Eagles
I don’t remember when the eagles were hacked on South Holston Lake. It had to have been 20-25 years ago at least. But, they’re back! In good quantities.
We have them now regularly on the scheduled five-county counts and when birding in Sullivan County, Tennessee, we expect to see them. Still, it’s quite a sight.
We are lucky to have a nesting pair across Boone Lake from Winged Deer Park, in Johnson City, off 11E where it crosses the lake. This has become something of a local phenomenon since the nest is also linked to a webcam on our college homepage “www.etsu.edu” and viewed, I’m told, by millions. If you are fortunate enough to be at Winged Deer Park keep your eyes peeled. They have become celebrities in the paper and the TV news. At the senior center the “eagle cam” is on most of the time. We are becoming eagle experts.
But, one of these days the parents will not return and the nest will fall to the elements. Or, the host tree will collapse. It’s the way it all works.
If the weather is nice I prefer to take my chances and spy a head rather than be satisfied with the camera shot. Most folks probably have not seen our pair live but if you get lucky……
The Genus species is Haliaeetus leucocephalus. Hals and aetus combind for sea-eagles in the Greek. Most of us might be more acquainted with Aquila which is the Latin for eagle and is also the name of the constellation. Leuko is from the Greek for white and cephala is from the Latin for head. Alba is also used many times for white but also for first. Blanca is white but more like “pale” as in European skin tones in the Latinate languages.
We’ve watched young grow up and we’ve watched the nest get visited and damaged and rebuilt. The young take five years to mature. I keep wondering how long the pine the nest is in will last under the load of the nest.
In an earlier post I mentioned one time while at South Holston dam we saw seven mature and immature eagles cavorting out over the lake, diving and wrestling. I don’t recall if any of us had ever seen such a sight but it was spectacular. If you get out an watch enough the rewards are more than just tick marks on a list.
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We have them now regularly on the scheduled five-county counts and when birding in Sullivan County, Tennessee, we expect to see them. Still, it’s quite a sight.
We are lucky to have a nesting pair across Boone Lake from Winged Deer Park, in Johnson City, off 11E where it crosses the lake. This has become something of a local phenomenon since the nest is also linked to a webcam on our college homepage “www.etsu.edu” and viewed, I’m told, by millions. If you are fortunate enough to be at Winged Deer Park keep your eyes peeled. They have become celebrities in the paper and the TV news. At the senior center the “eagle cam” is on most of the time. We are becoming eagle experts.
But, one of these days the parents will not return and the nest will fall to the elements. Or, the host tree will collapse. It’s the way it all works.
If the weather is nice I prefer to take my chances and spy a head rather than be satisfied with the camera shot. Most folks probably have not seen our pair live but if you get lucky……
The Genus species is Haliaeetus leucocephalus. Hals and aetus combind for sea-eagles in the Greek. Most of us might be more acquainted with Aquila which is the Latin for eagle and is also the name of the constellation. Leuko is from the Greek for white and cephala is from the Latin for head. Alba is also used many times for white but also for first. Blanca is white but more like “pale” as in European skin tones in the Latinate languages.
We’ve watched young grow up and we’ve watched the nest get visited and damaged and rebuilt. The young take five years to mature. I keep wondering how long the pine the nest is in will last under the load of the nest.
In an earlier post I mentioned one time while at South Holston dam we saw seven mature and immature eagles cavorting out over the lake, diving and wrestling. I don’t recall if any of us had ever seen such a sight but it was spectacular. If you get out an watch enough the rewards are more than just tick marks on a list.
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posted by Charles Moore at
9:05 AM
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