In a pine tree clinging to the cliffs above Lake Natoma sits a bald eagle nest with 3 eaglets. Surprisingly, it is less than 100 yards from a suburban Sacramento neighborhood and in clear view of anyone walking or biking on a wide trail on top of the American River bluffs.
The nest and tree are within the boundaries of the Lake Folsom State Recreation Area at the eastern edge of the American River Parkway, a nature preserve and park that runs from Folsom Dam to the junction of the American and Sacramento rivers. A pair of bald eagles have been raising young there for 8 years. The eaglets hatched out in late March and early April this year. Since then the eagles, dubbed Mama and Papa, have been busy taking turns feeding and nurturing their young.
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There’s a perfect spot to observe the nest that is only a short walk from the street to the trail. A nearby home hosts a 24-hour live web cam on its chimney. You can access the feed at the Friends of Lakes Folsom and Natoma (folfan.org) website. The birds were completely unfazed by the dozens of people passing by: families with excited children, couples with leashed doggies, bicyclists zooming through and us crazy birders with binocs and large zoom lens.
We arrived at just the right time. Papa was feeding his voracious youngsters.
After he finished feeding and the babies laid down in the nest, Papa Eagle literally kept an eagle eye on his surroundings.
The area on top of the bluffs is woodland oaks and meadows with vernal pools. My friend and I sat quietly watching the nest in camp chairs we brought. We also had plenty of opportunities to see a fine collection of other birds inhabiting the parkway. It was a perfect day about 70 degrees, with sunny skies, wispy clouds and just enough light cool breeze to keep us from getting too warm.
After a couple of hours, Papa apparently ran out of baby food, so he took off to a nearby pine that serves as his fishing lookout. Instead of hiding in the nest, the babies kept popping up and taking a look around.
We have a Bug of the Day. There were dozens of these beautiful black/blue butterflies fluttering through the oaks and landing on the flowers. A nearby vernal pool hosted dozens of dime-sized green frogs.
We also saw swallows swooping quickly through the skies. A small flock of ravens cruised overhead but disappeared before I could catch a photo of them. Yellow-Rumped Warblers flitted among the oaks but quickly flew away. There were lots of yellow and purple wildflowers among the lush green grasses.
I plan on visiting this site multiple times over the next couple of months to watch the eaglets grow.
Spring is here with much warmer weather. We went from rain and 60 degree temps last weekend to a full week of clear skies and 80 degree weather.
What’s up in your neck of the woods?