Surrey Reserve 2021-2022 Observation and Discussion

[JudyB]

6:10 pm
Quick check of the dvr back to gemini's post and I didn't see any activity.

Charlie and I have some projects we need to focus on tomorrow, so I may not be online much until mid-afternoon.

Have a good evening, everyone, and a good day tomorrow.

[nightowl]

FRIDAY, MAY 13, 2022

[JudyB]

Good morning, everyone, and thanks for starting our day here, nightowl!

5:03 am
Doing a quick cam check, and I see we have one of the adults on the perch near the buildings where they sometimes spend the night. I think both were calling.

And the one that was there flew off at 5:05 am.

No one came into the nest, so I'll leave the cam where it is for now in case one of them returns like they did yesterday. I'll try to check back a little later, but today's going to be a busy day.

[CC398]

Thanks Judy, have a great day

0652 - Have a look at this bright sunshine in Surrey this morning. I can see the dark clouds on their way, but at least it's sunny for now.. unlike the rest of the lower mainland. It's unusually cool in BC for this time of year.

[CC398]

0719 - I heard lots of eagle trilling and crows scolding

[CC398]

The NF is working on the nest! she brought at least one stick and is very busy now. I have to run out for a fitness class but will return soon and will report then. Please feel free to comment on what you see. This is very exciting!

[CC398]

My class was canceled, fine by me because there is a lot of activity on the nest this morning.

Just watching one of our adults eating something.. I don't know what though. I stared at it for a bit and decided it was probably a mammal - there was some dark hair, so not a wild rabbit - it has really odd-looking skin, so maybe not fresh and it definitely did not look appealing, but I'm not an Eagle either.

[CC398]

0908 - I think this is the NM and he just swallowed some large leg bone in one go

[CC398]

The NM cleaned his beak and then quickly grabbed a stick and then let go of it - he moved out to the east perch at 0913

[CC398]

0914 - I heard alerting and snorting, not sure who was doing the vocalizing but the NM quickly flew. I found someone perched near the buildings.

[CC398]

0923 - Our eagle was very watchful and appeared to be tracking someone before flying off.

I said "eagle" because I'm really not sure which one they were. The wind is confusing me. I know it's either the NF or NM

[CC398]

Out of sequence - sorry!

Starting at around the 0733 mark, the NF arrived with two nice leafy branches and worked on moving them around for the next several minutes. She even tugged on some existing nest material before returning back to moveable sticks.

[CC398]

out of sequence cont.

0739 - Just as I was zooming in to look at that tail, the NF flew south

0740 - She returned with another stick! way to go NF she tugged away at a stick at the back of the nest that was already part of the nest haha.

0741 -She decides to move and place the long skinny stick off to the east side of the nest for now, but darn, it wouldn't fit - she tries again

[CC398]

She moved it west and then decided it was better placed back over east

0743 - She was satisfied with her work and seemed to be done for the time being.

[CC398]

0747 - After some standing and watching, she flew

I don't think they have been back since the NM had his weird food just before 10 am, but I'll check back now.

I think she did a fine job on the nest today. Again, this is very exciting and I was smiling and cheering while watching this grown-up Eagle behavior.

[CC398]

1728 - I think I hear both our Eagles trilling lots - cannot see them, but I suspect they are up higher in the nest tree protecting their territory.

[nightowl]

SATURDAY, MAY 24, 2022

[JudyB]

Good morning, everyone! nightowl!

Thanks for reporting on the sticks, CC! I managed to get a two videos and will be adding them here in a few minutes.


Added - 2 stick deliveries from yesterday morning, May 13 - these go with CC's observations starting here.

An adult arrived at 7:33 am with a leafy stick, broke a piece off and placed the other piece on the nest. The adult flew off, and a moment later NF arrived. I'm thinking it might have been NM who brought the leafy stick; there was time for the adult to have circled around and returned, but NF's darker tail was clearly obvious on the adult who arrived at 7:35 am, and not obvious on the one who left about 10 seconds earlier. The rest of the first video is NF doing a bit of puttering on the nest, ending with a brief closeup when CC arrived to zoom.

Leafy Stick (5:26)


NF arrived at 7:40 with a big, long stick and had a bit of trouble finding the right place for it (or any place it would fit, actually); I found this fun to watch!

BIG Stick (3:20)

[JudyB]

Someone is on the nest with food - maybe NM with muddy tail feathers?

[JudyB]

7:32 am
I think my guess was right - NF just arrived (on the right).

Not sure if she brought her own food or helped herself to part of his.


She definitely grabbed part of his food a little later, so I'm guessing she grabbed the first bit as she landed. I think this is her (on left) moving away with the food she just grabbed.

Seeing some marks on her head - hopefully she just got a little too involved in her dinner.

[JudyB]

It looks to me like blood on her head, but I can't tell if it's hers or if a messy meal was involved.

[JudyB]

NM moved over to the east perch at 7:45 am.

NF joined him shortly afterwards, and the both flew off around 7:49 am.


Almost forgot - NF did a bit more work adjusting that big stick from last night - maybe the reason NM decided to go out to the perch!

NF cleaning her beak.

[CC398]

Here she is with that stick

It looks like we had an early morning visit by one or both of our Eagles. I'll go watch and let you know how that went

[CC398]

from earlier

0514 - An Eagle landed and got right to work digging around the nest

0516 - Our Eagle was on the edge of the nest vocalizing - hmm, I expected they were greeting their mate but no one showed up.

0517 - time for a bite - Our Eagle picked up some leftovers and started to eat them I think - they moved out of the vision of the cam.

0521 - They flew north

[JudyB]

Here she is with that stick

It looks like we had an early morning visit by one or both of our Eagles. I'll go watch and let you know how that went

Thanks, CC - I'm still catching up with yesterday, and just added 2 stick videos from yesterday morning to my first post from this morning - viewtopic.php?f=114&t=584&p=577547#p577547.

When you have a chance, would you please watch the "leafy stick" video, CC? I'm thinking it may be NM who brought that first little stick, and then NF the rest of the time. I think there was a third stick, but I didn't get that recorded in time - sorry. But it was great fun to watch NF try to maneuver the big stick! Thanks!

[CC398]

Thanks for making those videos Judy I was back and forth about who was who yesterday- they really do look so similar, especially when they visit solo. I went back and watched the first video and yes it is the NM! I had forgotten that he has a small white spot that you can see better on greyscale if you can believe it. I caught it here on your video and took a s'cap.

[JudyB]

11:33 am
Adult lands on the nest, I think with food.

A bit of calling, and a second adult flies into the upper branches.

Closer look at the one perched up high.

[JudyB]

I think the one on the nest is NF - and I'm not seeing any blood or dirt on the head, so don't think it was an injury.

This also looks like her tail.

And it's much more common for a male to keep watch while his mate eats than the other way around.


She flew off at 11:37 am.

[JudyB]

Continuing....

A closer look at the one perched overhead - thanks for zooming, CC!

He (?) flew off at 11:40.

And arrived in the nest! And is busy working on the leftovers - sure looks like NM to me now that he's out of the shadows.

[JudyB]

Continuing....

Thinking this is more likely mud than shading on the tail.

Trying to do something with that long stick.