and didn’t realize at the time that if was from a picture from a post in 2007 in regard to our local eagles.  That was in regard to their first nest.  It was destroyed in a windstorm and they moved to another nest.  It sure was a great place to take pictures though.  One of my favorites is this accidental blur.  I had just arrived and was setting up when I saw one of the parents preparing to land on the nest.  No chance to check setting, I just flipped the camera up and started shooting.  Ooops, the shutter speed was too slow to stop the action but, the blur showed the action better than a more static image would.

They raised two babies there.  I called one Shy and one Bold.  My avatar is of Bold when first trying his wings.  But, I did get earlier shots when they were newborns.

The picture below shows the upright where one of the parents was almost always occupying and the babies are almost developed enough to begin attempting flight.  My avatar came from the picture on the right.  It’s the required square crop of Bold.  Bold was making ‘flights’ of about 2 feet straight up at the time.  I managed to catch him just as he was landing.  Shy seldom moved from the side of the nest closest to the parent.  Shy always just huddled in the nest and looked quite indignant at the idea.

Bold later became the first to leave the nest and fly to nearby trees.  By the time I took this one he was beginning to hunt on his own.

With luck, they should be coming back in the next month or so.  For the last year, they did a bit of playing house at the nest in the History Park but haven’t bred.  Once they gave up, Great Horned Owls moved in.