[obol] Lunch With The Birds

[Cliff & Joanne Weber]

OBOL, hello!

Had a bit of a war between the sexes today as the ladies all insisted there
was an adult Bald Eagle sitting in the nest. I was certain that what they
were seeing was a "wish bird" in the form of an irregular patch of light
filtering through the trees in the background. Well.... I was partially
right. The BE's head was mingled with the patch of light; thus obscuring a
clear cut profile. But when the patch turned its head and shown a yellow
beak, I knew my goose was cooked. That's one to the fair sex. I guess women
really do know a thing or two after all :-)

Not too much to brag about today, but still a good lunch anyway with
Gadwalls, Double-crested Cormorants, Northern Shovelers, Song Sparrows, a
second Bald Eagle, Mourning Doves, Ring-neck Pheasants, Canada Geese of the
regular kind and the Cackler variety, American Wigeons, Great Blue Herons,
Red Wing Blackbirds, Swallow species, and House Sparrows. (You can tell
we're desperate when we have to count House Sparrows to pad our list)

Still yet visitors arriving at Lunch who want to see the Eagles but don't
know where to look for their nest, so maybe this will help.

As you stand inside the roofed observation deck at the north end of the
preserve, look out towards the wetlands, to the left, down the side of Clean
Water Services' chain link fence to a grandma Willow tree (the ground below
grandma Willow is a favorite foraging spot with some of Jackson's Ring-neck
Pheasants). From grandma Willow, shift your gaze a few degrees  to the
right, and look all the way out to the conifers on the skyline, out beyond
all the water, as far as you can see.

Although the Eagles like to perch in the tops of those distant conifers,
that's not where their nest is; so......