Bad news....
For the past 5 years (seasons) we've had the good fortune of having a mating pair of Bald Eagles nest across the street, viewable from the Bungalow and directly above my neighbors Mike & Melissa's house.
Bad news.....in November the Eagles enhanced their nest, laid eggs and were taking their regular shifts guarding them as normal. All of a sudden one day they were attacked, eggs destroyed and chased away from the nest by a mating pair of Great Horned Owls. Come to learn that these Owls are actually higher up on the pecking order (pun intended) of the bird of prey chain than the Eagles. They do not build their own nest but drive off and steal the nests of large hawks and eagles. All in the neighborhood were very sad about this because it was such a joy to see these majestic Eagles come and go from the nest, raise their young and to watch the young ones fledge!

Good news.....
Well the Owls took over and proceeded to start their family. They are much more camouflaged than Eagles and hunt at night so not so many viewable comings and goings. However once Mother Nature made up her mind that was the way it was going to be this year. So after cussing them for a while we slowly began enjoying the owls. Even became intent on listening for their hoots when calling out to one another. Then a few weeks ago 3 little heads started showing above the nest and the adults could be seen bringing larger prey for the babies to feast on. Even saw a duck brought to the nest once. In the past week the little ones have gotten bigger, braver and started jumping up on the edge of the nest to look out at the scenery. Mike took the enclosed photos yesterday, one of the adults overseeing the nest and the other of the three babies, enjoy!

Note.....
The Eagle pair fortunately re nested about three blocks from here. The nest is at the top tier of a large cell tower. A big departure from the beautiful nest in the big pine tree here.....oh well. I've seen the adults sitting above the nest and have seen one juvenile also that appears ready to fledge. I am told that it is possible for the adult Eagles to return to the old nest in the future.....hopefully nest year!
Bald Eagles mate for life and have a life expectancy average of 16.5 years. They have made a marvelous come back in the US where in 2009 there were only 72.000 birds. Thanks to the conservation efforts and the banning of certain pesticides the Eagle population is currently 300,000 birds strong. They have been taken off the endangered species list.

Cheers!
Barry