Southwest Florida Eagle Cam

[Sunshine]

17.10.

Luckily, afterwards all was good this morning!

07:24


07:28

[Sunshine]

07:56
M15





18:55
Both together

[Sunshine]

19:02
A lovely evening.. M15 in front, Harriet in the back




.. until the next moment..



Harriet decides to strengthen the bond with her famous side-kick

[Sunshine]

19:02
Seconds later all is peaceful again



19:09



19:13

[Sunshine]

18.10.


16:09
Hariet's afternoon routines

[Sunshine]

16:13
The beautiful Hariet

[aquiline]

Beautiful photos - beautiful birds
Thank you so much

[Sunshine]

thanks a lot, aquiline!

[Sunshine]

Just for the sake of the comparison - M15, the dad, on 16.10, pics from Lady Hawk's video.
The difference of nostrils is perhaps their most obvious dissimilarity.

[Sunshine]

20.10.

09:13
The morning. Harriet



09:49


10:18
A squirrel for Harriet (one more was brought later), brought by M15

[Sunshine]

13:54
Both together



14:22



19:22
In the evening both sit side by side, too.

[aquiline]

Just for the sake of the comparison - M15, the dad, on 16.10, pics from Lady Hawk's video.
The difference of nostrils is perhaps their most obvious dissimilarity.

And I was wondering .....

[Sunshine]

20.10.

Nest preparations are ongoing
In case you ever wondered how does this nest look like from the side:
(screenshots from wrskrnwings' video)





Other preparations are taking place as well - and very successfully so

[Sunshine]

Visitor on a nearby tree.



M15 working hard!

[Sunshine]

24.10.


20:51
Harriet was again attacked by the great horned owl in the night..
The owl knocked her off while Harriet was sleeping.





After this, Harriet slept in the nest bowl..

07:17
Luckily, in the morning all was well.

[Sunshine]

25.10.

Few screenshots from the recording of wskrsnwings of 25.10. There is no precise time indicated in the video, though..

The moon in the early morning



.. and the eagles


The nest - it looks quite impressive by now.

[Sunshine]

A lovely neighbour



.. a squirrel who has to be very careful not to become a dinner..



.. and H&M's neighbours - Ben and (.. forgot her name) on the distant power pole.

[Sunshine]

19:10



00:05

[Sunshine]

26.10.

20:37
The owl strikes yet again.. It knocked Harriet of the branch.
(screenshots from Lady Hawk's video)





As one can see, the great horned owl tries to drive the eagles away from their nesting site and (in the best case) take over their nest.

Some interesting facts:

- The great horned owls (Bubo virginianus) are ultimate Americans. From halfway to the northernmost portions of Alaska and Canada, all the way down to the south Amazon basin, you'll find the great horned owls of the Americas. These magnificent predators live as long as 28 years.
- Great horned owls prey on ~ 500 known species of creatures, even going so far as to attack and eat bald eagle chicks, assuming the parent birds are not in the nest. This avian apex predator is speculated by some to be the single most successful predator on the planet Earth.
- The most consistent characteristic of great horned owl nests is that they are often stolen from other birds. Why build a nest when you can just take one?
(https://owlcation.com/stem/The-Great-Horned-Owl)


Yet it is important to remember that:
- the much larger eagle should have no problem getting a great horned owl to do its bidding. But no. While it may not be much of a nest-builder, the great horned owl is fierce, while a bald eagle is laid back, some even say lazy (..).
- the great horned owls have been stealing nests from bald eagles for millennia without harming bald eagle populations. The bald eagle’s bigger competition for real estate is with us.
(https://northernwoodlands.org/outside_s ... versus_owl)

[Sunshine]

27.10.

08:08
M15 (closer to the viewer) and Harriet in the morning



08:11
.. and moments later - Harriet showing her dominance