Eagles 3, Owls 2

During the last nine years we have been watching several pair of eagles nesting and raising their young. One pair has just hatched their seventieth young ones and the other pair have been having some trouble with establishing their territory.

This pair of eagles built a nest in a beautiful tree and had success in hatching two chicks. The next year the nest took was taken over by a pair of Great Horned Owls. The following year it was eagles again  and this year the owls were there to raise their two chicks. Owls are notorious for being lazy and avoiding the work of building a nest. They steal a ready made nest from eagles or other large birds.

We are always surprised that eagles will give up their nest to owls, but they do. This year it appears to be a good year for the nesting birds but there are some problems with water levels for wading birds. When we keep score for that second nest we have it: Eagles 3 and Owls 2.