Crops & Clips: Bald Eagle nest repair

On our morning walk we were treated to a "mirrored sunrise" in the western sky. The rays of the rising sun were broken up by clouds to the east, and they converged towards a vanishing point on the opposite horizon (November 16, 2017):





The next morning the male Bobcat again appeared, but this time only briefly and at a distance. He stalked away along the barrier fence:



Hurricane Irma spared the local Bald Eagle nest tree when she struck on September 10. The nest itself suffered minimal damage.  This how it looked on September 15, just after the winds subsided:



On October 25, upon returning to Florida after a month at our second home in NE Illinois, Mary Lou and I checked on the welfare of the eagles. We arrived at the nest at about 9:30 AM and watched for a half hour. We found the female (Jewel) rearranging sticks on the nest:





At about 9:50 the male (Pride) suddenly flew in from the left side of the nest. There was no vocalizing. I do not think he brought in any sticks but it happened so fast that I cannot be sure:



They both got back to work on the nest for a few minutes...







...but Pride then flew up to the nest support branch to the right, as Jewel continued to work on the nest:





On October 31, this adult eagle flew over our local wetlands, about 1 1/2 miles SE of the nest:



During the first two weeks of November we saw that more material had been added to the right side of the nest to repair the storm damage:



This past week we found both of the adults on the nest. They were moving sticks at first, but settled down close together for a moment, The male (Pride) is in the foreground:





Notice the nictitating membrane of Jewel, the female. This translucent "third eyelid" extends out from the corner of the eye, lubricating and protecting it (click on image for enlarged view):
 


On average, the pairs at this nest have deposited their first egg in early to mid-December. It was heartening to see Jewel resting deep in the nest for longer spells. Hopefully she is starting to feel "broody," a behavior which increases during the week or two before egg-laying. Only the top of her head was visible on November 19. Pride is roosting just to the right of the nest:




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Linking to Misty's  CAMERA CRITTERS,

Linking to Eileen's SATURDAY'S CRITTERS,

Linking to FENCES AROUND THE WORLD by Gosia

Linking to SKYWATCH FRIDAY by Yogi, Sylvia and Sandy

Linking to WEEKEND REFLECTIONS by James

Linking to BirdD'Pot by Anni

Linking to Wild Bird Wednesday by Stewart

Linking to Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday) by NC Sue

Linking to ALL SEASONS by Jesh

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