The Skeeter Daddle Diaries

The past month I’ve been watching a pair of eagles down at the Head sitting on two eggs and finally seen those eggs hatch. Two white fluffy furballs, barely the size of a golf ball. The last week the two adults have been leaving the nursery more and more often, no doubt convinced the crib is safe so long as they keep an eye on it from their perches in the firs up above. Good spot for babysitting duties and hunting for food. Crab seems to be high on the menu.

Yesterday I stopped by with a camera and the parents were out of the nest up in the trees. This time I only spotted one chick. When the mom flew in with some rapid clicks, only one stumbled over to her, so I assume something happened to its sibling. Crows maybe or just starved to death, who knows?

Couple of days ago I went down to Cama Park to see the elephant seal pup sleeping on the beach. God only knows where the mom was, but the 500 pound seal was seemingly doing okay, cordoned off from the park humans so it could molt and finally slip back out to the sea. Nice to think of us humans being protective….

Today I was down by the garden and those pesky wabbits were hopping all over the yard. I hid behind a plum tree and caught an unsuspecting bunny by the legs. It screamed its bunny scream and immediately momma came loping around the corner, circled closer and closer to me holding her wiggling baby. I sat still, bunny in my paws, close to the ground, curious what she would do. I know, kind of a cruel experiment. You may think a rabbit is a cowardly creature, fearful, timid, but trust me when I tell you she finally raced over to me and gave the hand holding her kid a good bite. Served me right. I let her pup loose and the two of them went back to hiding in the garden where they could bite my beans and lettuce.

Last week I had found a hummingbird nest hidden in the bough of a cedar tree near our outhouse. For a few days I would walk by and the sitting adult would jet out of the nest and wait for me to pass. But one day I noticed no bird exiting. Or the next. Or finally the subsequent days after. I presume the parents were missing in action. Just left two tiny eggs in a nest lined with moss and lichen that would never hatch.

A couple hours ago I was back to the eagles’ nest. This time I spotted the second chick being fed morsels of a fish the parents had caught. Talk about relieved. I guess watching these guys for a few weeks had given me a keen paternal interest in their welfare. When I first arrived I found a fellow birdwatcher, a woman crouched in the brush. “Excuse me,” she called out, “I’m taking a piss.” I told her I was moving right along, no problem. We ended up watching the eagles together.

“You live around here?” I asked. She said she was living in her car. Her father had lived on the island, but he had died and her sister had sold the house and kept all the proceeds. Her sister, she told me, had run off with her husband and now her ex and her sibling were trying to have her committed to a mental institution. We watched the eagles for about half an hour, waxed philosophic about birds and cheating husbands, then bid adieu. I said good luck with all this. She said things would work out. I sure hope so, I said. But between you, me, the rabbits and the hummingbirds, I sort of doubt it.

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