had a really nice day with Tyler. Quiet and gentle. I feel better. I would have rather hiked longer but my ankle is still bothering me from a father's day mishap, so maybe gentler is better, I don't know. Might go for an evening bike ride later, forage for some fresh rosemary. I'm out.

While we were up at angel's rest, I pointed out a bird that I thought was a turkey vulture - it's what I see most frequently in the gorge - but as I watched it gently soar by, a little above eye level, I could clearly see with no doubt that it was a juvenile bald eagle. I know these birds intimately now, after watching Gizmo and Sunny on the nest for three months. I could clearly see the eagle's face and body and feathers, there was no mistaking the species. It felt like it was looking at me. But there were also bunnies on the trail so more likely it was watching those, lol. We hiked early as per Tyler's preference - I would rather go later when there are fewer people. It was packed up there. This is the closest gorge hike to Portland, only a 30 minute drive, and parking is free.

I was grateful for the moment with the young eagle. The girls haven't been seen at the lake by the cameras or the locals who've been reporting on them. This is very concerning. Most eagles take 6-12 weeks to disperse. This has only been three weeks since fledging. The same thing has happened with all of Jackie's previous offspring, and all of her fledglings so far have died. I am not an eagle expert, but I know enough to know that they have to live by what's called "kleptoparasitism" for the first year of their lives, as they are not skilled enough to hunt live fish for themselves yet. So they must steal from other birds and scavenge to survive. Watching Sunny with the squirrel three weeks ago, they were nowhere near ready for that kind of life on their own - Jackie had to tear apart the squirrel for her. They need to learn from their parents, starting with collecting fish the parents drop, then stealing from their talons after a catch, etc. I just don't see how they've had time to learn enough of those skills yet.

(Edit - okay the youtube volunteer eagle experts do actually say 3-12 weeks after fledging is typical for dispersal. It still just seems too early, to me.)

I hope they are just exploring and seeing how far they can get on their own before they come back for more help from their parents. Because there are two of them - this is the first time Jackie has had two chicks survive long enough to fledge together - maybe they are emboldened to go a little further, since they have each other for support and reassurance. Supposedly, they sometimes revisit the nest for several weeks or even months after they fledge. Occasionally they will stay in the area for an entire year, I was selfishly hoping this would happen, even though it is so unusual, since the lake is full of fish and there are no other nesting eagle pairs in the area - it seems like a perfect place to scavenge discarded fish from people who are fishing and toss fish back that often don't survive, and also road kill since it is such a developed area. It would be more reassuring to know they had parental guidance for longer. But. Eagles are supposed to be nomadic until they mate, so this is all probably normal and natural and I should not fret so.

Regardless, it was nice to have a moment with a young eagle out in the wild, today.

We also saw bunnies, and ghost pipe.

Tyler shared his birthday treats with me, he wanted to make up for me not celebrating my own birthday in May, even though I reassured him that I didn't want to celebrate and having him at Green Ridge was all the gift I needed. I had some heavenly little tiny doughnuts from Pip's and a couple bites of a red velvet cupcake, and he got me a black rock cold brew with cream and cold foam and it was AMAZING, I had an almond milk latte from a black rock place years ago and it was awful so I didn't know they could make good drinks, but this was lovely. Birthday freebies are fun. :) I gave him a couple little gifts, too. I hope he had as much fun as I did.