July, 2022
In my first blog post about this camping trip, I mentioned I had a number of eagle sightings while I was here. Well, it didn’t take long to get that started!! My very first morning here I got up, got dressed, did my morning chores inside the trailer, then went outside intending just to do some trailer checks, take a few photos, and head back into the trailer for coffee and breakfast.
I wasn’t outside for 30 seconds when I heard eagle calls. Eagles have a high pitched call, very high. Mostly it’s a call that lasts for a second or two or three, but also some short squeaky calls. They are definitely heard in the video below around time marks :06 and :10 and :17 … and :34. Turn your sound on!
It seemed like just one eagle. It had to be close by. I sure wanted to find it! So I gulped down my coffee and my breakfast, and then hiked up the road towards where I thought the calls were coming from.
As I walked up the road above, a man was walking down the road towards me. He said “do you hear the eagle?” I said, “yes!” He said, “Oh cool most people don’t hear it.” And then he said, “you can see it up there, up the road, do you know where?” I said, “no but I’d love to know.” He said “Go up to campsite #x [I’ve now forgotten which campsite it was], and walk in through the campsite and keep going towards the cliff above the water and look for a grey tree trunk that forms a V. Stop there. There’s a nest in another tree out over the water but you can see it right through the “V” in the grey tree trunk. That’s where the eagle is. It’s a juvenile and it’s getting ready to fly.”
I said, “Wow!” or something else equally intelligent. 🙂 And I asked, “It hasn’t flown yet?” He said, “No, my wife and I have to leave today and we HATE to leave. We’d love to see it fly for the first time in its life.” I said, “Wow”. Pretty dumb to keep saying that, but he sure understood, and he commented on my camera and hoped I would get some photos. He and I talked for a bit, but frankly I was so drawn to see the eagle, if it was still there … and he could see my enthusiasm. He could see I wanted to go. He kept smiling a big smile. And we finally parted … he walked back down the road to his/their campsite and I truly trotted! up the road to the campsite he mentioned and then clambered back in through the woods looking for that grey tree trunk that forms a “V”. I found it! It’s right smack in the middle of the photo below.
Maybe you can already see the juvenile eagle out there, in between the V trunks. Let me zoom in.
The nest is on top of the tree out there. The nest has been there for so many years that the tree no longer grows UP, just out.
She (or he) kept jumping around, flapping around, calling and calling, stretching its wings, big stretches of its wings, such big stretches and flapping that it did lift off the nest a number of times, completely in the air, but it always came right straight back down to land on the nest or on a nearby branch. It wasn’t quite ready to take that leap, to trust its wings.
The parents were in the area. I could hear them too but not very often and not very loud. They didn’t make much noise, didn’t call much, just every once in a long while I’d hear a squeak from one of them (the female has a lower pitched call than the male does). They did not come back to the nest to help this juvenile, they did not come back with food, they squeaked to let the young’un know they were there and then they just waited.
I wanted to stand there all day, but I’d been there about an hour and realized it could be days yet before the youngster took off on its first flight. So I went back to my trailer and got ready to go see other things during this first day here. But you can bet I went back later in the day to check on this youngster.
More photos coming. 🙂
How thrilling! Thank you so much!
You are very welcome, Henry. 🙂
The young eagle spoke. You heard, and then you listened. The message it gives to you, the energy it gives you, is courage and strength and bravery. That man you met on the road was correct, most people don’t hear eagles. You have been blessed!
Thank you. It was a blessing. One that will stay with me.
This was really cool. Sesapa’s comment is also really cool, and heart and soul felt obviously. You say you had a number of eagle sightings here, I’m sure looking forward to them. More please! 🙂
Coming soon, Fran. Hang in there. 🙂
I don’t think I’ve ever heard an eagle’s call. Maybe I’ve never been anywhere near an eagle. But I sure would like to be. I sure would like to hear, and then listen, I liked that Sesapa. Ok, researching online for eagles near me. 🙂 Thanks for this blog post!!
I hope you find some eagles to listen to Greg. They are magnificent.
Oh, I hope you get to see that eagle fly for the first time, I hope, I hope, I hope. The timing would have to be spot on, tho. Oh I hope. Even if you can’t show us video or photos, I hope you see it.
Me too, Judy. Gosh to see an eagle fly for the first time in its life must be so special. I’m not going to say whether I did or not on this trip. You’ll find out. 🙂
Gotta say we rarely saw or heard eagles. Maybe we weren’t listening. This was really great Ann. Thank you.
When I was a kid, our family went camping in forests hereabouts a lot. I don’t remember ever hearing an eagle, but I bet we just didn’t know what to listen for. Sometimes I wonder what else I’m missing! ha! 🙂
Love your photos and videos! I don’t think we have eagles in Nevada… no?
So what I find online, Nevada, is the annual Carson Valley Eagles & Agricultural Festival. If that’s near you, you should go! The Nevada Department of Wildlife says there are between 100 and 150 Bald Eagles that winter over in Nevada. You got eagles! 🙂
I don’t know about Nevada, but I sure don’t think we have eagles in Nebraska … no? Really, I don’t think we do, but we must, no? I really loved that video with the eagle calls on it. I thought eagle calls would be deep and monstrous, not those high pitched sweet calls. Great stuff Ann. Thank you.
Ah no, Nebraska, you folks have eagles too, big time.
“After many years without any eagles in the state, Nebraska saw its first successful bald eagle nest in 1991. Thankfully the numbers have just gone up from there, and as of 2017 there were 209 bald eagle nests. Nebraska is also home to some migrant eagles during the non-breeding season. According to the game & parks association, the average number of eagles overwintering in the state as of 2011 was about 990. Some favorite eagle sites are Sutherland Reservoir, Harlan County reservoir, Lake Ogallala and Lake McConaughy.”
Me too … I used to assume eagle calls would be low pitched and threatening, but they aren’t. They are actually kind of sweet. Thanks Nebraska. 🙂
Wonderful!
Amen! 🙂 Thanks June.