Lauren has been visiting nests:
"This was the nest we visited in April when the mother was incubating. There were 5 eggs then, now 4 fledgelings. They were feisty and very loud! With little hypodermic needle talons."
Then eagles:
"This nest was only about 150 feet high, nestled in a rock face, and easy enough to scramble up to...getting down was the hard part!
"There were two eaglets in this one - one significantly bigger than the other - I'd assume a clear male and female. There were all sorts of odd stuff in this nest -- fox bits, goat heads and hooves, raven remains! For nesting material there was also the blue prayer flags."
"One of the adults was nearby - we only noticed as we were driving away from the nest. It looked like the male to me - I snapped a photo just as he flushed!"
"By the way, I had an awesome time at the Asian Raptor Conference. A ball. I've got leads now for doing all sorts of research. I'm really becoming interested in the Eurasian population of Golden Eagles, and found some researchers in Siberia and Kazakhstan who are, too! Its generally believed that these eagles are non-migratory, but the local knowledge says otherwise - as well as the telemetry work done on Golden Eagles in Alaska, that shows them undertaking a long migration south. I think one could find out all sorts of fascinating things about their movement patterns in Russia, if studies were done."
Looking forward to seeing you and hearing about it, Lauren!
4 comments:
Steve,
It's been a long time since we drank beer on top of Mt. Tom and, a little tipsy, took the slide down.
Twice in the past ten years I've driven through Magdalena and thought about trying to find you...but always in too much of a hurry.
Just finished On the Edge of the Wild, which got me thinking about contacting you...so here I am. (Still in Alaska but thinking about buying a ranch in Washington.)
Wally Soroka
soroka@mtaonline.net
Closer to 40 years than 30!
A LITTLE tipsy?
More tomorrow. Meanwhile, never pass through Magdalena again without stopping. You can even inspect my birds.
Didn’t we wreck your butts on that slide run? We had lots of practice running those sleds crazy fast... even when a copperhead dropped into John's lap once.
This could only be a blog post with multiple pseudonyms...
I'm in Mongolia right now... missed the Asian Raptor Conference but would love to get in touch with Lauren- I'm a college student looking to return to Mongolia and do some graduate research. Can you put us in touch? I'm going to the Altai to meet Kazakh eagle hunters tomorrow- be back in 10 days. Enjoyed your book! Thanks-
Chris H.
missouribirdman@yahoocom
Chris-- her email is Berkutchi-at- aol-dot-com. For some reason your email would not send directly-- email me at ebodio-at-gilanet- dot-com and try again?
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