Another Post So Soon!?

Every year one of the doctors at Anne's work has a party at his lake house out on Hayden Lake. He had it a little early this year (it's normally sometime in August) and it was this past Saturday (yesterday).

We put Sydney down for an early nap on Saturday since the party was scheduled to start around 1:00 PM. We explained to her what we would be doing later and why she was taking a nap early. She got really excited that we would be going on a boat. When she woke up she was still really excited and kept asking about the boat.

We finally got to the lake and actually found parking this year in the half-empty parking lot. (Last year it was terribly busy and we ended up parking on the side of the road about a half mile away.) Anne called for the boat as we walked to the beach and dock. Sydney was really excited and kept pointing at every boat she saw.

Dr. R arrived just a couple minutes after we got out on the dock. We climbed in the boat and zoomed away. Sydney loved it. The wind whipped through her hair and the bumping as we hit wakes was fun. Of course, the boat ride didn't compare to the fun in store once we got to the beach.



Sydney spent almost the entire day throwing rocks in the water. The beach at the lake house is rocky. Actually, it's all rocks. And Sydney loved every single one of them.

She even had Daddy help throw rocks. She would pick one up and give it to Daddy and then pick one up for herself. She would count to three and then we'd both throw our rocks in the water.



Sydney wasn't the least bit interested in the water, going in the water, floating lazily on an inner tube with Mommy, or even having the water lap at her feet as the waves came up on the beach. She was happy just throwing rocks.

We went out on the boat one other time while there (not including the trip back). Mommy went out on the inner tube to be pulled by the boat. Sydney and Daddy rode along. Sydney didn't like that trip as much. With the stopping and starting and the rocking while sitting still she got quite upset. She kept crying that she wanted to "go throw the rock".

Mommy didn't like the inner tube trip much, either. In addition to the normal waves from the various other boats on the water the lake was a little rougher than normal. Just as she started out on the inner tube something happened where it bounced funny. She ended up flipping forward (toward the boat) and the rope hit her leg. She has some nasty bruises and scrapes on her leg from it. She is fine and otherwise unhurt.

At one end of their beach was a mostly-dead tree. (There was green vegetation still on the bottom half of it but it may have been from a different plant.) Up in the top of the tree was a nest. I'm guessing it was some type of woodpecker, but I'm not sure. One of the parent birds would fly up occasionally and feed the young birds in the nest. Sitting on the side of the tree it sure looked like a woodpecker.

Unfortunately I couldn't get a good shot of the birds. By the time I realized where the birds were (we heard them calling and when the parent came back we knew where they were) and got the camera ready and up in a good spot to take a picture the parents didn't come back again. Here's a shot of one of the birds sticking its head out of the hole. (You can see a little bit bigger version of the pictures on the blog over at my PictureTrail photo page. The wildlife pictures are in the "Miscellaneous Hosting" folder.)



The sun was high in the sky, but on the far side of the tree so there wasn't good lighting of the bird. From what I could tell they seemed to be mostly light brown/tan. From the five or so websites I looked at about birds in Idaho I couldn't find one with pictures of all the woodpeckers. And the descriptions they gave didn't match these birds. So if anyone knows what kind of bird this is feel free to let me know in the comments.

In the late afternoon we packed up and headed up the hill to the house. It's a long, steep climb up. I was looking forward to it this year, though. Dr. R has a bald eagle nest near his lake house.

Two years ago I didn't have a camera that could have taken a picture of them from a distance. That's all right because I only caught a glimpse of one as it flew off and didn't return while we were there. Last year I had my good camera but the eagles once again were AWOL. I didn't even get to see them.

This year my luck ran a little better. I got a good look at one of the adult eagles in one of the big pine trees. It had its back to be, but it was unmistakable.



I snapped a couple pictures and wished (not for the first time that day) that I had brought my tripod. I placed the camera on the railing of the porch to try to steady it a bit and the auto-focus kicked in and focused on the branch a couple feet in front of me. Before I could recover focus the bald eagle spread its wings and flew away. Gah! What a picture that would have been.

Shortly after that I saw the "baby" bald eagle in the tree with the nest. It's still young enough that its head hasn't turned white. But it sat there the whole time we were up at the house and seemed happy to pose for pictures. Though it didn't spread its wings for me.



This morning Sydney had a play date over at her friend Hunter's house. Properly excited about my eagle pictures from yesterday I took the opportunity to do something I've been meaning to do for a long time now.

At the top of a small hill I drive over every day on my way to work is a utilities pole. Two years ago an osprey couple decided to build a nest there. In hindsight I'm pretty sure that they were unsuccessful at hatching an offspring. That year they seemed to be gone after late-May. If they were still around I didn't see them through the summer. And I'm one who loves watching large birds of prey so I definitely would have seen them.

Last year the couple returned. They were successful in breeding and had a baby. I watched them regularly when I drove by. Sometimes I was even lucky enough to get stopped at the traffic light right at the top of the hill and be able to watch them through the sunroof of the car. The three of them were around all summer.

One day in the spring Anne and I took a walk up there with Sydney in her stroller (it's about a mile and a half from the house). Mom and Dad Osprey flew out of the nest and circled above us for a few minutes before flying off toward the river. Boy I wish I had the camera on that walk!

Then at the end of last summer the utility company struck. It can be an obvious danger to have a large bird nest right on top of a utility pole. So the utility company came and took the nest down after the birds had left. They built a nesting platform at the top of the pole, but I was worried that the osprey wouldn't come back.

In the spring I watched in great delight as I saw Mom and Dad Osprey bring large sticks (and other miscellaneous things) to the platform and build a new nest. They've hatched another baby this year and it seems to be growing up fine. Frequently when I drive to work in the afternoon I see the three of them sitting up there observing the world around (and below) them.

So this morning while Anne and Sydney were at a play date I finished up a few chores around the house and the zipped up the hill to take some pictures of the osprey. As I approached I was happy to see two heads sticking up out of the nest. As I parked across the street I could hear the adult bird calling out. As I crossed the street I saw the adult bird open its wings, flap a few times, and then settle back down.

I hung out for about fifteen minutes and took several pictures. Unfortunately the birds didn't spread their wings for me and the third one didn't come home. But I'm glad I finally got a chance to get there to take some pictures.



The adult osprey is calling in the above picture. It brings its head down a little and hunches its shoulders up when it does. (I'm guessing the other one is a juvenile. It's a bit smaller and didn't do much of anything while I was there. It seemed to be watching and taking its lead from the adult.)