Pirates vs. RL

This weekend, The Boy and I spent the weekend at Big Bear lake, with the goal of seeing the Bald Eagles that nest there. The territory around the next is off-limits, for obvious reasons, but we drove up Saturday morning and set up a spotting scope on the opposite side of the lake, where it was very lovely and scenic.

The scope gave us a pretty good view of the female, Jackie, on the nest. We even got a glimpse of the two eaglets at one point when they popped their fuzzy little heads up to feed. But we waited patiently for a better look, and after a while Shadow, the male, came down to the edge of the lake for a drink. He then did a very majestic flyover above the lake for a minute or so, before soaring off into the distance and disappearing behind a ridge.

I confess, my reaction to seeing him was kind of like a groupie spotting a rock star in the street. OMG, it's Shadow! Look this way, Shadow, let us take your picture! I love you, Shadow, you're so gorgeous, I'm your biggest fan! Squee!

( Some photo evidence )

After checking out the visitors center, a quick guided nature walk, and a very nice dinner in town, we turned in for the night in our little rented cabin, intending to hike a nearby trail Sunday morning. However, when we woke up, the landscape looked like this:

( Don't see that very often in Southern California )

So when we got to the trail head, we discovered that we couldn't actually see the trail. So instead of hiking, we hung around at the picnic area there so that The Boy could get the White-headed Woodpecker he'd been wanting to spot.

( Got him! )

We also spotted a lone coyote nearby, but he didn't stick around for long:

( Good boy )

So that was our weekend. 10/10, would totally go again.

(As usual, all the wildlife shots are courtesy of The Boy, the landscape shots are mine.)