For the last week or so I’ve been checking in frequently with the Hornby Island eagle nest. I watched the juvenile bird working his wings, taking short hopping “flights” to the outlying branches close to the nest. Sometimes the telltale wheezing he made was the only indication that he was still there, at the other edge of the nest and out of camera range. But there have been days of silence, and days of bare branches. I did see one of the adult birds in the nest yesterday, eating some prey, but no sight or sound of the offspring. That’s the way it’s supposed to be, I guess. The young birds learn from the parents what little information instinct doesn’t provide, and then one day, they just take off. It would be difficult for human eavesdroppers to keep the kind of watch needed to see the exact moment of first true flight. And who’s to say that the young eagle doesn’t occasionally revisit the old homestead, just as the adults appear to be doing. But if they young do make the occasional nostalgia trip back home, I imagine they will eventually stop altogether. So I guess it’s time to take the link to the nest down. And I’m sure I speak for all who were regular visitors to the site when I say that, if the nest is occupied again next year, I hope to high heaven they aren’t building another house in the vicinity!
8 seconds of Kevin Spacey (from The Usual Suspects) showing how it’s done.
Eagle photo from Wikimedia Commons
Video by YouTube member BigStikMix
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