Well as usual I arrived at the nest at O-dark thirty. Oh my word it's cold out this morning! I really wanted to stay in bed but I missed seeing Ozzie and Harriet more than wanting to stay home..... Harriet was still on the nest and Ozzie was on a outer branch towards the road. Around 6:36 am Ozzie drops down to the branch just above the attic branch. There is some vocalizations from Harriet and Ozzie. Maybe a breakfish order from Harriet because Ozzie leaves about 1 min later heads to the river.  Dona , Carla,  Jeff, Jay and DeAnna  show up a bit later. Ozzie returns from the river or where ever he was empty taloned and there was some discussion about this,  I think maybe Ozzie told Harriet to get her own darn breakfish that the water was too cold to do any fishing...LOL     Well at least that's what I think ..  Harriet heads for the OCT( old cam 2 tree) does a big PS , some vocalizing then fly's over to the snag tree closest to where Dona and I are standing. She's a bit frisky this morning. Wingerizing , nipping at the bark on the tree and some preening. She doesn't stay long and heads off towards the east right over mine and Dona's heads. Totally awesome!!! What a Beautiful Eagle she is!
We sat there for awhile then we all decided to go home. As I turned on the computer I see  we missed Harriet coming back to the nest . Oh well it's all good . I still got some great shots of her and enjoyed my time with both of them.Soon we will have Eaglets to watch and enjoy. I CAN"T WAIT !!

Ozzie this morning at 6:36 am 

Harriet

Harriet

Harriet leaving

Brrrrrrr what a cold morning here in North Fort Myers!

I get at the nest my normal o-dark thirty with the time change I didn't have to wait long for it to get  lighter out and Harriet to call in another day. I get out of my truck and get my things set up. Dona arrives and we greet Ozzie and Harriet. Ozzie from the left outer branch (as we look at the tree) flies around the tree and goes into the nest. Harriet is still up on the same branch Ozzie just left.
Ozzie does his normal checking and moving of things then heads to the right pond tree for a branch if he can find one.That tree is soooo  picked clean. He does get a small stick and returns to the nest. Ozzie leaves and  heads off towards the river, Harriet drops down into the nest. Harriet doesn't stay long either. Just as Dona put down her camera, Harriet flies right over us and off in the same direction as Ozzie. Dona was not to happy with Harriet to say the least .LOL
We sit there talking and Desiree arrives. She just missed them.  Jeff (Trip J) arrives... I would say ...about an hr later you hear Harriet just a squeeeing from the left of us and here the comes Ozzie with a small fish for Harriet and she is right behind him. Ozzie barely gets his wings folded up when in comes Harriet and takes the fish from him. LOL Love watching the two of them. Not really sure if they shared the fish ...but my guess is NOT!  Harriet done with her breakfish goes to the porch branch and feaks her beak, while Ozzie is still sitting in the nest. Ozzie then leaves the nest tree and heads for one of the short full tree's by the pond and lands on the lowest branch. This is the second time I have seen him do this.

  Ozzie is looking for a branch from this tree doesn't see one he likes on the left side so he drops down on the ground and is looking around. He see's what he is looking for on the right side of this tree.. flies up  and he finds him a big one. Ozzie hops up, grabs the branch bends it down  until it snaps off and drops down to the ground to get a better grip on it.

Ozzie gets the branch just right in his talons ,and heads off for the nest. Dona and I were talking about how Ozzie hasn't been no slouch in the size of branches this year. They are huge. Maybe he is building the rail up for 3 babies this year ???? LOL 

The  placement of this branch takes a bit for Ozzie to get just where he wants it. Now I'm  not forgetting about Harriet ,today she is doing her part by getting pine and some moss for the nest bowl. From what I saw, Ozzie even let her check out the nest bowl more today without bothering her than I have seen in the past. Hmmm

Ozzie  with the branch from the full tree by the pond

Harriet and her moss/stick

   Harriet satisfied with the placement of her stick/moss , heads for the left  pond tree. She no more then get's settled in when here comes Ozzie and lands right on top of her and we have mating.... Boy oh boy I'm telling you what. That sure was a sneak attack. There was no chatter about it at all...LOL  There  was 6 seconds from photo of Harriet landing , to the photo of Ozzie landing on her. No stopping on the branch or anything. Ozzie must have been tired of being knocked off a couple of times.

Harriet just landing 

BAMB! Ozzie  on top of Harriet ...LOL

 Ozzie   done with his wam-bam thank you Mam flies down to the ground by the horse's and found something to eat. Flies up to the right pond tree to eat it. Not sure but he might have dropped it and goes back down to the ground and is joined by Harriet this time . Both of them are looking around. Harriet finds the piece Ozzie dropped and takes it to the other side of the tree...LOL     Poor  Ozzie.

Ozzie--- The Dive Bomber 

The scuffle for the food

"Dam she got my food again!" 

Harriet is eating then out of the corner of my eye ,I see Ozzie coming from around the tree.. lol Harriet picks up the piece of food and takes off with Ozzie right behind her for a bit. He gives up and goes to the left pond tree.Harriet heads to the front pine tree to finish eating.

Harriet headed to front pine tree

Ozzie feaks his beak a bit then flies down to the ground to a huge branch.

 Ozzie flies to the right pond tree to adjust his grip on the branch then heads off to the nest tree with his find. This one .... Ozzie has to come around the trees in the front then up into the nest tree. Amazing how they know they have to do that so they don't get hurt or lose the branch. 

There's more stick getting and pine getting by both of them. Ozzie leaves headed east for the day. Harriet heads out after a bit.... circles over us for a bit then heads out past the back of the church. 

I must say , Ozzie and Harriet sure did give me a great send off.  They stayed , they worked , beak-bonked, mated and showed me what nature is all about. I will miss my time with them at the nest but I will be watching for awhile on the cam . Hopefully the eggs will be here soon to help me get thru the time I have to stay home. 

I want to Thank everyone that has been reading my blog . I so enjoyed sharing my time with you. I'm not done just on a down time for now. I will be at it again here really soon. Thank You again!

OMG where do I even being today's blog! What and exciting day.
It started off very clam and quiet. Ozzie and Harriet mated in the front pine tree. Ozzie brought in some grass and a small stick compared to his normal huge branch. Ozzie heads out across the road and doesn't come back then Harriet leaves headed towards Bob's place. Ozzie comes back about an hr later Harriet is still gone , then he heads off towards Bob's also . Maybe 45 mins later here comes Ozzie followed by Harriet . Ozzie has a small piece of food for Harriet. She eats while Ozzie moves some sticks around. Harriet done eating hops on to the porch branch and feaks her beak. Ozzie is just sitting in the nest when all of a sudden I see another Eagle headed into the pasture and Ozzie & Harriet are just vocalizing. It's a Juvie about 3-4 yrs old. It fly's around the nest tree, starts to land on the upper right branches of the nest ,then takes off again. Fly's around the nest tree again , lands on the outer left part of the attic branch . All this time O&H are sounding off . Both have their eyes on this Juvie.
Ozzie and Harriet are just vocalizing and this Juvie is sitting there , looking around. Then the Juvie starts to spreads it's wings and then Ozzie is on the move . I didn't know which one to get pics of now. Ozzie goes up in the nest tree as the Juvie is coming down into the nest. OMG bad move on the Juvie's part. My Heart is just racing and I'm trying to get both in the photo. Harriet is still on the porch branch vocalizing.  Ozzie comes down into the nest and knocks the Juvie out of the nest and Harriet is off the porch branch headed into the nest as Ozzie and the Juvie go tumbling over the right side of the nest . Again my heart is just racing. They come around the nest... in between the front pine trees  and the nest tree. Ozzie dives down with legs extended, talons out , the Juvie had turned upside down with talons up. They lock briefly , then Juvie gets away from Ozzie . Ozzie chases it again around the cam 2 tree then Ozzie lands on cam 2 tree and the Juvie fly's right over Ozzie as it heads to the west. Ozzie after about 2 mins fly's to the west pasture tree line and checks a few trees to make sure the Juvie has left the area and  keeps flying north west out of the area. Harriet by this time has gone up to the branch above the attic branch. She was steady watching and looking around.Harriet is still very much on guard.  
Harriet starts vocalizing again. Oh boy here we go again but this time it's an Adult Eagle! It came from the south west flew across the nest area, banked to the left and headed north towards Bob's and  out of the area. Holy Crap-Oly!!! What a morning.
After all that I get a chance to look at my photo's . Sorry to say I did not get a photo of Ozzie and the Juvie locking talons.Yes, I'm still kicking myself for that (as I hang my head low in shame). I lost them as they were flying low.
I left Harriet still in the nest tree and went home. I'm still in awe of how well Ozzie defended his mate, his home and his domain from an other Eagle. Some thing I will never forget. Our Ozzie . what an AWESOME Eagle he is! And our Beautiful Harriet right there with her Man ready to help protect  their home. No one should very doubt Ozzie's ability to take care of what it his.

The Juvie as it leaves the upper branches 

Juvie 3-4 maybe not older than that 

Ozzie and Harriet sounding the alarm

Juvie 3-4 ...what some may call " a dirty bird " look because of all the white and brown on it and the beak hasn't turned completely yellow. You can still see some black on it's beak.  

Juvie getting ready to fly down into the nest.... Bad move!

 

See Ozzie on the right ,getting ready to fly up

Juvie on left  headed down into the nest ,Ozzie top right

Juvie in the  nest ,Ozzie coming down and Harriet in the lower right corner 

Ozzie knocking the Juvie out of  the nest and Harriet going in the nest

Hard to see.... I'm on the wrong side of the nest ,but Ozzie and the Juvie off the side of the nest. Harriet going in the nest.

 this was just before the Juvie turned upside down and they locked talons briefly  

The Juvie flying over Ozzie 

                                                                  Ozzie watching the Juvie to make sure it leaves

Harriet

The other Adult that flew by.

The other Adult ....

Good morning.. again the cams are off air . I 'll be at the nest shortly.

Look what we have here !!! A brood patch!

WOOHOOO !!!!!!
I have been looking and looking for this. This is so awesome ! I am just sooooo eggcited !
Happy Dance, Happy Dance!!!!!!!

4:24 am Sitting at my computer looking at F/B ,cams on and I hear Harriet and Ozzie . They are close by but can't see them. For me hearing Ozzie that well, means they are close by.  Hmmm gives me an idea of where to look for them later when I get to the nest. 5:00 am the cam's went off oh well I'll be there soon.....  Yes they do fly when it's dark. It maybe be from 1 tree to the other but they do fly. Why wouldn't they ? I think if they had to.... they could go further. Just my opinion.
 Oh and before I forget , the answers to the photo's ( since everyone had given up..lol ) #1  Harriet but why? #2 Ozzie -besides the beak what else? Remember I said there were 2 ID"s that both of them have or don't depends on the light and the angle in which you see the second one.  I didn't know both of them  had it until I got the 400 mm lens and was sooo surprised to see it. The tail ID both have it from my photo's . So there you go. Remember... I am giving my observations of what I see. I am not an expert nor do I claim to be. I see what I see in my photo's and from being there day in a day out. I do try... to the best of my ability to write from memory what I see and give an honest account of it.

Ok... so I will be back later with today's activities.

Well they were in the old cam tree when I got there. Harriet on one side ,Ozzie on the other. Harriet does some vocalizing and I look around across the pasture from the NW some thing is flying and goes right past me. It looked like and Owl but I'm not sure. When Dave got to the nest a little later, I asked him what kind of Owl did he get a pic of the other evening in the west pasture tree, he said it was a GHO and told me from underneath they look like a Hawk but their body's are rounder-fuller than a Hawk. So that's what it was. My first Owl and I didn't get a photo of it. Harriet and Ozzie didn't seem to bothered by it but was vocalizing. The Owl headed across the road.
Ozzie joins Harriet on the same branch. They are vocalizing and Harriet gives Ozzie the side kick and mating is on...lol   This was around 7:13 or so . They sit there for a bit then Harriet heads for the nest. Harriet checking things out and Ozzie heads over to the right pond tree . He fly's up breaks off a branch - or it falls off from Ozzie's weight. This thing was HUGE! Ozzie didn't or couldn't keep a hold of it , down to the ground it went and Ozzie flew back to the nest tree  up to the attic empty talon. I left to go to Publix and Ozzie left to go to the stick tree's across the road. I made it back be for Ozzie did...lol Ozzie soon finds the right stick and back he comes.  Harriet goes to the attic branch , then Ozzie leaves and goes to the river. Harriet stays around for awhile then she leaves headed towards Bob's house. I stayed for a bit then left. I have a few things to do so made it a short day.

This is a link to Dave's photo of the Owl
https://www.facebook.com/453803511405998/photos/a.454287701357579.1073741828.453803511405998/620681474718200/?type=1&theater

So for the photo's I posted yesterday. I wanted to know who it was and what ID was used for coming to the conclusion for everyone's answer. I'm just trying to show how some ID's are not the best because both of them have 2 of the same makers that are being used for one of them..... Dam even more confusing isn't it!?  Here are the ID"s that are posted on the cam page......  

Harriet (Female)

Ozzie (Male)

• Much larger than Ozzie • Inverted V in front neck ruffles • Dark circles around eyes • Thick/larger beak, larger gape • Black speckles high on tail • Dark heart shape on head, back right • Has a Longer middle talon than O Some of course are the ones we know the best. There are 2 that both of them have. I did look for their photo of the one for black speckles high on tail but did not find one. So I'm going by what I see in my photo's same for the dark circles around the eyes.

• Slimmer head • Smaller than Harriet • Interspersed sprinkles of white on right back shoulder • Inverted V above beak, brow line

Nice quiet morning at 5:30 am.Then  Kathy made it to the nest around 7-7:30 with her Mom. Donna M , Jim and his wife, David Mitz, Jay, DeAnna , Jeff  all eventually showed up.
   Ozzie, as it seems to be, was the first one in the nest. He came from the front tree. Harriet took her time showing up in the nest.  Ozzie was the first one to leave heading east. Harriet was on the attic branch then flew to one of the dead tree's close to us. She was just looking around ,scratched her head then left out headed east also. Harriet wasn't gone but a min and back she came with a squirrel for breakfast.

Harriet leaving to get her breakfast

Harriet and her breakfast

Ozzie snuck  in on us and went to the right pond tree. He must have gotten some to eat also , he was feaking his beak . Ozzie done with his clean up , fly's down to gather up some grass for the nest and heads over to the nest while Harriet is still eating her squirrel. Ozzie deliver's the grass then hops over to the porch branch and lets Harriet eat. Then all of a sudden   both Ozzie and Harriet are sounding the alarm and are in intruder mode. Here comes a Hawk to our left flying what looked to be straight at the nest.  The Hawk , realizes it's mistake and you can all most hear it saying...."Abort  mission ,Abort! Abort !  " and take a sharp turn to it's left and head off over the road. I swear I saw the Hawk wipe it's forehead with it's wing as if to say "Pheww that was close.. dam near got my ass whipped!"

See how they are both puffed up

Ozzie & Harriet vocalizing

With the Hawk gone ,Harriet finishes her squirrel and Ozzie joins her in the nest. Of course she didn't leave any thing for Ozzie...LOL  Harriet goes to the porch branch and feakes her beak. Ozzie soon joins her, then we have mating.   Ahh  Love Birds!  Ok now from the angle I was standing at..it looked like Harriet was still feaking her beak while they were mating .  could be wrong but from some of the conversation the others were having , they were saying the same thing..lol 

 Love birds siting side by side.

Enough quality time for Ozzie he fly's down to pond area and gathers some more grass for the nest bowl.  Ozzie comes back lands on the attic branch then drops down into the nest. Harriet joins him.

Harriet finds some of the grass on the edge of the nest and puts it were she thinks it should go while Ozzie is busy with bit of grass. But of course Ozzie still has the finale say on the placement so Harriet then goes to the porch branch, then back into the nest for a few mins then up to the attic branch.   They both stay for awhile not doing much more so I took the opportunity to go ahead and leave. As I gather up my things to leave I take one last look at them . Both just relaxing and seemed very content.

What a Beautiful sight to see. I sigh and get in my truck and head home. Another awesome day with Ozzie & Harriet .   

                                 Monday, 10/27/14
I haven't written in a few days. I was going to do just one blog for this last week before my surgery but sitting here watching Ozzie and Harriet on the cam this morning, before going to get all my test's done,  made me realize how much I am going to miss seeing them , hearing Harriet calling in the morning, stick placement discussions, the mating,  all of it while  I'm sitting at the nest. I'm in tears right now. My heart is aching  like I'll never see this again even tho I know I can see it on the cam it's just not the same for me.......

The past few days have been so much fun with Ozzie and Harriet and the great group of people that come to the nest also. Rail getting, mating, feeding Harriet (which is to Ozzie's advantage)  and them just sitting there relaxing. Watching Harriet closely for any signs of a brood patch, how she seems to be looking much "fuller" theses days. Great conversations while waiting for them to return.  Is what I do for everyone ? No... it does get real boring while waiting some times. I've almost fallen asleep a few times when I was out there by myself.....LOL But it's well worth it when they come back.
I have seen the different behaviors of Ozzie and Harriet . Their markings to ID who's who's . These photo's show from I am reading on the cam page of a couple of ID"s that I don't agree with for one of them.
                                                            Who is this????

                                                           Who is this one ?????

If you go by the ID's that are on the cam page , tell me who's who or are they the same? ....... 

10/28/`14
The morning was very foggy. Ozzie and Harriet were not in their normal tree's nor did Harriet vocalize like she usually does. So I wanted to see which direction they were going to come in from. Surprise! They came in from Bob's direction. First Harriet around 7:19 am then Ozzie 2 mins later.  Harriet went to the old cam 2 tree, then Ozzie went straight to the nest tree  and Harriet followed.
Some stick moving then Ozzie headed over to the stick depot across the road. Wow Ozzie brought in another HUGE branch, a small tree..lol

Placement of this one is going to be tricky. Weather Ozzie likes it or not , Harriet was going to have to help him with this one. It was still a bit foggy out and of course my lens fogged up too...... Geeeshh
Harriet leaves the nest and heads for the west pasture treeline. Ozzie soon follows and there is mating in the west treeline. I couldn't see them but I sure could hear them .lol   It takes only a few mins and Ozzie is headed back to the nest with another branch. Harriet stayed in the west pasture tree to get her self presentably just in case the cam's were back on. Bless Harriet , she wants to help Ozzie with the sticks but he still wants to do it him self. Harriet lets Ozzie do his thing and goes to the porch branch were it's safe. I guess Harriet was bored with sitting there , she took off towards Bob's place as Ozzie was across the road again for another stick. Ozzie got a few more sticks then went to the porch branch  to relax while Harriet was out shopping. About an hour or 2 Harriet comes back from the north with 2 talons full of grass. Boy it sure took a long time to pick out the right grass for the nest. ...lol
Oh I almost for got to tell you about the silly Mocking Bird that was using some ones windshield as a slide... OMG too  funny . It saw it's reflection in the window and kept going after it up and down the windshield. It would make it to the top and end up sliding back down .   This went on for about 20 mins.

We had to have some thing to watch , Ozzie was just chillin and Harriet hadn't made it back yet...lol
So any  way Harriet makes it back with some grass and you all know Ozzie has to get in the nest with her and help - push her out of the way. There is some more stick moving and a few beak pecking   Ozzie is once again tackling that big awkward stick he brought in earlier. Harriet steps up on the front porch branch to get out of Ozzie's way. LOL  it  looked like Ozzie nipped her tail feathers but he was moving the stick.  She turned around looked at Ozzie then went up to the attic branch.   Ozzie is done for the day heads off towards the back of the Church and keeps going east. Harriet watches him and about 5-10 mins later Harriet heads off in the same direction. Time for me to head home and get a few things done. A good  day with them both.

Ozzie battling with the Big stick