Day 360: December 26th – More Hudson Valley Eagles

Overcast, damp and chilly 37degrees

       With the first major snow storm of the winter forecast for tonight and tomorrow morning, we headed down river to retrace the route we take for Bald eagles between the Bear Mountain Bridge and Croton.  Again, we expect to find eagles that are resident rather than the migrants as the weather to the north has still been too warm to permit the open bodies of water on which the eagles depend for food to freeze over.   Slowly but surely, however, the weather has been growing colder and colder and it is only a matter of time before we can expect to see the visitors from the north begin to trickle in.

       In the meantime, we checked our usual spots in the hopes of finding a few resident birds.  A couple of days ago, we had our first two mature birds near their nest down near Peekskill.  We move a bit further south this morning and checked the surrounding trees at Croton Point Park and Croton Reservoir.

     One lone Redhead was found on the waters of the reservoir, and as hard as I tried, I could not conjure up a single eagle along the shoreline.  We dropped down to the outlet of the reservoir at Black Rock Park and while we came up empty in the eagle department, we did have a couple of nice Buffleheads in fairly close.

       At our next stop, George’s Island in Montrose, we again found one single female Bufflehead in close to shore, but not one eagle.  As we moved over to Verplanck and looked back at the north side of George’s Island, I did find a mature Bald eagle in the proximity of the nest which was built after the nest on Stony Point Battlefield State Park was destroyed by weather events.

       Moving further north, we arrived at our final destination of the day, China Pier in Peekskill.  As we ate a bite for lunch and observed the bay from the comfort of the RAV4, I spotted a young eagle soaring low across the river from east to west.  As he rose, a Ring-billed gull took off in hot pursuit and harassed the poor bird, pushing it closer to our vantage point and allowing me to get off a couple of shots in the darkening skies.  The bird was a mottled chocolate brown and white, apparently a first year bird. 

       As we headed home, we stopped by the eagles nest I had reported on two days ago and found it vacant, its owners apparently off hunting before the onset of the impending snow. 

       What will tomorrow bring?  It looks promising for some accumulations of a half foot or more.  A little late for truly white Christmas, but exciting to have it arriving just the same.