Park Eagles, Adults! Jan. 19, 2016

On this Tuesday, we were paid visits by adult eagles near the Visitor's Center....

 He/she did not turn around on the branch, but did it's owl imitation by turning it's head 180° !

 The same eagle took off and landed on a spit of land, with the Patuxent River in front and Jug Bay behind.

Below is another eagle who had been sitting behind the first one, eating a morsel.  It flew a little closer.......



Park Eagle Sightings!!, 1-12-16

Surprise, surprise. Saw the first Park eagles this year on last Tuesday, 1-12-16.  This lovely juvie was watching the River from a tree right behind the office.....

 It stayed for quite awhile, then took off, flying down the River.

It was being followed by an adult eagle! Saw the adult a couple times that day...

 In the afternoon,  stopped to try and see the new eagle nest.  For the first time, saw some motion there with TWO eagles nestorating!!

It's so far away that it's blurry pics you get, but you can enlarge...

 Some HP going on!!...

 Taking a rest....

Santa Must Have Visited Park Early!

To our great surprise, learned a couple weeks ago that our eagle pair who lost the nest in summer is getting a NEW HOME!!!  It's in the same neighborhood, but higher and further back from the road.

This picture is a little larger than what the camera gets!

 Here's some zoom! Viewing this coming season will be quite limited due to distance and all the branches.  We could use a couple beavers!

Taken from a little different spot, but no viewing help.

A Fantastic Fall Photo ~~~

My daughter was sent this on facebook!

Patuxent River Park Eagle Nest, Oct. 2015

Tree ID;

Mom and Eaglet...

MT Nest

MT Tree!!!!!!

Had NO idea that this was a picture of the Nest Tree!!  Have new computer, so over the weekend installed some of the earlier eagle photos taken from old computer.  The "elbow" told the tale.

Saturday, explored the left side of the creek where the nest tree grows, but didn't see it.  This was before discovering the "elbow" pics.

Here is a huge fallen tree, we think fairly close to the nest tree. The center/top part of this tree is facing bottom of picture...

There were mounds of broken sticks spread out not too far from the downed tree!....

If this is enlarged, an interesting view of the sticks is that they are broken on both sides!....construction use?...

A tree that fell must be the culprit, as you can notice on the empty nest tree that other branches are broken off and the surrounding area is more open.

Home Plant Saga~~Brown/Green Thumbs

Another growing season! After not having Black-eyed Susans for a few years, we were blessed to have a patch of wild ones grow next to the garage last summer!! A couple identical plants started by themselves in some pots on the deck. They were too small to bloom, so in the late fall, I planted them with great care in front of the house where there was a space between the azaleas. Their leaves stayed green all winter and they grew toward the sky~~~~

This spring another plant with the same leaves started growing in an empty deck flowerpot. Surprise!!~~~

A few days ago, I noticed small clusters of buds on the top of this potted plant. Black-eyed Susans don't do that! They have one flower on top of the stem and much later in the summer!

Today they started to bloom :>(   ~~~

 Close up~~~

It's a dreaded weed called fleabane!!!!!!

 



Field Trip I, 5-5-15

These Wild Azaleas, or Pinksters were blooming on the tall Patuxent river bank near our office. It was time to search for other wildflowers!...

 At the side of a dirt path, the Bluebells looked like they were almost done blooming....

 The Trillium are emerging, too!....

 

 Down on the Nature Study Loop which goes through a swampy area, we always see the Skunk Cabbage and Fiddlehead Ferns.... 

 Would you believe this is a pinkster, or Wild Azalea "Tree"? It's probably trying to reach for some sun!...

 Pinkster flowers up close.  They are larger than regular azaleas and seem to resemble honeysuckle somewhat....

 Jack-in-the-Pulpit loves the swamp!...

 Just had to stop the car to catch this on the way home!...