Tag: Hudson River Valley

Self Isolation- Great Egret

Have you ever had bad lighting conditions, but thought it may be your only chance to capture something? This was one of these times. Luckily, I am still employed. Morning light in this area separated from the river by the Metro North Railroad tracks would be optimal as it would be behind you. Late afternoon light is not good in this area. This is the first time I have seen one of these. I am sure they are quite numerous, but others times I have been to this location I have not seen this solitary bird including the following days.

It caught several fish while I was there.
Bon appetit!

This is the great egret or sometimes it is known as a white heron. I thought it was a heron, but a few people passing by said no, but they did not call it an egret either. I will admit I am not a bird expert. I have trouble differentiating different kinds of hawks. It kept a distance, these photos were taken from quite a distance, but it pretty much ignored me and other hikers.

Maybe someday I will find this bird again with better conditions. We can always hope. Stay safe and stay healthy! Surround yourself with positive things. Go out in nature.

Eagle Baby in the Nest

What do you call a baby eagle? An eaglet. Last year my favorite nest to watch had two eaglets. This year I am seeing only one head at a given time.

Luckily this nest still seems deep. It has high enough sides to keep the eaglet safe inside.

It has rained a lot. I did get a chance this past weekend to watch the nest near the Hudson River in New York for a little while. I finally saw the head pop out. I only saw one. I will have to ask the retired people who hang out there all day if they have seen more than that.

The parents took turns watching over the eaglet. A week ago a hawk was trying to get in the nest and the father eagle chased it away.

Parent coming in to rotate babysitting duties.

Unfortunately, as it usually does in April, it has rained a lot. That makes it hard to view the nest on the steep side of a hill. The window to view it is also rapidly closing with buds on the trees turning into leaves. More excitement awaits around June, when we may see the eaglet flying around near the nest.

Self Isolating in the Wild-Eagle Watching

What travel restrictions do we currently have in New York? They want us to stay at home as much as possible and only go out for essential items like food, business at home related purchases, pharmacy trips, and we are also allowed to go to parks and wildlife refuges to exercise. I decided to see if I could catch the eagles after working at home a couple of days ago.

These eagles live quite close to me. In fact there are more and more nests near me. I found another one near a walking trail this week. However, for some reason they restrict the land around the nest of that one more than any of the others. Out of respect for what they ask I did not get close to that nest. The pictures below show one nest one afternoon in order.

One parent in the nest. At least one egg has hatched. The parent keeps looking down and appears to feed little bits of food to an unseen youngster. So the guesstimate is the youngster hatched in the past week or so. We won’t know how many babies until they are big enough to see the heads popping above the top of the nest.
The other parent arrives to switch places babysitting.
The parent who had been in the nest flew out to a neighboring tree for a bit. Then decided to fly off.
Lift off!!!
The eagle then flies off towards the Hudson River. Possibly it was on its way to get a fish for the family.

It is always fun to watch the eagles after the babies hatch. There is a lot more activity coming and going from the nest. They bring in more grass, and they bring in fish or other land animals like squirrel. If you are working at home and self isolating, go out to observe nature. It can bring joy to your day.