Over the past few days, Jackie and Shadow have spent significant time bringing sticks to the Stick Depot Snag (SDS)—13 on Wednesday, 9 on Thursday, 40 on Friday (almost reaching their 41-stick record from last week!) and only 2 sticks yesterday.
Yesterday, they both focused more on their home nest, bringing 6 sticks between them--maybe making sure the nest still remembered them or didn’t feel left out. Jackie started the trend, bringing a large branched stick just after dawn…and she placed her gorgeous present right in the middle of the nest. She almost moved it once and kept looking like she intended to put it in its right place, but instead, she spent 15 minutes watching around the neighborhood from the front porch and balcony. She left the stick placement for her interior design expert, Shadow, to handle later in the day.
In the evening, Shadow arrived with his first stick and then checked out the neighborhood for half an hour before leaving to collect another stick. When he brought his 2nd stick, Jackie arrived soon after and surprised him into a bit of a kerfuffle.
When Shadow arrived, he was sporting a long, white streak all across the top of his wing—apparently the forest can be an unpredictable place with birds out there pooping on you willy nilly.
Jackie and Shadow worked together on nest arrangements, getting things back into proper order…and they even shared a little beaky smooch as they bonded over all the nest organizing operations. And kindhearted Jackie helped Shadow get some stuck dirt off his beak.
Jackie soon left the nest work to her expert and took over checking out the neighborhood from the back porch. At one point, whatever she saw puzzled her and brought a “taken aback” look to her face (19:47:43). That thought-driven reaction again allowed us to see the intelligence that eagles and many animals demonstrate, but don’t often get credit for.
Complete with her work, Jackie flew off toward their favorite nearby roost tree. But Shadow apparently wasn’t finished working. He flew out, and returned 10 minutes later with one more stick before he would call it a day. Then he joined Jackie and they snuggled side-by-side on the same limb for the night.
Sandy
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