It's hard to believe how fast the eaglets grew up, and now one of them has already left home for a new home in Vermont. Not under his own speed, but under the aegis of a program to replenish the eagle population there. I have been as out of touch with the eagles as I have with everything else except the last weeks of teaching, giving tests, counseling students, working with my afterschool kids, and trying to get a few things planted. I've only gone online once or twice daily, to check in on news and email.
In that time many things have happened. You can read all about this fascinating transfer in the EagleCamBlog, and also see some kickass pictures of the transfer. If I was only seventeen again, and knew what I know now about my real interests in this world, I'd start all over again as a wildlife biologist. Of course, if I were seventeen at this particular point in history, I'm sure I'd be a completely whacked-out junky goth freak. So maybe it's just as well.
Maybe I'll go back to school once this life of busy working is finished and study to become The Oldest Living Wildlife Biologist.
Anyway, during the past week they took eaglet #2 off to the north country, and the other two will soon be ready to fledge. I now feel that I really know what the Empty Nest Syndrome means - I am so sad that they will be gone. The ospreys, in the meantime, are gearing into the beginning phases of this process - so we can start all over and get attached to these birds.
7 comments:
I haven't kept up as well as I'd like either. Once the camera shifted...I rarely saw anything. It does make me sad though...knowing that soon they'll all be off. I just remember how excited we all were when they hatched...and how worried we were about the third egg.
I think you would look pretty hot as a seventeen year old goth freak.
Peace and Love,
Tank Gurl
I just finished reading "A Positively Final Appearance," Alec Guiness's 1995-6 diary, in which he thanks "the birds outside my study window, who constantly reassured me that nothing is desperately important and the joy of life is just looking at it." We may no longer be 17, Maisie, but "just looking at it" is GOOD.
Vermont is a good location--lots of osprey for an eagle to steal fish from.
I've been watching them obsessively every day. I was very sad to see the one off to Vermont -- I feel like my own family has been split up.
Hooray! Those eaglets beat the odds and survived long enough to leave the nest. Yes, it is sad when the last bird leaves home (actually, it is sad when every bird leaves home), but also cause for celebration. There is a chance that the life cycle will begin again, not only will the current nest be filled again next year but new nests in new places may also be filled! I have personally found that my own little birds keep returning. Some for short stays and some for longer periods, but the old nest manages to expand and contract as necessary. Glad to see you back online again! Paulette
Woo Hoo!! Eaglets!!
V
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