Eagle has Landed

In our breake we have a pair of bald eagles that built a nest a few years ago and every year we cant wait to check out the new babies when they fly out of the nest. Her are a few fun facts about Bald Eagles.

Color - Both male and female adult bald eagles have a blackish-brown back and breast; a white head, neck, and tail; and yellow feet and beak.
Juvenile bald eagles are a mixture of brown and white; with a black beak in young birds. The adult plumage develops when they are sexually mature. It takes about five years for their head and tail feathers to gradually turn white.
The bald eagle is the only eagle confined to North America. There are no other large blackish-brown birds with a white head and tail in North American.

Size - A female bald eagle's body length varies from 35 to 37 inches; with a wingspan of 79 to 90 inches. The smaller male bald eagle has a body length of 30 to 34 inches; with a wingspan ranging from 72 to 85 inches. An eagle's average weight is ten to fourteen pounds. Northern birds are significantly larger than their southern relatives.
Bald eagles build their nests in large trees near rivers or coasts. A typical nest is around 5 feet in diameter. Eagles often use the same nest year after year. Over the years, some nests become enormous, as much as 9 feet in diameter, weighing two tons. Even when a nest tree falls or a strong wind blows a nest down, the established pair usually rebuilds at or near the site within a few weeks if it is near the breeding season. The nest may be built in a tree, on a cliff, or even on the ground if there are no other options available.
Eagles are territorial during nesting season. They will keep other eagles out of their own nesting area. Their nesting territory is usually one to two square miles.

Sexual maturity - An eagle reaches sexual maturity at around four or five years of age. At that time, the eagle's energies become concentrated on the effort of finding a mate and raising offspring. Bald eagles mate for life, but when one dies, the survivor will not hesitate to accept a new mate.
During breeding season, both birds protect the nest territory from other eagles and predators.

Can you see that there are both the female and male eagles in this tree while taking pictures with my camera I only thought I was taking pictures of one but once downloaded we were surprised that there were two in the tree instead of one.

Here is a a baby eagle, doesnt look like a baby right? I just cant get over how big the eagles are and how the change and grow into their color.

Last of the Harvest

I know how late this is but better late than never right?
Cotton was the last crop to harvest and now that it is out of the field harvest is over but farming is not. It slows down drastically but over it is not! Now they will be disking the stalks and getting all of the fields ready to plant for Spring. this year was one of the prettiest cotton years we have had in a while. Here are pictures of this years cotton harvest.

This is called a 5 lock bowl of cotton, there are four locks also.

The Farmer and his Brother (the other Farmer)

Discussing farm and everythign going on , they were really into it they didnt even notice Maci, HaHa

Cotton Picker picking all the white cotton

The kids playing on top of the cotton module while Daddy tags it so when it goes to the cotton gin they will know who it belongs to.

Three years ago we came across a bald eagle pair that made its huge nest in our break and have been living their ever since. We enjoy them building their nest in a new tree each year and watching their babies fly out and venture off. I need to get some close up pictures of the nest so you can see how huge it is.

Here is one on the look out.