Stacks Of Turtles

Urban Eagles, Part III

My weekly kayak trip to the area where the Bald Eagles have nested ended up more exciting than I had planned.  I paddled out to the little islet where I am sheltered from the wind and river current and can wait patiently for the eagles.  The female was dutifully tending to the nest in the distance and I had seen the male circling around Potter Park before I even had gotten my kayak off the car.

After about 45 minutes the female popped her head up out of the nest and cried agitatedly.  The next thing I knew, several dead branches started to rain down from above where I sat in the kayak.  The islet has two tall trees with a couple of the abandoned Great Blue Heron nests in the top of them.  The male eagle had circled around and landed on the nest, knocking some branches loose.  He also acted agitated and cried out several times.  Then I heard the cries of the Red Tailed Hawks that were also circling the sky above and were causing the eagles such consternation.  I snapped a few photos of the male peering over the edge of the heron nest and then paddled further upstream to get a better angle to photograph him.  He hopped out of the nest onto a branch that was higher up the tree, but did not stay there long at all as he started to chase the hawks out of the area.  Eventually, he flew back to the big dead tree on which I have seen him many times.

I navigated back to my preferred place to park the kayak to photograph him and keep an eye on the eagle nest.  I try to stay a good distance from the eagle nest so as not to disturb it.  I would really like to capture some photographs of one of the eagles landing in the nest, which I assume will become easier once the parents are in and out of the nest more frequently to feed the soon-to-hatch babies.  The male started to get agitated again and I twisted around to see the hawks in the distance.  All of a sudden the female landed on one of the branches a bit lower on the dead tree.  I had been paying little attention to the nest and more to the squawking male and did not notice the female take off from the nest.  The two squawked back and forth for a bit and the female flew off to confront the hawks.  She chased them around for quite a while.  I tried to paddle out to an area where I could photograph them better, but the sky had turned overcast and made the contrast of the photographs I did capture mostly unusable.  Nonetheless, it was a good couple of hours watching the eagles and I captured some good photographs this week.

You can see some of my earlier posts with photos of the eagles by clicking here or here.

 

Urban Eagle, Part II

I ventured back out on the Red Cedar River on the weekend to try to track down the Bald Eagles nesting in the swampy area around Potter Park.  On Saturday I only saw one of the eagles sitting on the nest, but it never left the nest and its mate never arrived after three hours of waiting.  On Sunday I found one of the eagles perched on a dead tree nearby its nest.  It sat there for quite a while and preened itself.  Eventually, it flew off toward Potter Park, but circled back around very quickly when a Great Blue Heron flew by the eagles' nest.  The eagle chased the heron a bit and the heron finally got the message and flew away.  This answered my question about whether the herons would return to their rookery this spring and cohabit the area with eagles.  It appears that the two species do not share very well!

Kayaking With The Eagles

About a month ago, I had encountered a Bald Eagle along the Red Cedar River near Potter Park.  Little did I know, this eagle and its mate had built a nest in that same area.  The Red Cedar River and Sycamore Creek converge in a swampy area that has many small islets that have tall trees on them.  In past years, Great Blue Herons have used this area as a rookery and their nests dot the tops of many of the trees.  The eagles claimed one of these nests for themselves and added to it.  The eagles are very purposefully tending their nest and they switch off sitting in it from time to time.  I hope as the spring progresses, I have the opportunity to watch this family of eagles grow and learn to fly.  I was able to get fairly close to the eagle when it was in the tree 30+ feet above me and it did not seemed too concerned with my presence in the area.  A circling Red Tailed Hawk caused it some consternation and it made its feelings known by squawking a bit until the hawk flew away.

A Quiet Menace

Mute Swans look pretty and actually make for nice photographic subjects.  However, their impact as an invasive species on the habitat they inhabit, through their voracious appetites and their overly aggressive nature toward other waterfowl and even humans, has had an negative effect on several species of native waterfowl in Michigan, including the threatened Trumpeter Swan and Common Loon.

Red Cedar River Turtles

The Red Cedar River in Lansing has an overabundance of Map turtles.  I see them en masse along the riverbanks whilst kayaking.  Occasionally, I see a painted turtle, but they are few and far between.  Last week, I caught a glimpse of the monster snapping turtle below.  It nearly capsized the log on which it rested to sun itself.  Based on the length of my kayak paddle blade, I estimate that the part of the turtle sticking out of the water was at least two-an-a-half feet long.  I can only imagine how heavy this turtle must be!

Of Down And Ducklings

While kayaking the other day on the Red Cedar River, I encountered a number of ducklings paddling along separate from any other ducks.  I do not know at what age they venture out on their own, but I thought they seemed sort of small still to be experiencing the grown-up world alone.

Great Blue Herons

Just south of Potter Park on the Red Cedar River, a group of Great Blue Herons has built a rookery to which they return every spring to raise their young.  I photographed these herons keeping watch over the nests.  Typically, they fly away whenever you get too close, but these ones kept an attentive guard over the area.

Tree Swallows

I photographed these juvenile Tree Swallows along the Red Cedar River the other night while kayaking.  They had quite the feast of mosquitoes on the river that night.

Sun Dog

I spotted this sun dog tonight while out kayaking.  The photo does not really show how bright and colorful it was.