March 11, 2020

Abandoned!  For the first time this season, apart from storm days, there were no spectators at the site.  There weren't that many eagles to start with either, perhaps a dozen in the trees.  I took the opportunity to experiment, throwing out only three buckets planning to return for a later feeding.

The aerial action at 9:30 started right away and the dozen were soon joined by new arrivals until their were over 40 eagles at the site.  There was moderate ground action but the aerial display was very good.

I returned at about 11:15 to find one eagle in the trees across the road and two soaring high above the field.  I duly threw out two buckets of chicken and the two aerial eagles soon became four then six then ten.  Once a couple took the ground I decided to take back the empty buckets and return to ensure the food was taken up.

When I arrived back about 20 minutes later the food was all gone.  There were about 20 birds sitting in the trees.  Three spectators had arrived and had caught the end of the show, more by luck than design.  One of these was a visitor from Hamilton, Ontario who also has a property in Paradise.  They enjoyed the show and reported seeing 50 eagles - in my view an exaggeration perhaps inclusive of ravens.

I don't know what effect, if any,  the second feeding will have on demand tomorrow.  However, I will will do a second feeding if uptake is good for the first and if there are eagles in evidence for the second.  The first feeding will be at 9:30 with the second penciled in for 11:30