Wintery Baxter's Hollow

  This hike was a repeat of Parfrey's Glen with a few new twist.

 

 

 

Some hardy plants were holding their own in the 

wintery mix.

 

        A long ago abandon fireplace was at one
time the center piece of a cozy cabin in the woods.

  On our return trip we
noticed a woodland creature
had been to an opening in the
snow to steal a drink



  Remember a click on a
photo sets up an enlarged
slide show.
 
  You may want to use this trick
and revisit the eagle photos.

A Successful Day

   This past Sunday I was lucky enough to witness the release of five rehabilitated bald eagles back into the wild. I have watched this before during the Sauk-Prairie Eagle Days in January but the weather and the smaller crowd made this day special. It turned out to be a great photo opportunity.
  First the three immature eagles were released and after a short break two adults were sent back to their lives in nature. Below is a link to the Raptor Education Group, Inc. "REGI", the center that Marge Gibbson (first photo below and several others) has devoted her life to.
   A couple of these birds had never landed in a tree.

                This is the first bird released. It circled around and landed on the ground in the park.

The second bird. This one landed safely in the water. It looked like a large brown gull.

It soon was back in the air and crossed the river landing on the sand.

Number Three. This one found a good tree to land in.

The first of the adults. This one is between four and five years old (notice the touch of brown on it's head). This one immediately found itself in the water but was airborne in a couple minutes. I was looking the other way and missed it.

Number five circled a couple times and headed across the river finding just the right tree for it's first taste of freedom.

All the birds eventually were back in the safe arms of "Mother Nature" along the Wisconsin River.

The link will give some background on how these birds came to be cared for at "REGI".

http://www.raptoreducationgroup.org/blog/

Soon Gone

   On a recent warm and sunny day a friend and I hiked along the path and creek of Parfrey's Glen.
The many photos that follow can no way do justice to the sights and sounds we experienced
that day.  The gurgling sounds of the water making it's way under the lacy ice than falling to a
rocky pool beneath. The sunlight that day danced and played across the ice. At times it
appeared to be sending a glow from below.
  The warmth of this coming week may melt all of this away but a few days of cold will form an all new gallery of Mother Nature's art work.
  We didn't make it to the large waterfall but I hope to return again. I took seventy-nine photos
that day. I had a difficult time picking which ones to share.  
                                              It's an easy walk check it out!

Predawn Visitor

   At the first hint of daylight I caught a glimpse of something looking back at me.
Apparently the sharp-shinned hawk had spent the night in the cedar tree just outside my 
living-room window. I watched it for about an hour, it barely moved a muscle. When I   
went to find myself something to eat it moved on. I don't know if it left with a meal or not.

Field Trip

   Recently a past president and long time member of the Ferry Bluff Eagle Council and I did a tour of the known bald eagle nests in the area.
 The Ferry Bluff nest and another nest just north of the Wisconsin River can't be viewed at this time of year, although in a recent entry I did post photos of a pair of bald eagles that I believe were from the Ferry bluff nest.
       

  We first visited the Hwy 60 nest.    
   There the nest is in good shape and an adult eagle was spotted
near by.

            

  Next was the Leland nest. The  nest is in good shape. There were no eagles in the area at
the time that we were there.




                                                                         
   Then on to the prairie
nest. Here the nest had
been moved last fall.
The thought on this is
that they may have been
adding distance between
them and the increased
human activity.
  This day there was one
eagle in the nest and the
other was off sitting on
top of a high-line pole.


   From here across the Prairie du Sac bridge. We were a little disappointed with what we found
at the Fish Lake nest. It is completely snow covered. This may mean it has been abandoned for
some reason. We'll check back in a couple weeks and hopefully they're just getting a late start.
The lake is still completely froze over.

          Now back to the Grand Ave. site. Here to our delight both eagles were in the nest.

    The haze at the Kransfelter nest didn't allow for photos but there appeared to be an eagle sitting in the nest. If this proves to be true they have returned to the nest that they abandoned a couple years ago. When they moved they had remained in the area but the new nest was out of our sight.

                                                               Off to good start!
                                    This is good site to see the color changes as they age.
                              
http://www.onthewingphotography.com/wings/2011/02/16/bald-eagles-one-to-five-years-old/ 

An email photo

                                   This was sent in an email. I had to share it !!!!!

A Royal pair

    Wednesday this pair of adult bald eagles were sitting across the river from my house.

It was a bit of a reach for the camera but still good enough to see which is the female 

and the male. Male (smaller body size and beak size) in front and the female in back .

I’m guessing it’s the Ferry Bluff pair taking in the warmth of the afternoon sun.

     This is year fourteen (first sighting fall of 2003). 

     If eagle facts are correct that they live to about fifteen years and become adults 

at five year. That adds up to nineteen years of age so there probably has been some  

changes in this pair.

   It will be a few weeks before nesting will start in this area but in the mean time check out this site.
   This is an unusual nesting dynamic. Be sure to go all the way to the bottom and watch the slide show.

                                    http://stewardsumrr.org/webcams/bald-eagle-nest-cam-live/