Part 4 - Implementation Day 2

Saturday, 6:20 AM. My wife and I have been sitting at the same spot as yesterday for an hour. The golden hour is ending, and sunrise is imminent. Yesterday at this time, I had already encountered a young white-tailed eagle. Today, however, there was no activity until suddenly the silhouette of an eagle appeared on the horizon. We waited eagerly to see if more eagles would follow and perhaps come closer to us.

Shortly after, everything happened in quick succession: The eagle whose silhouette we had just seen steered directly towards a dead tree about 100 meters away and perched on one of the branches—just like the day and the weekend before. It seems this tree has a magical attraction for the white-tailed eagles (Haliaeetus albicilla).

Two minutes later, two more eagles joined in. They first perched on a nearby spruce. One of them then flew to the already occupied dead tree, where the other young eagle was sitting. Bingo!

The light wasn't strong enough yet, so I had to start with a low shutter speed again. Normally, this isn't an issue with perched birds of this size. But the two eagles had other plans; they didn't intend to stay still. With a powerful flap of their wings, they took off and began to squabble in the air.

The aerial battles lasted for a while. Eventually, one of the combatants returned to the bare tree near me and perched on one of the many branches. After some time, it moved to the top of the old tree. As soon as it settled, the bird began to call out in a raspy voice.

Then the second combatant returned to the tree where the calling companion was perched.
The third white-tailed eagle continued to sit atop a spruce, surveying the area. Through the camera, I could tell by the features that it was an adult.

The sun rose, and the light improved!

The situation was now this: the adult sat undisturbed atop the spruce, and the young eagles were full of energy. They flew back and forth, mock fighting, flying over the older eagle, and performing acrobatics, grabbing pieces of wood as if they were prey and chasing each other. It was a ruckus over the pond. This was a unique experience that I tried my best to capture in photos.

This action continued for a long time until another young eagle joined in and added its input. 😃
Then the three young white-tailed eagles flew together towards another pond, and the adult eagle did the same, but in a different direction.

As I had done the day before, I was able to read the rings on the images of the two young eagles. I was eager to find out what information I would receive about them.

What a white-tailed eagle day—something I couldn't have imagined!
We packed up our equipment and ended this adventurous day, hoping to have another such experience the next day.

Part 4 — Implementation Day 3

Sunday, 8:00 AM, nothing—no eagles so far, but around 6 AM, a car arrived at the opposite pond, and two people got out. The day seemed ruined, I thought. I had no hope that an eagle would show up. Not after, this car with the two occupants appeared, posing a disturbance and a threat to the eagles. I wondered what this car was doing in the nature reserve in the first place. Later, I found out that another car with a couple had camped there.

9:22 AM, an adult white-tailed eagle came to the pond where we were but kept its distance, followed by a young eagle that settled near the adult. Then nothing happened; the two birds sat there, and around 10 AM, they flew off.

The day wasn't a grand finale, but so what, the weekend was more than spectacular. So much white-tailed eagle action in Bavaria—I could never have imagined it!

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