I was feeling tired this morning, so I slept in instead of heading to Fort DeSoto to watch for migrant birds.  As much as I wanted to photograph Indigo Buntings, I wasn’t too sorry that I stayed home.  Rich and I were driving down Stoneybrook West Parkway when I noticed an adult Bald Eagle and what appeared to be a juvenile Bald Eagle sitting in the pine trees by Whispering Oak Elementary.  I thought I might have seen a nest back in those trees earlier this winter, but the nest shown on Eagle Nest Locator as active for this year is by Walgreen’s.  We went home, got The Beast, then returned to the pine trees.  There was indeed a nest, with a juvenile Bald Eagle on it!  I didn’t see either of the parents, but the juvenile stood there and called to them, posing nicely for me in the front of the nest.  How cool!  To think I’ve had a pretty accessible nest so close to home all winter…

We’ve been seeing Purple Martins flying over our heads each evening as we walk down by Black Lake.  I’ve been wondering where those birds nest, since I haven’t noticed any Purple Martin houses in the neighborhood.  Well, I found out.  They nest in the street lamps on Stoneybrook West Parkway!  I watched in amazement as a female bird stood on top of the light and fussed at her mate, who was incubating in an opening under the light.

Rich told me to turn around, and when I did, he showed me a family of Sandhill Cranes that was walking along the golf course.  Despite the harsh mid-day light, it was a great time to be outside!!  The little family moved closer to us, unfortunately behind the golf course fence.  I asked Rich if he thought anybody would notice if I took The Beast on the golf course (haha…I attract a lot of attention with The Beast, especially around the neighborhood!)  The birds seemed to read my mind–they turned and moved up a little hill, giving me perfect line-of-sight right over that annoying fence!  The light was horrible, but the subjects are wonderful.  This is a different family than the one I photographed by Lakehurst last week.  That family had one colt, this one has two…

Isn’t spring great!? :)