Bald Eagle

Description:

The story: Last year, a red tail hawk pair built this nest and raised a family. This fall, I was thinking, "am I crazy, or is that nest getting bigger"? It became MUCH bigger, and I started seeing a single eagle in the area, then finally a pair together. The first 3 pics are 2 hours after sunset yesterday. I have a new Zeiss f1.8 lens, so between the remaining ambient light and the reflection of the moon off the snow, I was able to get these pics of the pair in the moonlight. They were flying in and out of the nest, and pic 3 shows them "kissing"; several times they would sit up in the nest, hold their heads up and touch their beaks repeatedly, then go back out of sight in the nest. In pic 1 and 2, the mate is down inside the nest.

Habitat:

The last pic shows the habitat - cattail marsh and ponds, open fields, and small lakes with hilly shores of oak uplands and marshy bays. 4 years ago, a tree directly adjacent to this one blew down in a storm; there had been a pair of nesting eagles in that tree. I haven't seen eagles there since that happened. I wonder if this is the same pair returning to the neighborhood.

Notes:

This is in a 2 million+ pop major metro area. I don't think anyone else is aware of this nest at this time, and hope it stays that way; it is on public land 1 minute from my house. It is unusual for eagles to still be here in the winter, all waters except the Mississippi are freeze over. However, there is a small lake nearby that is aerated, with about a 1/2 acre of open water and maybe that's good enough for them. The Mississippi is about 15 minutes away (for me) in downtown St. Paul, the capital city of Minnesota, and though not navigable this time of year, still has some open water also.