I ordered one of those ginormous rental lenses again! It’s a different model than the one from last May, but it received good reviews and I wanted to try it out.
It arrives tomorrow. But I couldn’t wait that long to get out and find my eaglets and loons. (Fridays are a huge camper check-in day too, no way I could sneak away then) So I decided to take my old, beat up but faithful lens out today. The teacher I work with came along. We talked about the classroom, our students who moved on to ninth grade . . . we talked about my writing and photography, and then we heard a familiar call.
One of the eagle babies was hollering like crazy. We found him high in a tree quite a ways from their island. I told Shannon, “They still cry for food weeks after leaving the nest. They’re probably hoping Mom or Dad will feed them.”
Funny thing is, as we made our way past, we realized one of the adults was sitting just below the baby.
Would you call that tough love??? Listening to all that crying but hoping they’ll swoop down and scoop up their own fish dinner?
As we paddled a little further, the call of the loon echoed across the lake. Oh, how I’d missed it!
The parents were very attentive to their baby today, unlike the eagle adult! They dove left and right, popping back up with minnows in their beaks every time.
I can’t tell you how many shots I took of loons with wriggling minnows in their beaks. Sometimes they’d call a soft hoot and glide over to the baby. Other times they swished it around in the water to attract their little one.
I noticed the baby was diving now too! He stayed under for much shorter periods than his parents. And rather than the graceful, slow surfacing of the adults, he kind of popped out of the water like a cork. Still, he came up with one or two minnows of his own.
Let me tell you, the young one is eating very well!
And all the while I watched him feed, that eaglet (who I suspect is the youngest of the triplets) cried and cried and cried.
I don’t think the loons have any sympathy though, seeings how the eagles would probably still steal their chick, given half the chance.
Stay tuned for more wildlife pics, as I test out the new lens!