Eagles in the Bay Area….how cool is that?

This past Sunday the kids and I took a drive out Calaveras Rd to check out the eagle’s nest. I first saw this nest a couple years ago on a bicycle ride out there.

You can’t miss it as it’s HUGE! It covers the entire top of a high power tower.
We took our first drive out there to check it out this past summer only to learn the inhabitants don’t live there in the summer and usually only live there from about Jan – April.

So, feeling like the paparazzi hanging out near a famous nightclub, we went in search of the eagles...and found them...or it in this case. As we pulled up we could clearly see the nest with nothing in it. And, as we piled out of the truck, we could see it circling in the area of its nest and heading in for a landing. Unfortunately I’m not so quick with the camera so I didn’t get it in flight, but here’s a shot of it sitting in the nest.


It’s my understanding that this is a nest for a mating pair and that they should be here now. So, I’m not sure if this was the male making sure the house was cleaned up before the wife got home or if this was the wife, waiting impatiently for the male to roll into town...

Still, it’s very cool that we have nesting eagles so close to home. I’ll be trying to get back out there over the next couple of months to see the pair and maybe even the offspring.

On the way out of the canyon we came across this guy, who, while much more common in the area, is still a fairly impressive (but very ugly) bird.

Sorry about the lack of detail on the eagle pictures…I was clear across the canyon with my 300mm zoom set to the max.