This morning, while driving across the Solomons bridge, traffic was quite slow due to a massive pileup on the southbound side. WTOP traffic estimated more than a dozen cars involved. Morons. Too fast too close.

Anyway, the plus to this insanity was that a Peregrine Falcon came flying out from under the bridge on the St. Mary's side and flapped its way toward the Calvert side where I lost it. They haven't nested here since the atlas so it sure would be nice if they returned. The Rock Pigeon population has rebounded nicely since their departure. Time to knock them back down a few pegs.

A coworker and I climbed our meteoroligcal tower at SERC at lunch today. Yesterday when I was doing my weekly rain collector changeout, I noticed that the immature Bald Eagle that we assumed had fledged, was back near the nest. Proof positive that the bird can fly and is still alive. It was back in the same spot today and I attempted some digiscoping. I'm not optimistic of the results as the trees kept blowing in the way. The bird sure is dark! Still, it's nice to know that we got a fledgling this year. Last year's two eaglets simply vanished in late April while Jane and I were working the ABA convention in Corpus Christi.

I did not see Dan Haas's crane and didn't know about it until we had come back down the tower. I might have spent a bit more time scanning the skies with the same result ;)
 
Tyler Bell

California, Maryland