12-15-2025 Tangled Twigs and Unexpected Delights

Описание: Tangled Twigs and Unexpected Delights

Yesterday was another eventful day for Jackie & Shadow. They started early bringing sticks, large and small but mostly huge and wacky. One or two of them looked to be 4 or maybe 5 feet long! Perfect rails for the outer edge of the nest.

Then Jackie came crashing in with the tangled twig stick, the stick of all sticks, like a spooky, haunted tree. Initially it looked like Shadow was trying to avoid this one, but his obsessive stick disorder kicked in, and he jumped in to help Jackie tame the beast. Together they snapped off twigs, moved it around from one side to the other and back to the middle again trying to find the perfect spot, if that existed. After working on the single stick for about 16 minutes, and a few beaky kisses (or maybe disputes) they seemed satisfied with where it lay.

After the day was done, or so we thought, Jackie and Shadow tied the record at 28 sticks/fluff in one day. Time for some rest and relaxation… until a large dark bird spotted on the horizon headed towards the nest. Turns out this was a juvenile (hatch year 2025) bald eagle! The young one even had the nerve to circle around and land in the nest tree canopy, sending pine needles raining down on Jackie & Shadow. Jackie & Shadow watched with curiosity and voiced their opinions when the juvenile took off.

Once the end of the day was near for the eagles, a juvenile eagle was spotted perching in the basement, even before Jackie left for the night… and then there were 2! The juveniles tucked in for the night under the nest. One of them left during the night, but the other remailed until this morning. It did its business and then flew off into the habitat. Fun fact… or maybe not. Raptors often relieve themselves before taking flight!

Because we did not see any ID bands on either juvenile, we couldn’t know who they were or where they came from. There have been several visiting eagles spotted in the area in the last few weeks. It is not uncommon for visiting juveniles to check out a nest, they likely associate the nest and adults with food.

Stay tuned, the excitement is building!

GW

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