Looking Pretty Good.

Here is another shot of the female as she was leaving the nest last Saturday morning. She is looking real good, with all of her feathers in great shape and ready to take on another winter on Lake Waco.  The male had some molting issues going on as summer got here so I hope he has shaped up and looking good enough for his lovely bride.

Spencer Moore OD

Sampling The Food on Lake Waco.

Here is another one of the osprey that’s visiting the lake. Hopefully he will find the fishing good enough to stay for a few months.  The wing span of an osprey is about 6 feet, where as an eagle’s wing span is 7 ft. and everything else about the osprey is a little smaller than the eagle except for those big powerful feet and talons. They are quite formidable to say the least.

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Fall Feast on Lake Waco

This past week we have found over 25 osprey in just a small area on the west side of the lake. I haven’t searched, but if they are on other areas of the lake, then there will be lots more of them. They are all feasting on fish as they migrate through the area heading south for winter homes. I do hope several of them will find Lake Waco to be as great place and larger  numbers of them will reside here through the winter. We did see a couple of them around the lake the entire year,  so that was a nice find. I hope to find a nest some time soon.

Spencer Moore

Home Sweet Home.

This morning, October 3, we stopped by the nest around 9:30 and the female was sitting in it just looking around. That is the first time I have found them back on the nest. I take this as a great sign and I am looking forward to them enlarging the nest and making the normal improvements that are reported as something they do every year. After a several minutes she flew off and I got this shot. Earlier we boated by the nesting area just before sunrise and they were sitting together about 200 yds from the nesting tree, so they still must call the area home.

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A Burst of Power

As they raise their wings with that first burst of strength, you can only imagine how much power those huge wings must generate. That is a full 7 feet of pure power.

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Taking Flight.

Whether they are landing or taking off, the eagles make for great pictures. I just can’t get enough of them.

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Not An Eagle, But The Next Best Thing

Brian and I went out this afternoon in the blazing heat to see if we could find the eagles and we weren’t successful, but to our surprise we found 3 osprey, 2 flying around with fish in there talons and one setting on a tree near the eagle’s nesting tree. I am assuming that we have an osprey family consisting of a female, a male and this year’s juvenile and they were feeding the younger one. You usually don’t find an osprey just flying around with a fish. They normally land just after the catch and began to feed. The fact that there were 3 working the same area and not having any issues with each other makes me think they were all related and going about a comon task. The heat became a bit much and we left the area very pleased with our find, even if it wasn’t an eagle, osperys are very special birds and we were thrilled to see three sharing the area successfully. If you look closely you will see a nice size fish gripped tightly in the osprey’s talons.

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Those Good Old Days At Home

Here is one of the last shots of Freedom enjoying the comfort of the nest before he took flight into that cruel world of fending for himself. He spent 3 weeks flapping those huge wings while he was in the nest before a good gust of wind made him airborne. We loved to take advantage of the background with the moon, just days before it was full, to provide for unique shots of the nest and the eagles. As you know the moon comes up an hour later everyday making the full moon appear on the horizon just at sunset, so the few days before the full moon makes for some great shots with the moon and the foreground having the same exposure. 

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Circling Around for a Soft Landing.

Here is a great shot that I over looked from May when mom was circling  around for a landing in the nesting tree.

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Landing in the Nest

How many times did we see this and how many more times will it thrill us? I was going  through some of the past year’s shots and this is one of the sharpest shots I have of them coming in for a landing on the nest. It looks like I was suspended up in the air about 25 yds from the nest, but then that would certainly be a dream of a position wouldn’t it? Mom is a beautiful thing, isn’t she?

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Black Bellied Whistler

I was out at the Wetlands last weekend and this Whistler duck went whistling by,  just having himself a great time with all that  water to play in.  He was literally whistling as he flew by.  I shot him and didn’t even have a mess to clean up. In fact you can go back and shoot the same duck, just remember,  you can only use a camera. I hope to shoot him again myself.

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The Catch of The Day.

When you’re running around the lake, and you’re a roadrunner, this would be a good “catch of the day”. But, if you were the bug, you would be having a bad day for sure. It’s all in your perspective.

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Be Careful When You Fly!

This guy wasn’t quite as colorful as some of the others, but his wings looked like they were made of fine crystal.  I know not everyone likes bugs, but when you really take a look at God’s creations, there is astounding beauty, yes, even with some of the bugs.

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Escapee Caught In The Act.

Early Saturday morning I caught this young buck feeding in one of the nearby corn fields out by the Reynold’s Creek Park. As I drove up and snapped his picture, he quickly ran back across the road and into the safety of the woods in the park. It appears there will be some very nice deer in the parks this year. Brian has spotted some great twin fawns out there as well and I am sure he will be posting those shots soon.

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More Than Just Beauty.

In an attempt to find some other wildlife opportunities at the lake, we have been going out to the wetlands and catching some nice shots of the assorted dragonflies, butterflies, frogs, snakes, and birds that frequent the area. These two dragonflies were new to me and quite colorful.  These guys can give a butterfly some good competition when it comes to color and grace, and they also eat mosquitoes. Now that is a real bonus package.

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Small But Lots of Color

Dragonflies may be small but they offer lots of color and most of the time they are a different color than the last one you just saw. They are notorious for eating mosquitoes and other small flying insects that most of the time go completely undetected by the human eye. There hasn’t been as many butterflies this year at the lake but now that the heat is here the dragonflies are making up for the lack of flying color. The blue, green, and black and white ones are fairly common but this red one is a little more rare and it certainly not because it is harder to spot. In fact they look neon as they fly by. This blue one was more distinctive to me because of the striking turqouise eyes. You know I tend to notice eyes most of the time.

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A Couple of Mug Shots.

If you see this character around Lake Waco, you don’t want to be wearing a mouse or rat suit. He is on the prowl and stays low to the ground with those hawk eyes always on the look out. This young red-tailed hawk was so busy watching for the mouse he was stalking, that he didn’t pay much attention to me the other afternoon.  I wonder if the heat causes the mice and rats to lay low like it does us humans.

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Note: The White Patern of Feathers on The Wings and Not On The Body.

Just moments after the last posted picture, he flew off to land in the nesting tree with both parents there waiting. Just as soon as he landed, dad took off over the trees to be gone for the morning. Less than a minute, Freedom took off in the same direction and then mom followed. It was begining to warm up anyway, so we were done for the morning. It was nice to get a follow-up and see all is well with the Lake Waco Eagle Family thus far. Keep a watchful eye out for the members of the family as you are out and about the lake area. One note of interest. Look at the wing and body patern of white on him in this shot. The white feathers stop before they go down onto the body. The other juvenile that is on the lake has much more white down on it’s body and being older, his beak has more yellow on it compared to Freedom’s. The beak will be harder to note when you see one of them fly by, but the white on the body of the older one will be much more obvious. Let’s try to keep an “eagle eye” out for them in the coming months, and if you live around the lake, watch your smaller pets. There are several hungry eagles out there now.  Spencer

Here is the shot of the other juvenile from an earlier nesting so you can see the extra white feathers that go down onto it’s body much more than our new juvenile from this year. You can also see the yellow  extends farther out onto the beak.

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Freedom Is Loving His Freedom.

I have been very fortunate to have so many nice friends take me out in their boats to see the eagles. Paul took me out Saturday morning and we found Freedom excercising his freedom by flying all over the place again that morning. He appears to be doing well and the parents are staying near him and he is apparently staying in the vacinity of  the nest, give or take a mile or two. He appears to be quite proficient in his new found ability to fly. Take offs and landings seem to be right up there with a seasoned eagle now.

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They Are Still In The Area!

A few nights ago the Yowells invited me out to see the eagles in their boat and I am glad to report that the eagles are still in the area and are roosting near the nesting area but farther down the shore. They are, as you can see, all spending the night in the same tree so that is nice to see the family unit is intact and doing well. This shot was just before sunset so it isn’t as good as it could have been if the light was earlier in the day, but you get what is there. Birds don’t roost until it gets late in the day and here they are. We are optimistic that they will be here for the next several years and hope that the young eagle will not have to wonder off to far to find a mate 5 years from now. We will just have to see.

Spencer Moore OD