Oh say, did you see that?!

I had an awesome weekend! No packing or stressing about selling my house.

I spent Friday night with all of my closest friends and then Saturday, Lisa and I went to Sandusky to see our friend, Gloria’s, new twins. She grew up across the street from us and was my parents “third daughter”.




Could they be any more beautiful?? Their names are Majeed and Raina.

If you’re a roller coaster enthusiast, the city of Sandusky, Ohio probably sounds familiar to you since it’s the home of Cedar Point, which boasts 17 roller coasters. It’s about an hour and half west of Cleveland and it sits on the shores of Lake Erie.

We were relaxing after lunch when I heard Gloria’s husband talking to Lisa about a bird’s nest and he said, "Oh, you should see it” and I’m thinking, “Really? What’s so exciting about a bird’s nest?”

Well, this wasn’t just ANY bird’s nest.




It was a bald eagle’s nest!

It was by far the most fascinating thing I have ever seen outside of a zoo. The enormity of the nest is shocking. It looked like it was at least 5-7 feet in diameter and they’ve been known to weigh as much as a ton since they keep adding to the nest year after year.




The bald eagle initiates nesting activities from February to mid-April and I guess shortly after these two showed up in their front yard tree, so did the cars and the cameras.

In fact, one of the cars was driven by a former National Geographic photographer who lives in Sandusky but, unfortunately, I can’t show you those images because they’re copyrighted. He's taken to perching himself on their neighbors rooftop and taking photos of the parents in their daily activities which include carrying fish from nearby Lake Erie to the babies.

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources flies helicopters around to try to locate the nests and then they periodically come back to check on their well being. Even though the bald eagle is no longer an endangered species, the eagles continue to be protected under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act.

The law, originally passed in 1940, provides for the protection of the bald eagle and the golden eagle by prohibiting the take, possession, sale, purchase, barter, offer to sell, purchase or barter, transport, export or import, of any bald or golden eagle, alive or dead, including any part, nest, or egg, unless allowed by permit. "Take" includes pursue, shoot, shoot at, poison, wound, kill, capture, trap, collect, molest or disturb.

The 1972 amendments increased civil penalties for violating provisions of the Act to a maximum fine of $5,000 or one year imprisonment with $10,000 or not more than two years in prison for a second conviction. Felony convictions carry a maximum fine of $250,000 or two years of imprisonment. The fine doubles for an organization.

In 1990, the Lacey Act was passed in. It protects bald eagles by making it a Federal offense to take, possess, transport, sell, import, or export their nests, eggs and parts that are taken in violation of any state, tribal or U.S. law. It also prohibits false records, labels, or identification of wildlife shipped, prohibits importation of injurious species and prohibits shipment of fish or wildlife in an inhumane manner.

Penalties include a maximum of five years and $250,000 fine for felony convictions and a maximum $10,000 fine for civil violations and $250 for marking violations.

Curiously enough, the tree that this pair has chosen to nest in is dying, but my friends are not allowed to take down the tree because of the laws in place.



I tried lightening the exposure for more detail.



We did manage to see this little (??) guy standing in the nest and I couldn’t figure out why his head was brown. Apparently, they won’t reach full maturity until they’re 4 or 5 years old.

Unfortunately, we didn’t get to see Mom and Dad. Maybe next time!