The Many Faces of a Bald Eagle

I am thinking that this is the female Bald Eagle. She was out of the nest when I arrived and the mate was in the nest, as the chicks still need brooding in this cold weather. She flew in and perched above the nest, always on the alert as her mate did some feeding and house keeping.

Post script from Sunday

I stayed for a while after all my photographer friends had left the nest area. I was hoping to see the Bald Eagle pair at sunset, hopefully settling in for the night. I was provided with a photo op.

Hatching!!!

It appeared there was a behavior change of the adults on Friday, February 21 which carried over to Saturday, February 22. There were several instances of both adults being at or near the nest plus, I had the date of incubation beginning 5 weeks earlier. Incubation typically lasts from 34-36 days but it's sometimes difficult to ascertain from ground observation, as the eagle doing the incubating is often way out of sight in the nest.
I had spent a good amount of time at the nest on Saturday but my timing may have been off as I never saw any prey items being brought in, an indication that hatching has occurred. Several minutes after I called it a day, I received a call that prey had in fact been delivered to the nest!!! A sure sign that things had changed and there was at least one chick in the nest!
When I went back the following day (Sunday) I was able to see a feeding take place.

Small fish for lunch!

Feeding the chicks

Feeding the chicks, checking territory

Nest Exchange: NOT! 2.10.20

I saw two incomplete nest exchanges this afternoon. I am thinking that this is the male who was twice waved off by the female incubating the eggs. I have learned that generally, the female calls the shots regarding incubation. In this case, she didn't make a sound but perhaps the male is a mind reader! It continues to be a challenge telling these eagles apart in poor lighting conditions.

Landing in the nest tree.

 Awaiting instructions.

Leaving the nest tree.

 Landing in the guarding tree.

Leaving the guarding tree. He stayed just 2 minutes!

Flying down to the North Landing River.

Blog is Resuming!

Greetings!
After much soul searching, I am resuming this blog. It's time consuming for me but I have received much appreciated feedback that folks enjoy the stories behind the many Bald Eagle photos that I post on the Honey Beeagles and More Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/HoneyBeeagles/ .
To update: I have still been observing the Honey Beeagles since last August, 2019. I had stopped by the nest then and discovered a Bald Eagle in it.

After that, I increased my surveillance of the neighborhood, the golf course, and the eagle perching places. I was able to determine by September that the Bald Eagle pair that I was seeing were the same pair that nested on Honey Bee Golf Course, 6th hole the last 2 seasons, in the "nest that HK built."
The last several months, the pair have added sticks and soft bedding material to the nest. Indeed, egg laying has been confirmed and the pair have been incubating eggs since around mid January.  I don't know exactly when egg laying began,  so I will be watching for possible hatching behavior from the adult eagles beginning on Valentine's Day. Incubation is about 34-35 days. When the eggs have hatched, the adults will be bringing prey to the nest to feed the eaglets. That is when things get really interesting.
Here is a photo of the pair from yesterday (2.7.20). This was a "nest exchange." The adults change places while incubating the eggs, to give each other a break. I believe that's the female on the left. She flew in to relieve the male who had been on the eggs for about 90 minutes.