A dark and icy morning. Yesterday's slushy snow got trampled into thousands of footprints that hardened overnight, making the worst surface for running I've ever encountered on my beloved trail. And then my car — which had started at home — wouldn't start away from home. Fortunately, I had my Micro-Start XP-3, but unfortunately, I couldn't get the key to work in the door. It was one of those situations where you hear the voice of the Universal Father in your head and he's saying Don't force it. But eventually, gently and repeatedly sort of forcing did the trick, and we easily jumped the car with the XP-3 and got out of there.
Speaking of yesterday, yesterday afternoon we took a walk around Frautschi Point in the Lakeshore Preserve and right away we saw 2 big bald eagles swooping around in our path. They made a noise that surprised me, not loud dominant squawking but lightweight chicken-y chuckling. Then we saw other even larger birds — seemingly in a territorial conflict with the bald eagles. I tried to memorize their markings so I could research what they were. Golden eagles? Based on this, I'm guessing that they were juvenile bald eagles (that is, lacking the distinctive white head). What a loud, long, expansive show they put on for us — one of the best bird experiences I've ever had. Sorry, no video. This was very much in the moment.
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If they were bigger AND juveniles, then they were females!
In most raptor species, the females are larger or significantly larger.
Nice birding story. Last week Sandi and I were watching a red tail hawk in a spiral battle with what appeared to be a large fast crow. Eventually we realized they had the same shape and feathering and when we looked hawks up in the Audobon Guide we were surprised. In the south west some red tail hawks can have charcoal gray to black coloring. He’s jet black and so shiny his wing tops look like chrome when he circles while the sun is low. One morning I mistook him (yes I’m assuming gender based on his aggressive behavior) for a drone until I used binoculars. His hunting zone appears to be between our house and Horse Hill about 4 miles southeast of here. There are another two or three normally colored red tails who hunt on our side of Blue Mountain Trail ridge, although another three or four showed up to watch the battle last week. Plenty of bunnies for all of them in these hills.
We were somewhere in Ohio, and we went to re-fuel at a truck stop. The locking gas cap on my 1973 Mercury Capri (aka Ford Pinto) was frozen solid.
I remember using a BIC lighter to thaw the gas cap, and heat the key. What could go wrong!!
Running on frozen footprints make my knees hurt just thinking of it.
Check the battery and replace if bad.
Juvenile eagles reach adult size before they start acquiring their adult plumage, so very likely this was the case, especially if there was a lot of interaction between them and the adult birds. At out place up north we have eagles right above our heads in the tall white pines on our property and there is a lot of boisterous interaction between adults and juveniles. I once had a juvenile try to steal a fish from an adult directly over my head. Lots of noise, and then the fish landed at my feet. Neither had the nerve to try and get it from me.
Those jumpstarters are fabulous. That and a 12V compressor to fill a low tire are must-haves in every vehicle, as far as I'm concerned.
Getting a key to work in a frozen lock: if there's a way to heat the key that works great. Once did it with my backpacking stove.
Just replace the battery. Battery checks are worthless.
My daughter had read that there is a raptor species? Breed? … that’s invading from… Asia. May compete w/eagles. I really don’t know, but am not surprised. We have seen eagles up here, too. I feel very privileged whenever I see one.
Curious George: Check the battery and replace if bad.
Living in the north country, if the battery is more than four years old, just replace it.
I've seen a lot of examples of little birds (sparrows?) attacking much larger hawks. The little birds dive-bomb the slow-moving hawks and then dart away. They don't seem to do much damage, but mostly annoy the hawks. Often two or three little birds will take turns.
My car battery died in the Seattle Mariner's Parking Garage after the game, around 11:00 p.m. The garage staff tried to jump it with no luck. Called AAA and the Safeco Insurance emergency line. They never showed so we took a town car home ($60), then back to the garage the next day, a Saturday. Another $60. AAA came out, tested the battery and then replaced it. I could have had AAA just jump start it and then gone to Sears auto center for a die hard. That was too much trouble.
That battery was original equipment and lasted about 4 1/2 years. The replacement battery has lasted about 5 1/2 years so far with no problems.
"Living in the north country, if the battery is more than four years old, just replace it"
Yep.
1) Biden 2019: "I am going to shutdown the virus".
2) Biden 2020: "“This gets solved at a state level.”
Statement 1 has now been deemed transitory by the administration.
1) CDC 2019: "Quarantine for 10 days".
2) CDC 2020: "Quarantine for 5 days".
The settled science has been re-settled.
It was so cold yesterday that I wore my "I've been vaccinated" mask while walking our dog, Sadie. I don't have a balaclava, so that was a quick replacement.
Seattle has set a new record for temperature range in one calendar year. It was 108-deg F at the end of June and 17-deg F yesterday. That's a 91-deg F swing.
"Living in the north country, if the battery is more than four years old, just replace it."
Sure. I just wasn't sure if there were other reasons like leaving a light on or something.
Original Mike@1237-- How was the fish?
I can't match any sightings, but one of our local owls has taken the stage in a tree next door for the last couple of nights. Makes me glad my dog is a twenty-pounder and not a pocket-pooch.
Rotate your battery!
"Original Mike@1237-- How was the fish?"
Dirty.
Ann or Meade:
That little thing jump started your car? I've never seen or heard of that device.
"A dark and icy morning." -Bullwer-Lytton smiles.
Could the other bird have been Ospreys? They are becoming more common and do not like to share territory with Eagles.
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2021/12/27/exclusive-sarah-palin-on-joe-biden-its-too-late-to-get-through-to-him/
This is pretty neat- a voice from the past.
Ospreys have gone south for the winter, to Florida, the Caribbean or South America. The Ospreys that hang around our beach all summer in Southern Maryland arrive in March, and leave in October. The eagles really like Ospreys, it's easy for them to bully them into dropping their fish. Come winter, they mostly have to eat carrion or ducks.
We got a hybrid RAV-4 a few years back. Curiously, if you don't drive it long distances it doesn't charge the starting battery very well, and they die suddenly, without warning, even though the much larger hybrid battery may have a full charge. My wife went out this morning to drive to the beach, and it was dead. We have it on the charger now.
A guide to the color phases Bald Eagles pass through growing up.
https://www.featheredphotography.com/blog/2013/01/27/a-guide-to-aging-bald-eagles/
Biden: “This gets solved at a state level.”
El Residente stumbles onto the 10th Amendment.
I once ran on a trail with frozen footprints like that. Afterwards, while lounging on the couch, I started experiencing a twinge in my knee that steadily got worse. Turned out that I tore the meniscus in my left knee, which was the most painful injury that I’ve ever experienced.
The Ospreys that hang around our beach all summer in Southern Maryland arrive in March, and leave in October.
Interesting. I'm at latitude 47, and the osprey arrive like clockwork on April 15, and depart around September 15.
The eagles, and the osprey do interact. The eagles want the osprey eggs, and/or chicks.
cassandra lite: "A dark and icy morning." -Bullwer-Lytton smiles.
"The night was not really all that sultry"--Drago, 2021, inscrutible facial expression
"A guide to the color phases Bald Eagles pass through growing up."
That's great! Will put it to good use. Thank you, Fritz.
Ospreys are white underneath. These were dark and mottled.
Livestream tracking of the James Webb telescope. Link
It will take approximately 30 days to reach the desired orbit around the earth.
Safe enough away from Elon's satellite junk yard ;-)
I have a feeling this telescope is not going to match the hype, it's going to surpass it.
Very interesting bird experience. We live in a forested area near the Mississippi River; so bald eagles live in our neighborhood, and we often see them flying over our house . They are so prolific that our neighbors are reluctant to let their small dogs or cats loose in their yards because they might be snatched away by the eagles or owls. Before I retired, I had an office on the upper floor of a building overlooking the Mississippi River, and I used to watch the eagles do their acrobatics over the water. This was particularly interesting in the spring and during mating season.
Birds in our neighborhood seem to be absent this winter. We are used to having lots of birds at our feeders every year, but for some reason they are missing this year. We have no idea why. The deer, however, do tend to quickly empty the feeders. We can’t find a deer-proof feeder anywhere.
The most interesting bird experience I ever had was when I was flyfishing for trout of the north shore of Lake Superior. A great blue heron
stood next to me for about 30 minutes while I fished. Every time I caught a trout, he grabbed the fish and flew away with it. Four times I had the fish and and the heron on my line for about a minute each time. It was like flying a moving kite. Eventually the heron gave up and flew away.
Still snowing here for the second straight day. Another four inches.
"I have a feeling this telescope is not going to match the hype, it's going to surpass it."
If it works. Sun screen deployment over next couple of days. 340 must-work latches, pulleys, motors, …
I'm sweating bullets.
Out here, the Sierra Nevada is getting hammered.
Thoughts turn to the Donner Party.
The waxwings returned to my backyard wood yesterday. Hundreds. In and out for an hour and then gone. Cycles.
We attended the first practice session of the Ryder Cup at Whistling Straights in September. We followed the US team for the first part of the day, but wrapped up the day in the stands of the 18th watching the European groups play through. At one point, there was some murmuring of the crowd and people started looking up. A bald eagle was spotted circling overhead at the green - around and around. Some guy in the crowd spoke up and called out to the players something like "bad news Europe - if that isn't an omen, I don't know what is!".
We have turkey vultures-
They ain’t pretty.
That Micro-Start XP-3 claims to be antigraviy.
No thanks, I got enough problems already without floating off into space.
BTW, certain Hondas notorious for randomly dis charging batteries within hours.
Two famous deaths today: John Madden and Harry Reid. I liked John Madden. And that is all I’m going to say about that.
The Dalliance of the Eagles --Walt Whitman
SKIRTING the river road, (my forenoon walk, my rest,)
Skyward in air a sudden muffled sound, the dalliance of the eagles,
The rushing amorous contact high in space together,
The clinching interlocking claws, a living, fierce, gyrating wheel,
Four beating wings, two beaks, a swirling mass tight grappling,
In tumbling turning clustering loops, straight downward falling,
Till o'er the river pois'd, the twain yet one, a moment's lull,
A motionless still balance in the air, then parting, talons loosing,
Upward again on slow-firm pinions slanting, their separate diverse
flight,
She hers, he his, pursuing.
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Harry Reid- gone…
Louis L’Amour taught me the history of that party…
The Donner party- not Reid.
Geesh !
"That Micro-Start XP-3 claims to be antigraviy.
No thanks, I got enough problems already without floating off into space."
I use an XP-10 to power my telescope. At least I used to before I upped my game to LiFePO4.
farmgirl said...
We have turkey vultures-
They ain’t pretty.
Except when they soar afar with those six-foot wing spans. Related to the stork, they are not birds of prey. As a matter of fact they do not have claws capable of killing, so they only consume carrion mostly from herbivorous animals which makes your cats are "safe", whether dead or alive.
Hey, gadfly… you are very right about their soaring abilities being beautiful!
I’m not sure how safe they are to newborn calves, though. I’ve often wondered if a few together couldn’t do one in if the mother isn’t attentive.
A rare Steller's Sea Eagle, native to Kamchatka, similar, but much larger than a Bald Eagle has been touring the United States. Last seen in Massachusetts.
https://www.sciencealert.com/spectacularly-rare-sea-eagle-spotted-a-thousand-miles-from-home-in-massachusetts
I saw a pair these at the National Aviary in Pittsburgh, in a cage next to the Bald Eagles. The difference in size is stunning.
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