NATURE’S EDIT

Nature has its own method of editing. Take for instance this winter and spring in the PNW. It was particularly harsh, with the mercury dipping into freezing temperatures more often than typical. As a result, some plants just didn’t over-winter this year. Edit.

We saw a very striking 'edit' of nature the day after I posted the picture of the duck family. While we were standing at the edge of the lake, enjoying the late afternoon vista, the eagle appeared out of nowhere. It was just 50 feet from us and had targeted the female duck and her brood who were swimming far from shore. Amid a panic of quacking, and people along the shore exclaiming ‘OMG’, the eagle swooped once, missed, did a high angle of attack turn, swooped back, and smoothly plucked out one of the ducklings. The eagle with food for its young flew directly back to the nest as the male duck zoomed in to join, but too late to defend, the family. It was quite heart breaking to watch, but again, it was nature’s way. Edit.

As for the eagle family…I have spotted a young one in the nest on occasion. I have attempted to get photos of it or them, but the quality of these photos is as you’d expect, taken almost ½ mile away from the nest. Add to that, the leaves on the tree have blocked much of the nest, so depending on the wind, sometimes the nest is visible and sometimes it isn’t. The glimpses of even the mature eagles while on the nest are brief and infrequent now, but I was able to see an eaglet (beak was visible) where I’ve drawn the arrow in the picture.

In the picture below, you can see the adult eagles to the left and right of what through the telescope looked like an eaglet.

I’ll continue to try and capture shots of the little one/s and keep you posted on their progress.

From the garden next time…TOMATOES!