the Way of the Turtle

EAGLES, OSPREY, & A KESTREL
A Brief Visit to Montezuma NWR & Lock CS-1
Sunday, April 8, 2012

Swung by Lock CS-1 and Montezuma on the way home today... and it turned out to be a good day for birds of prey.

At Lock CS-1 both adult eagles were present - one in the nest and one perched in a tree down the shoreline. When I walked down the road a little ways to get some shots of the eagle in the tree, I also discovered that one of the chicks was sticking his head up over the edge of the nest.

I only stopped briefly at the Montezuma Visitors Center - between the holiday and the sunny weather, there were lots of people there. Apparently the osprey have started nesting along the Seneca trail - the trail is blocked off and both were visible in the nest, though one flew off shortly after I started taking pictures. I briefly considered going on the wildlife drive, but the number of people present and the fact that I'd just driven through Friday afternoon made me reconsider, and I ended up taking the main roads over to the eagle nest in the northwestern corner of the main part of the refuge.

When I pulled up at the unofficial parking area to view the eagle nest, a small brown raptor swooped away and landed on a nearby utility pole. Turns out it was a female kestrel. While I watched she went from the pole to perches on the power lines, and several times dropped down into the nearby field trying to snag prey only she could see. She was definitely struggling to maneuver in the very strong wind. Very cool!

Across the field I had a fairly good view of the eagle nest, since the trees still haven't gotten their leaves. While I was there I saw two adults on the nest - don't know if the infamous trio (two males and a female) still nest there, the nest is too far away to make out any details even with my new camera, and the wind didn't help.

JMH