Marigolds2 and I are keeping tabs on the eagle nest at Blackwater Wildlife Refuge. So far today it doesn't look much like spring there, but that mama eagle is sitting determinedly on three eggs. (You can see them on a better day in the 2005 archive photos.) She was covered in a blanket of snow early this morning; she's shaken herself off now but she looks a bit perturbed.
Down in southern Ohio, spring seemed a bit more of a possibility this past week-end, as a pair of industrious birds worked on the nest they are building in one of my dad's canoes. Last summer they built in the bow of another canoe and, after they raised their family, my dad cleaned out the nest and made plans to put in. Before he got around to the next step, the birds had started a late summer second nest in the stern. He says that this year they've gone upscale, having moved from the aluminum canoe to the Kevlar.
If you know who the canoe construction crew is, leave me a note. The winner(s) of the nesting identification contest will walk away with the grand prize of. . . recognizing a sign of spring when they see it!
3 comments:
I am very glad to read that the early signs of spring are starting to show in Southern Ohio. Here are on the North Coast, it seems a long way away.
The only sign so far is that the shadow of my house has crept from the center of the street, across the curb, past the maple tree (alas, not a sugar maple), over the sidewalk, and partway up my front walk. It's coming albeit slowly.
the canoe picture comes in very blurry for me, so i can't really see the nest. if they're building this early and have a second nest later on, my guess is that they're robins. but it seems odd for robins to build a nest so close to the ground. they're by water, obviously, if they're in a canoe that can put right in (i have kayaks in my yard, but have to drive them to the water in order to put in), and shorebirds build on the ground, but i don't really know what kind of shorebirds you might have there in Ohio. hmmm, you gonna tell us the answer?
wait! is this canoe stored inside a garage or barn or something like that? could house finches already be building nests?
and re the eagle - sometimes it's the papa eagle determinedly sitting on the eggs, they both spend time brooding on the nest. isn't that a wonderful not-sexist thing?
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