Hope your's was too, Karen & speaking of

After Thanksgiving Dinner we headed for Mingo, came around a corner, and saw lots of migrating turkey vultures, roosting in the trees, and flying over us.
Even though, some spend winters in the the Southwest and eastern U.S. northward to southern New England; like some do at Mingo, nesting &
living on the refuge~~we have never seen over a dozen together & ususally just 5-6, the rest of the year:~~so these had to have been some of those that make annual migrations in huge flocks to Central and South America.

http://identify.whatbird.com/obj/117/_/ ... lture.aspx
we saw about 100 going way back into the trees off the road, & flying overhead: the wings whooshing, and everything about it was awesome because they are so large anyway, & then the huge group. {& don't know of course, if there were black vultures with them, though there are some of them living at Mingo also, but we haven't seen any of them yet}

Mingo Refuge~11/26/09~4:33-4:44 pm {sunset was 5 pm}

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Hey, Queenie, I've never seen so many turkey vultures in the trees like in your pictures. It looks like our eagle trees do when we have the annual eagle festival here. In fact we were just discussing turkey vultures over on Linda/hikerbikergram's thread for the Mississippi/Illinois/Missouri Eagles thread here:

viewtopic.php?p=669903#p669903

I think these may be some of those she's missing there at 150 miles north of here, & migrating south through Mingo~I've never seen this many either, & it was right before dark ~ but we loved it ~fascinating~~I'll go put the links of them over there

Thanks for putting the links over on Linda's thread, Queenie. I was going to do that but then I got distracted.

Karen no problem, we'll get our migrating eagles soon also~but luckily we saw our eagle pair at the new nest 2 weeks in a row again, didn't go this weekend

Wappapello Eagle~11/25/09~12:24 pm

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Beautiful flyer, Mom leaving after our visit with them~Dad left 1st, but he always leaves 1st She can go right through all those branches/twigs, wonder how the fledgees will do~that looks like the only exit
{more pictures to follow ASAP}

Hi Queenie, I got your message at my thread. I'm sure some of my migrating Turkey Vultures are at Mingo. I do miss seeing them, it has been a couple weeks since I saw the last ones. Enjoy them while they are with you, they are very interesting to observe. Great thread Queenie,looks like you have fun too.

Queenie.....I agree that it's a wonder how eagles can maneuver through all those tree branches, not to mention the fledglings when the time comes. Good picture.

Karen Thank you for your following this neat eagle pair~~I guess I was spoiled with the old nest, as it was built out on a huge branch, {looked like a tray on a waiter's arm}, & there were no limbs growing around it~looks like Ed from the Semiahmoo thread, who showed the 2 nests in 1 tree, have a lot of branches around them also {my Mom eagle's favorite perch is now behind several, have to try to move around to see her face/eyes}

Linda Thank you, & appreciate you checking them out~~it is a lot of fun, going out specifically to try to see some of nature, especially if you come upon it, & looking forward to sharing what you saw with others. So far, I guess, the turkey vultures have been the greatest surprise because of the magnitude of them~saw some fairly close, awhile back & posted, but this was extra special I think the turkey vultures may be pretty interesting, also

http://mdc.mo.gov/conmag/2003/12/30.htm
http://potomacappalachian.org/index2.ph ... f=1&id=128
http://www.sewanee.edu/biology/courses/ ... tvult.html
Turkey Vultures are thought to be gentle, inquisitive & intelligent by their caretakers, when in captivity, prefering the company of certain staff, sometimes following them from room to room & they like to untie people's shoes & enjoy some toys, particularly hollow objects they can stick their heads in which kind of explains why black vultures who don't have as keen a sense of smell, will follow them & bully them out of their find~~
also are monogamous, mating for a lifetime that can reach fifty or more years~~& one more gross habit=will regurgitate the contents of their stomach in the direction of their potential predators {Whether the vulture does this to intimidate its predator, or merely to reduce its weight to enable a quicker getaway is not known, but it appears to be a successful tactic in either case} I wondered if it could be nerves

& then there was one, Aeolus, which was found & the people were going to keep it as a pet & it was taken away from them but because it was imprinted, & so not releasable , it is used to educate children, etc.
http://www.raptorrehab.org/new/OurBirds/aeolus.htm
http://www.richmondregister.com/homepag ... H4rQObz-Uw

Wappapello Eagles~11/25/09

Some more pictures from the visit the 25th ~ Dad working on the new nest some more, from 11:53 to 11:59 {6 min.} and then he flew off {Mom stayed 31 min.}

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{1st & 2nd pictures have branches in his beak, hope he needs those in front of Mom & gets them }

Very interesting info on the vultures, Queenie. I can just see them spewing their stomach contents at potential predators. What a sight that would be!!

Wappapello Eagle, Mom~11/25/09

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{she may not move off her perch in 30 minutes, but changes her expression many times}

Karen, right, there are a few of their habits that are pretty different; but the man in one of the articles likes them a lot~for how much good they do~as the necessary clean-up crew.

What an outstanding collage you have made there, Queenie. So many photos and a very nice way to display a lot at the same time.

Wappapello Eagles, Mom & Dad~11/29/09

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9:00-9:21 am total visit that morning~
~Eagle waiting for mate that flies into the nest in the big picture {#5 in actual sequence}
& it looks like with food~& it didn't fly off in the tall show of wings picture {they look cuddly in the picture above it}
& it is still there bent over eating in the nest, in the next pictures to come

Thanks so much, Karen, I like the close comparisons & the compactness too.

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Dad eating & Mom perching ^

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they are calling out in #6 & Dad leaving at the end #8~^
& comes back in a few minutes with a limb & works on the new nest

Wappapello Eagles~11/29/09 cont.

Dad comes back with a limb to work on the nest
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While Mom supervises
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Dad continues to work on the nest & then leaves again
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We left before Mom left this time
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Linda thank you & appreciate you taking the time to keep up on our eagles~~& yes, we certainly are looking forward to the 'lets at the lake~~~ the 2 were so cute & interesting last year & they reminded me of Sid & his siblings from these past years & I agree Mom & Dad remind me of Ma & Pa~funny how even though they all have unique ways {& look differently}, they do a lot of things alike. Mom & Dad have built a great new nest this year~~that they may be getting done with for now, as they weren't there this weekend the times we checked, & we weren't the weekend before last.
We still have the turkey vultures, though they're dispersing to smaller clusters in the trees, throughout the 15 minute drive from Mingo to the lake~~~we went all over Mingo twice 12/13/09, and didn't see eagles: saw heron, the turkey vultures in 2 spots, a huge flock of Canada geese foraging a field, etc. . Hope some of your eagles are migrating this way, have been enjoying your great shots of them.

Mingo~12/13/09

9:10-9:30 am~Our 1st trip of the day we saw a few turkey vultures inside the lagoon, and flying onto it's fence & trees nearby
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& several across the street from there, where we 1st saw them Thanksgiving


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On the trip back to the lake from Mingo {a 15 minute drive}, we saw many trees, with several turkey vultures perched in them approx. 10+ each tree, ~~where the migrators seem to be spreading out over the surrounding area, these past 2+ weeks since we first saw the awesome sight of over 100 coming in at Mingo
{not that many the rest of the year, like the one I saw back at Halloween-time, the only 1 perched in 1 tree on that whole trip, with a couple more flying around him~& we are always checking the trees for eagles, hawks & now turkey vultures}

3:55-4:05 pm~when we came back to Mingo from the lake, they were in the trees like they were on Thanksgiving, except not nearly as many, but may not have all come in for the night roost yet
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After 30 minutes with the turkey vultures we went on to the rest of Mingo each time looking for eagles, didn't see any yet~~but did see heron, & a huge flock of Canada geese foraging in a field, etc. & birds like a chickadee, etc.
Also a few trips to the nest at the lake/spillway but Mom & Dad weren't there~we'll keep checking both places through the winter & probably Reelfoot lake in January for the eagle tours there

Wappapello Eagles~11/29/09 cont.

Video of Dad working on their new nest
<Video Link 3.57min.
Dad carrying in a limb in the picture {edited from 9min.}

Great to see them working on their nest, Queenie. Thanks for your pictures.

Hi KarenB & Linda, thank you, enjoy yours so much also Linda, the Wappapello eagles have been fun to watch this past season. I was glad to see one of them 1/31/10 fly into the new nest, while we were going over the dam, so they are probably planning to be around there a lot more again soon. We have continued to check the smaller lake nest closer to home, but it still appears to be abandoned, we've never seen them working on it, but will know for sure if they are coming back soon, & they didn't use it last season right after the hard icestorm.

I'm now locking this thread as part of our move to the new forum.

The new link for the eagles at Spillway/Wappapello Lake is here:

http://www.hancockwildlife.org/forum/viewtopic.php?showtopic=11745