Humans can say, “hey, it was a long day.” And humans are the only species that understand that there are such things as commas, and how to use them. If, say, I say Shadow says, “it’s been a long day,” well this is anthropomorphism. There I spelled it right the first time around. Mammals smell, feel, taste, and humans are mammals. We know about long days. An animal like our dog Shadow might very well think it’s been a long day, particularly if we go away for the day and she does not get out, but there is no statement of fact.

Eagle on the next

What brings this to mind is my now near obsessive watching of the Big Bear Eagle Cam. Pete has a computer monitor in his office and so he’s been watching these two eagles, named Shadow and Jacki, for perhaps two years. Me, just a few weeks. So I don’t know the history of these two birds.

In two weeks, I’ve learned a lot. I mainly have been checking in at night – I see it is dark, the infra-red video cam sheds light on the birds that they can’t see. (Go figure). Always, I think it is the female, she is in the nest, head usually buried under her wing, covered in snow, surrounded by snow. It is always windy.

Yesterday and today, I checked in, in the daytime. The mates were more active. One was eating a fish, the other flew in, and joined him. The female then went over to the nest and rolled the eggs around, then laid on them. There are three eggs.

I sense that the pair, if they haven’t already, are figuring out that the eggs are infertile. Do they know something is amiss? Yes, for sure. Do they care? Only so much as this is a disruption of routine.

Today a co-worker said that she read that nature is not cruel, it just is. This is very true. We project our feelings on animals and presume we know what they are thinking or feeling. Most likely, the eagles don’t feel any emotion. They go by instinct – they had done it before, raised babies, and were prepared to do it again. This time, no. So undoubtedly, they will soon take off and leave a nest with three eggs.

The three eggs will (I read) either be absorbed into the nest or ravens will eat the contents. And if they are still around next year, Shadow and Jacki will breed, and return, and she will lay eggs and they will raise young.

I wonder if fires take out eagles’ nests. Human beings are not good land or animal stewards. There was an owl that escaped a New York City zoo. Many kept an eye on it. I now recall, its name was Flaco. Well, Flaco died suddenly, and a necropsy was performed. The owl had gotten into rat poison.

The hardest part for me, right now, is seeing animals suffer, and knowing that to a large part this has to do with human irresponsibility.

Next: 94. 4/5/24: Eagle Update