We have some new neighbors! Ever seen an eagle out for a walk to gather wood?

Well, we have some new neighbors it looks like. On my Saturday morning nest checks, I found a new pair of eagle have started building a new nest about a mile cross country from home. This new nest is only a couple of hundred yards from an established nest (LC1) so this one will get the designation LC2.



The following shots are from various times on Saturday February 19th beginning at sunrise.







A little crowded while under construction.







3 shot series of the male carrying in a branch.







Here is something you may not be aware of. In addition to the eagles breaking off dead limbs of trees to use for their nests, they will go down onto the ground to look for suitable nest building material.



Here is the male walking around looking for something which will work.



He finds a limb which he thinks will work.




He sizes up the tree...



and goes to work pulling on the end.



I'll give him credit for the effort as he really worked hard at trying to get the branch to snap off. He finally gave up and just grabbed some slough grass that was sticking up through the snow.




I don't think the female was too happy with this choice.



She picked out a lot the grass after he left!



Sunday brought a powerful winter storm into the area with heavy snow and winds gusting upwards of 40 mph.



Very heavy snowbands moving through with snowfall rates near 2" per hour.



The view out the front window the afternoon of the 20th as the storm starts to really crank up.



Despite the brutal weather, the eagles continued to work on their nest.



More sticks. Looks like she is going to do most of the work this day.




Some more of the local deer herd trying to hang on for just a few more weeks until spring arrives for real.