The nesting box atop the XCel power plant had a Peregrine sitting on the outer
half-wall, facing inward, about a week ago. It flew off and reappeared 20
minutes later. I haven’t seen either falcon in a couple of visits since but I
haven’t tarried at the site, either. While driving both sides of the
Mississippi I noticed an eagle in the nest on the power line on the east end of
Pickerel Lake. The bird was performing some operation with its first before
carefully setting itself back down on the nest - I’m hoping that it was turning
an egg before settling back down on it. A little further up river, from the
Lilydale side, I stopped and saw that there was an eagle sitting on the old
established nest on the north side of the river and that both Osprey were atop
the platform just upriver from XCel. Yesterday, while walking in Lilydale
along Pickerel Lake, there were two adult eagles perched next to the new nest
on the west end of Pickerel Lake. So, in an oval no more than a mile long
there might be as many as five active nests. Or not. At least it’s a bit
heartening in this flu year.
Tom Gilde
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