Robin & Ben the New Kid's in the Neighbourhood.

Ahhh Sunday early I check the cams out before heading to the nest. I hear both of them vocalizing but just see M15 on the outer branch to my left.. above the attic branch. Harriet must be in the front pine for her vocals sound further away. So it will be a hide and go seek when I get to the nest.
Sure enough M15 is on the outer branch and Harriet is in the front pine. Just before 6:00 am M15 drops down to the attic branch. A little after 6:00 am harriet flies into the nest and M15 drops down to the nest. Both are aerating and vocals are head from both of them. M15 to the veranda then to the attic branch. Harriet stays in the nest then hops up to the veranda still vocalizing. Oh it's that time of the morning. Yep ! We have mating this morning.   Done with the deed ,M15 takes off to the front pine to get something for the nest.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KqLA_c3s4k

When M15 came back I couldn't tell if he had anything or not. He went to the attic branch first then dropped down into the nest and was moving stuff around. Done with some rearranging M15 flies back up to the attic branch. Harriet still vocalizing off and on then she lets out a squawk and leaves the nest tree heading to the cell tower with M15 right behind her. They fly low past the tower then head to the trees at the parking lot. I see a pair on the cell tower so we head over there Donna and I to see who it is. Sure enough it's Robin and Ben who we are assuming are the Riverbend area Eagles. Now from my understanding ,the RB Eagles that were there a couple of years ago were a bit older than these two. What I mean by older is that they had all of their white feathers already. Now like I said this was told to me. No one seems to have photo's of them . So I'll stick with this is a new couple and will be interesting to see how their year goes too.
Now Harriet and M15 are just a vocalizing at these two. I hear Harriet more than I do M15. She is letting it be known you are very close to MY  territory and I'm not liking it. R&B really don't seem to be bothered by the vocals at all. They are looking around but not over at Harriet and M15. Interesting.

Harriet and M15 are sitting on the same branch . Robin leaves the cell tower. Harriet vocalizes .

                            Harriet and M15

Now Ben is left on the cell tower and Harriet really gets to vocalizing to the point Ben even answers her back and throws back his head as his vocalizing.

This makes both Harriet and M15  move from one tree to another. At one point I thought one of them was going to head towards Ben. I didn't know which way to look. M15 then swoops down and thru the tree's to the right of them and back  towards the Publix area it looks like . Ben leaves heading in the SW direction as Robin did which is straight to the river from where we are. I sure need to check this area out one day to see if I can find their nest.
We head back to the nest and as we do Harriet leaves the tree she was in at the parking lot right over us heading back to the nest . M15 and Harriet are in the nest when we get there . M15 flies up to the attic branch and Harriet is still in the nest. Harriet still vocalizing off and on them goes to the veranda and M15 soon joins her and we have mating again this morning. Boy they sure are out to make the eggies ..LOL  Well it is Nov and we should see a lot more mating going on ,I hope.
M15 sits to the left of Harriet ( my left... her right)  on the veranda.

M15 then heads up to the attic branch and both are looking around. Harriet is doing some preening and still won't show me her brood patch. I know she has one if M15 does so does she. She's just not showing us yet.

Soon both of them head over to the west pasture treeline and land in different tree's. We didn't see Harriet leave her tree but could tell because it scattered the Cattle Egrets which were in the NW part of the pasture. They all headed for a tree closer to the pond. About 30 mins later  we see M15 head to the NW towards the poles.

I left around 9:00 am . On my way home saw one of ours on the pole by Bob's. As I was heading further down Del Prado I spotted an Eagle and pulled over to check it out. It's Not one of ours and it's not one of the Sable Springs either. Well I'll be . This one is about 4- 4 1/2 yrs old. Just one more  maybe two more molts it will be an adult by this time next year. Nice looking young en  .
  This Baby still has some black on it's beak and a lot in it's tail feathers. NO THIS IS NOT SLIM !!!

Got my Check List ,Do You ?

So I was just getting my check list together yesterday of the things I wanted to see before we have eggs. Here it is  and I can check off two things.
1.... Brood patch on Harriet and M15.....
 Well last night one of the photographers got a photo of M15's. Yay . Now to see Harriet's
2.... A food gift for Harriet from M15.....
8:00 am this morning M15 brought her a real nice size fish gift. WTG M15 . He did good on not eating it before Harriet got there. Boy he sure was looking around for Harriet tho. Harriet came in  from the NW just a squawking and landed in the nest to claim her gift. She sure let M15 know it was HER fish not his. He did good in standing his ground tho. He didn't leave the nest right away when she landed like  Ozzie had in the past. That may change in time if Harriet pushes him out of the way..LOL Hopefully we should see more of them. M15 you did a great job today. I'm so proud of you and always knew you would do what comes natural for you. Instinct... it's a wonderful thing to watch.No teaching this at all.. you knew what to do.  
3... More nestorations like rails and fluff......
Now I can live without the rails but I know most of you can't . I have seen a lot worst nests and the Babies did just fine. Now I would like to see more of a nest bowl and egg cup. Harriet needs more fluff to lay on for the long hours ahead of her. A nice deep egg cup would be great too. Ozzie & Harriet had one deep egg cup last season. I didn't think we'd ever see the eggs or the little ones when they hatched.
4.... More mating of course.
5...Hanging around the nest more......
 The closer it gets the more Harriet will stay close to the nest tree. Maybe by then there will be more fluff in the nest and Harriet will be checking it out a time or two and maybe she'll spent the night again. I know ,I know ,I got over excited the first time she did it but I promise I'll behave myself the next time. Well at least I'll try.
These are  a few things I have been looking for and wait to see them happen. Again this is my list of things that I have observed in the past and I'm just seeing if they will be the same this time as far as how soon we see them. Harriet's brood patch was first seen Oct 31st 2014. I don't remember seeing Ozzie's like we do M15's. Here is the link for the photo David Eppley Photography took of M15
https://www.facebook.com/453803511405998/photos/a.454287701357579.1073741828.453803511405998/795988933854119/?type=3&theater

So I hope you have your check list ready or make one up. Things will be happening soon and I sure can't wait for it. I'm so excited for all the new and great things that will be going on. To see a New Dad in action, how he will take to egg sitting and babysitting for the first time. Oh to see M15 take his first look at the eggs and the Babies and how he will react. How Harriet will help him along the way. For me it will be almost like going back in time in my mind and watching Ozzie & Harriet their very first time. Well almost any way .

                           I'M JUST SO EGGCITED !!!!!

M15 bringing Harriet a fish gift this morning.

M15 looking at the fish before Harriet got there.

 Harriet on her way to get her gift.

M15 watching Harriet. You did good M15

Harriet flying up to a higher branch to do some preening after eating. M15 watches her.

"Come on Harriet Show me your brood patch" and that's a look of "NO" !

A New Couple in Town ?

Both are still sleeping as I set up my camera. It was well after 7:00 am before We heard Harriet's good morning vocals. Both Dona's have joined me today. Always good to see them .
Harriet and M15 drop down into the nest and are aerating then Harriet goes to the porch branch and M15 to the attic. More vocals from both of them. Harriet checks out her toes again.lol
The sun is coming up and we have some awesome colors going on behind us , to the left and in front of us. Wow orange behind us, pinkish/ orange to the left and then my favorite pinkish/purple in front of us to the west. Harriet flies to the OCT . She does some preening of her tail and vocalizes.

M15 vocalizes then joins to the Harriet on the OCT. The vocals being and I thought there was going to be mating but M15 wasn't accommodating Harriet . Well don't you know she sure let him know about it too. Looks like she gives him the old side kick and lots of vocals.Well M15 vocalizes right back at her then bows his head. It wasn't until I up loaded my photo's that there was a Starling sitting there on the OCT with them watching the whole thing. At one point you see the Starling taking off as to say" Man He's really in trouble and I'm out of here."  Harriet done fussing at M15 ,M15 vocalizes right back at Harriet and then she bows her head.

They both sit side by side for a few mins then Harriet takes off across the road and lands in the tree. M15 follows right behind her.
Dona Broock leaves and Donna McMurrer and I stay for a bit. We see one of ours fly towards the poles at Bob's . Hmm maybe the other one is there. Donna and I do some exploring .  We find a Hawk sitting on a pole.Stop and get photo's of it.

On our way back from an area we were checking out by the river we see 2 Eagles on the cell tower. We pull over and get photo's of them. The one does the sidekick to the other one. Boy Donna and I just start cracking up. So Harriet isn't the only one that does that. It's 9:34 am now and we are taking  photo's about 20 mins later we hear Harriet and she and M15 are in the tree over by Publix. They are vocalizing at the other couple and the couple are vocalizing back. Ok I guess they are still letting each other know this is a Questionable area . It's ok to sit there but don't go any further type of thing. We have 4 Eagles vocalizing and which way do you turn ..LOL
Soon the other couple leave the cell tower heading SW towards the river and Harriet gets quiet. Boy she sure was letting them know She saw them and that they better not come her way. Amazing. So now you all know Donna and I have to name all of them. Sooo keeping in mind that this couple could be the River Bend pair we named them Robin= Female and of course Ben for the Male. Simple and easy.  Donna was able to get flight shots of both of them and the Female has still has a lot of black on her tail whereas the male not so much. Awww maybe we have just turned 5yr old  Newlyweds here . How awesome is that ! Now we'll have to keep track of these two to see if they come back to the cell tower. Meet Robin and Ben . Ben is on the right. ETC.... Sorry Ben is on the left ...lol My bad.

Harriet and M15 from two different angles .

So after Robin and Ben leave we head over to the drive at Publix to get some pics of Harriet and M15. It's now 10:09 am and time for me to go home . It was a very interesting morning with Harriet and M15. We got to ID two new or possibly the same couple we have been seeing on the cell tower. Only time will tell if they are or not.

I had an apt. this morning so I wasn't at the nest early but did get there before Harriet left and met up with M15.
Dona was there early and she told me that Harriet spent the night in the nest again. I did see one on the attic branch and did hear Harriet so I thought it was Harriet and couldn't find another in the nest tree from looking at the cams. You know it wasn't focusing very well this morning and of course my eyes weren't either. That will all change soon. Yep getting the eyes done so I can see much better.
Enough about me back to Harriet and M15. Dona let me know M15 did get a stick from across the road. Then she said he made like he was going for a stick in one the tree's in the west pasture but after going from tree to tree he just kept going. LOL Sneaky little guy. She said it looked like he might have gone to the poles. Harriet was on the attic branch when I got there. She was vocalizing and doing some preening then looking to the west. Maybe she knew where M15 had gone to...Well of course she did. She can see things that we can't and further than we can sitting way up there.
I got some photo's of Harriet.I even walked around to the sidewalk to get a better view of Harriet. Then Harriet vocalizes and off she went to the cell tower flew down and around landing in her tree over by the parking lot at Publix. I look to the cell tower and there is another Eagle there vocalizing too. From the right of me I see M15 flying . He's headed over to Harriet and lands next to her . Both are vocalizing and then there is another Eagle with the one on the cell tower and they are all vocalizing. So I wonder if the cell tower is going to be a spot in question of whose territory it belongs in? We know Harriet and M15 sit there and so does the other couple when they are not there. If the River Bend couple are still around this could be them or just maybe we have a new couple in the area. Could it be who ever gets there first? Like King of the hill???    Hopefully it will be just a vocal thing about the cell tower as time gets closer for eggs. This is just an observation ... we have noticed here lately that Harriet has been a bit more vocal not only with the little birds but with the other Eagles, Hawks and what not.Is it just Harriet been Harriet or could it be a way of letting them know more now that egg laying is getting closer  this is My territory my nest and to beware sorta speak ??? I mean she even get's a bit snippy with the Starlings at times. It's understandable with the Crows and Grackles. They are just  annoying any way. lol
We have also observed Harriet doing more preening in the front of her around the area of where the brood patch will be. We just haven't seen it yet. I know the male get's one too but never did see Ozzie's as well as I have Harriet's.I realize according to Harriet's "normale" egg laying time , it's a bit of a way off but what "if ", just what "if" she lays earlier this time could she be getting a brood patch ready? Here is a photo of an Eagle with a brood patch. NOT ONE OF OUR's !!!

"Both male and female eagles form a brood patch--a bare spot on their tummy where they can press their hot skin directly against the eggs or chicks to keep them warm. The female's brood patch is a little bigger and more feather-free than the male's. And the female incubates the eggs more often than the male does."

There are other things that we have been observing and are waiting to see if they possibly have anything to do with Harriet getting even closer to egg laying and the changing in appearances that we have noticed to also see if they have anything to do with bonding / mating. We are NOT researchers, biologists or anything like that .We are just seeing and wondering about things we see and can't find any research on it. Being at the nest everyday like we are,we see things and wonder. Oh the questions we have for a averian biologist if one were to ever show up at the nest.LOL

  Dona left and I stayed a bit. I gathered up the things that were left for Ozzie's Memorial. I checked the cell tower one last time before I left to go to the Pritchetts office to give them the stuff. I met Mr. Pritchett, Andy and Ginni's Dad. Very nice man. We talked a bit about Ozzie which brought tears to my eyes. I think Mr. Pritchett had some too. He asked if we're going to have eggs early and I told him I just don't know. Only Harriet does and she's not telling us...LOL  I thanked him again for the new cams and all then left. I checked out the cell tower and the tree Harriet and M15 were in ..yep everyone still there. I laughed and shook my head then head home.

Harriet preening this Morning.

   

Harriet before she left for the tree at Publix.

Harriet's brood patch from last year .