Our favorite Mama eagle was up in her cottonwood tree looking and waiting for her new suitor on Sunday. After all, it's the time of year for romance and other eagle pairs are pretty "active" already (the ones in Iowa anyway) . . .

. . . As I was leaving the nesting area late in July, one of the juvies flew back to the nest and perched above the nest. So I turned around and went back and was able to capture its silhouette against the soft evening sky, a wonderful sight indeed.

By early August the juvenile eagles are spending more and more time away from the nesting area, but for now they still come back to the nest in the evening and like to perch on the branches around the nest.

One evening while watching them perch around the nest, it became obvious that they can also get bored and restless (like young kids) as they started picking at the bark on the branch, moving up and down the branch for no reason, and then started bickering with each other with one of the juvies jumping up and pushing his sibling away with its feet. Pretty funny to observe . . .

This has been quite a year for Mama Eagle, and she deserves to take a long rest in the cottonwood tree in the evening sun. She lost her mate at the end of May and was left to raise and feed a couple of hungry eaglets on her own. What a wonderful job she has done! All of us who follow her and the eagle's nest are very proud of her.

. . . There have been fly-bys from juvenile eagles and ospreys in the recent past, so better to be safe and stay on guard. Although she doesn't spend as much time in the nest since the eaglets were younger, she will perch on branches near the nest, or keep a watchful eye out from the large cottonwood tree not far to the southeast.