Imagine you are an eaglet …
Your first memory is being entombed in dark, tight, smelly quarters. Mustering all your strength, you finally manage to crack your prison shell and stagger out to a cruel world.
Wet, miserable and a little freaked out by the height.
You blink your eyes and catch the first glimpse of a rather fierce looking creature who turns out to be your mother. Before you even have time to wonder how that happened, she is gone.
So there are you all alone in what might be described as rustic accommodations. It seems the builders gave up on the place before installing a roof. The obvious disadvantage is getting soaked when it rains which seems to happen a lot.
There is no Internet, no smart phone and only raw meat delivered occasionally by your wild-looking mother.
Your legs finally get strong enough to take a couple of steps. You wander to the edge of the nursery and take a glimpse of the neighbourhood. It’s an upscale forest at the edge of a lake in a national park. Not too shabby!
Then you make the mistake of looking down … and nearly pass out. The height of your accommodation is beak dropping! How did it get up here? You try hard not to envision dropping like a cannon ball straight for the distant rocks below. There is not a guardrail in sight. It seems either humans or eagles have this whole safety thing turned on its head.
There also appears to be no wildlife family services to deal with your delinquent parents. Where are they? Other mothers at least provide milk or some affection. You just hang around enduring your cold, wet and miserable life while calling out for someone, anyone for a rescue from this improbably high prison. Your cries echo through the valley.
No one comes.
You close your eyes and the unpleasant realities begin to fade. Suddenly your mother appears, landing quickly on the nest. Overjoyed, you dance around the nest only to have her bump into you. Suddenly you find your balance slipping in slow motion over the edge. In an instant, the rocky shore below starts rising with increasing speed …
Is it a dream?
Please help! I’m lonely.
Krahnpix 
Thanks for ssharing this
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Thanks for looking!
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your usual awesome brilliantness (no I am confident it is not a word) especially love the rain streaks in the second shot
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I appreciate that. After getting pretty wet taking the shots, I was hoping it would at least look like it was raining in the photo.
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These are outstanding! Really enjoyed seeing the youngster.
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I appreciate that. It was certainly a thrill for me since they aren’t nearly as common as in your area.
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You nailed it with this one! Hope this little guy made it to adulthood.
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I hope so too. It is a remarkable journey for the ones fortunate to make it though. Glad you enjoyed the post.
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These are incredible images, but, to be frank, your write up did steal the show 🙂
The about section here, gave a hint of what’s in store 🙂
Thank you so much for this entertaining post, Lyle .
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I really appreciate your comments. To let you in on a little secret, I thoroughly enjoy taking the photos but the writing actually gives me more satisfaction when it all comes together. Now what can I come up with next …
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Outstanding composition, Lyle, love these photos.
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Thanks so much. I look at those photos with fond memories of a wonderful time.
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Now that’s just precious. I feel like I am right there!
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That’s great. It was a wonderful opportunity to photograph – too good to pass on the on opportunity to imagine what it might be like.
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What a fabulous series of “in the nest” nature photos, Lyle. I love the sequence you put together from the shot of the young one yelling for something to eat (reminded me of myself in the morning) to that eye-to-eye shot where it’s almost asking the viewer for something to nibble on. And, from an artistic perspective, your fabulous use of bokeh and lens vignetting was terrific and all brought the viewers eye directly to the main subject. For a guy stuck in the studio for three days, it was a breath of fresh air and a connection with nature. Many thanks my friend. ~ Rick
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Giving someone a breath of fresh air is a most satisfying pleasure, particularly when it brings back such wonderful memories for me. It was a fabulous experience photographing my first eaglet and it was a lot of fun to share. I really appreciate your thotful comments.
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This is a great post Lyle – loved your narrative and great images of the little one. For some reason your blog has been turned off in my Reader, it’s back on and I’m able to enjoy your posts again.
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Glad you enjoyed the post. It was fun to create thots for the eaglet. The Reader sometimes does odd things so I’m glad it’s working for you now.
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That baby would probably be pretty unhappy if its parents came home with milk. Still, I love the story, and the photos are stunning, as usual! The framing and background in the last one are something special.
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I am afraid I am hopelessly addicted to the fun of adding parts to the story that make no obvious sense. Who can resist?
The last photo was born of necessity since I only had a small opening in the leaves to photograph the distant nest. What started as a problem ended up adding to the photo when I found the right spot.
Thanks for your comments. I was quite excited to photograph my first eaglet.
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Surely a hungry and bored young eaglet is more than happy for a parent to appear, however briefly, with a tasty morsel. But does it really mind waiting in the rain? Is it more patient and happier when the weather’s fine? What if it had to compete with a sibling? It seems to me that you have a keen insight into what may be going through this little one’s mind, and it occurs to me that you might well consider constructing a story (maybe a children’s book?) around the state of affairs from a fledgling’s perspective…
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I really appreciate that. I had an interesting time with a perspective that is undoubtedly false but fun. It’s fascinating how many ways the tale could be told. When I first started photographing the nest, I didn’t even realize there was a youngster there since it was so far away. When I came back I realized the mother was gone and this eaglet was all alone. Lift his head to the sky was a great moment to capture.
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Love this – one of my all time favourite posts; was giggling all through it.
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Sharing a sense of humour can be dangerous! Glad you enjoyed it!
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I love the look that you are getting in the latter shot, something like in the children’s book, “Are you my mother?” Beautiful eaglet, beautiful country.great story and photos.
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I was fortunate to get some interesting looks from the little guy. It really is a gorgeous place and I was pretty pumped to get these shots. Glad you enjoyed the post.
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I’m thinking that’s actually a hand-puppet you stuck on a bush to pose for you! 😉 Unless, of course, you can provide a shot of the rather fierce looking creature?
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I’m getting better at ‘hand puppets’ wouldn’t you say:) I actually have a photo of the fierce-looking mother in the nest but I’m saving that one for a different ‘puppet show.’
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Fabulous pics and prose, Lyle. Our kids have it really easy, don’t they? 😀
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Absolutely. With every generation it seems they have an easier time. Good thing we don’t have to hunt as our sole source of food!
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Aw, you make it so sad! He just has to sit there and wait for his parents to return with catering, how bad can it be? 🙂 Although the rain does look unpleasant. That’s a great photo!
At least the eagles get to grow up a bit before launching into the unknown. Imagine being a duckling of one of those tree-nesting duck species: “Hello, you’ve hatched! Now jump 50 feet to the ground.”
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OK if I was the duckling, I think I would just stay up there. Nature’s ways are not always the most intuitive!
I like the catering idea. If there is a next time, I’ll have to write the story of the five-star nest with room service. Yes, that could definitely work well.
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Great post, Lyle! Did you climb a tree? 😀
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Glad you enjoyed it. I really wish I had a wild story of climbing dangerously but alas the road was carved out of a side of mountain so it ended up the same height as the nest. It would have never happened otherwise!
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So I’m guessing you were on a ridge across a valley from this nest, to be able to get eye to eye with the eaglet? Great perspective–and narrative!
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You’re absolutely right. And to make it even better, there was a road on the side of the mountain! That fortunate perspective was most helpful though the nest was so far away it was a challenge to get reasonable shots in the rain.
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Wow, great photo’s Lyle. Also love the narrative.
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Thanks so much. I was more than surprised to get photos of an eaglet so it deserved a good story.
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Great narrative and absolutely stunning photos, Lyle! Love it! Where were you when you took this set? I am wondering, right along with Mike, whether you were hanging from a rope or strapped to a nearby tree. Crashing to the rocks below probably happens often enough. We had tree swallows nesting in our shed this summer, and more than one youngster hit the cement floor and died. Another was carted off by a Western Blue Jay and partially eaten. Only one fledged, flying into my leg as he tried to leave the shed. He flew back in and hid among the flower pots. I fished him out, and held him skyward. He then took off in the right direction, flying circles around the parents. They all circled me a few times before disappearing. Good to see at least one make it.
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The marvels of nature never cease to amaze. Given all the obstacles of wild babies it’s surprising enough survive to carry on the next generation but they do unless humans mess things up. That’s a great story you told – it must have felt good to see it fly away.
I really wish I had a wild story of climbing dangerously but alas the road was carved out of a side of mountain so it ended up the same height as the nest. It would have never happened otherwise!
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Absolutely amazing pictures!
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I was really fortunate to be able to be there at the right time and get the photos. It had been a dream. I hope it happens again.
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Gorgeous photos, interspaced with the usual creative and witty dialogue Lyle :-0
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So good to hear that from you. I’m never sure if my wit will land with others.
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Your narrative is compelling and your images are astounding, Lyle. It’s incredible to an eagle’s nest from that perspective and the eye-to-eye perspective makes this encounter a very personal one (as does you creative exploration of the thoughts and emotions of the young bird). Meanwhile, my imagination is running wild as I try to decide if you were hanging from ropes off the side of a cliff or maybe were strapped to a tall tree to take these amazing photos.
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Glad you enjoyed the post. You gave me an idea I hadn’t thot of – to make up an incredible story of how I got to eye level of the nest. As it is in many cases, the truth is much more boring. There is a road conveniently located on the side of the mountain which just happens to be at the same height as the nest.
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Ah, you’ve made it easier to comment. 🙂
I really like the first image. It creates such a great sense of place…height and wilderness in one shot.
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Yes, it was a bit of a struggle with this new design but I think most of the bugs are worked out of it now.
Initially I was disappointed that I couldn’t get any closer to the nest, but it really was in such a grand space that it worked out quite well to show the surrounding area. In hindsight I probably could have taken another shot to show just how high that nest really was.
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Bellissimi scatti !!!
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Grazie mille!
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‘Hungry Bird’? 🙂
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Absolutely – I find there’s nothing worse than being hungry!
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‘Open your wings! Open your wings!’ 😉
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It’s fascinating how other people’s problems are so easy to solve. Great comment!
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