South Apopka Eagles
With the threat of another storm coming this week, we wanted to see the South Apopka eagles. It only took a few minutes of waiting for both of them to fly in from across the street. They proceeded to make several stick runs as the sun was coming up. Very cool!
After only a short wait, both eagles flew in as the sun was coming up
With the male eagle out on a stick run, the female went to a tree near the nest and called out to him with encouragement to get a good stick.
The male eagle returned with a very big stick
Flying in closer to the nest with a giant stick
Pulling up to head to the nest
The female eagle, noticing her partner was back with a stick, took off to make sure it gets put in the right spot.
As she flew back, her path went in front of the office building across the street from the nest
Pulling up to head to the nest
The final climb to the nest
The male eagle returned to the nest again with an even bigger stick than the first run
The male eagle flew over the nest to be out of the females way as she placed the stick into position
Stick placing is a very important task. Sometimes the same stick will be moved several times before its in the perfect spot.
Still moving the sticks
Doing a little preening between stick runs
Moving the big stick a little to the left...
... and now a little to the right...
... and back left a bit, perfect!
The male returned with another stick, but she wasn't ready for him yet so he pulled up and flew around for another pass
I think he finally noticed me watching him
With a good grip on the stick, he's making another pass
As he turned into the light, I got this beautifully lit shot
Those are some big talons holding onto the stick
The eagle flew almost right overhead as he flew around to the nest
The female eagle flew into the trees on the far side of the field. She returned right across where we were standing
She had a leaf tucked into those huge talons that she was bringing back to the nest.
The male eagle went down on the ground on the far side of the field for a stick that was already on the ground. He blinked in this photo
Taking off with the stick
Flying low at the beginning of the return flight
Starting to get some elevation but still pretty low
Flying around the nest tree to gain height
As he turned, he caught me watching again
He's looking at me pretty intently as he climbs back up towards the nest
Flying past on the return to the nest
After about an hour and a half they seemed to settle down and were just preening. It was starting to get hot, so we decided to leave them alone and head home. Definitely worth getting up early and driving 90 minutes on a Saturday morning!