Channel: Paul Stamets

Category: Education

Tags: #pnw #vanlife #ornithology #vabald eaglesnaturestametseagles

Description: For your weekend pleasure, check this out. Not a mycological event, but a rare event of #nature, seldom seen, but one that we will forever cherish. . Yesterday, we observed something truly amazing. While going to our garden, two eagles were on the ground, apparently play-fighting. Soon Pam and I realized that the two bald eagles were about to mate, an event rarely witnessed. . Keeping our distance, the #eagles did not seem to mind our presence, determined to complete their romantic embrace. They seemed relaxed with our presence. We watched in stunned and respectful silence. . When in college, I studied a rookery of #Baldeagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) near Darrington Washington as a field project under the auspices of #ornithologist Steve Herman, who recently died on Friday April 3, 2020. Although spending many hours studying them I never saw them mating. . Females are typically larger than males and select their mate after being courted by several males. When she makes her choice, the other suitors depart, and the courtship ritual begins. Oftentimes they dance in the sky, even locking talons together as they free fall from more than 1000 feet, cartwheeling as they plummeted, locked together tumbling to the Earth, hopefully separating before impact. . This video –3:45 minutes long– is a great display of #courtship. She will lay her eggs in 5-10 days, if successful, in a massive nest, high up in a tree that has expansive views of the horizons. . I love Nature.