Sunday afternoon members of the Russell County Bird Club and friends visited
Sandy and Bill Lawson at their South Holston Lake home. We were able to observe
the Eaglet through the spotting scope. It was exercising by flapping its wings
and hopping around the nest. Later, Bill Lawson took Dave and Diana Worley and
Laverne and I across the lake so that I could try to take some photographs. It
was still some distance from the nest and all of the foliage made focusing a
challenge but I did manage to take a few photographs that can be shared.
We were also able to observe some interesting behavior. We had not seen the
adult and had only caught brief glimpses of the eaglet when a Common Raven
invaded the air space above the nest. One of the adults appeared from over the
ridge and made sure that the raven moved on out of the area. Later a Red-tailed
Hawk came near the nest and the adult came at full steam. It missed the Red
Tail with the first pass but banked and dived again. This time some feathers
flew literally. There were Red-taild Hawk feathers floating in the air. The
hawk moved on into the timber where it was safer.
I have included some of the initial pictures. Hopefully, I will be able to edit
some more later.
Tom
Tom & Laverne Hunter
Russell County Bird Club
Lebanon, VA
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