The site seems fairly well buffered from potential disturbance, wouldn’t you say? Clay Brook limits people’s access to the area immediately around the nest. Let’s just let the birds have their privacy for now, just in case they settle in and start incubating eggs.
So we kept the presence of the nest quiet, and remarkably few ever saw it for most of the four years. I published photos of the eagles in my blog, but never revealed the location or showed photos of the nest.
On April 19 Chris commented, I tend to think the younger one is the female, but I’m not 100% on that. Side-by-side shots should reveal size differences in body, toes, beak. With the male being the smaller bird. Of course, you could just wait to photograph mating!!!
It would not be until early in the fourth year that I actually did get a series of photos of the eagles mating.
The very next day after I first photographed the eagles in the nest, I returned briefly in the afternoon. How could I stay away?
They were still working on the nest.
Below the younger eagle is carrying a huge stick into the nest as the other eagle departs, perhaps to keep from getting hit by it.
The older eagle flew to a branch supporting the nest and watched to the younger one work.
Two days later I was back before 7 a.m. and took a photo of the nest from the parking area. It was really only visible if you knew to look for it. The red out-of-focus blobs are early spring buds. When Chris Martin visited the site he commented that he was not impressed by the tree the eagles had chosen for their nest. But I felt is was great — for photography.
I walked the loop trail in a clockwise direction and photographed a wood duck.
I was only able to stay for a few minutes this morning, but I did photograph the younger eagle from the shore of Clay Brook.
I skipped a day but then returned April 20. I photographed the eagles in the nest from the parking area as soon as I arrived.
Fifteen minutes later I captured a sequence of photos of the older eagle flying from near the nest.
The younger eagle departed at about the same time, but was back less than three minutes later with a hiking-pole-size stick.
The pair seemed to enjoy being in the nest together. This photo and most of those below are from April 23, a wonderful day with a lot of action.
The younger one was leaving and returning quickly with nest material.
Thirteen seconds after the photo above, an eagle entered from the fields behind the nest with lots of nest material.
Ninety seconds later it was off again to get more.
Less than two minutes later it was back carrying another pine branch.
The older eagle immediately hopped to a nearby branch.
While the younger eagle stayed in the nest briefly.
Shortly before I left I got this sequence of an eagle launching from near the nest.
What an amazing April 23 morning! And I had only stayed for an hour. I did not know how good I had it until subsequent years when I spent many cold hours watching incubation with nothing happening.
I got busy that spring photographing warblers and a brown creeper nest. Only three more photos this first year. One on April 28.
And two on September 14.
I knew they were just building the nest in preparation for the next season. I vowed to come back early the next spring hoping they would start a family.
