Watchers included Dan S, Jeanne, Mike, Kathy G and Dawn.

We had lots of talon tag over the BeeBee station power plant, over the river, in front of the gorge and over the river. It was imply not possible to track which juvies were involved when. Suffice to say that Dan S reported having all four juvies this morning, so all are accounted for. The talon tag continues to improve in skill and navigation. The juvies are much better at stalling in mid-air and then continuing their flight. We were close enough to often see the talons come out during the tag, and see juvies invert and recover.

We noticed that one of the juvies has a missing tail feather in the center. This can be a useful id feature if one of the other watchers has a photo where we can identify the juvie. It is not Grace (we believe).

Finally, I would not bet my life on the meaning of the following observation, altho’ the facts are pretty clear. The activity began when I heard distinct kakking from the east (brewery) side of the river. I located a juvie on the corner of the brewery down-river. I pointed her out to Dan and we both saw the juvie plucking away at a meal. Feathers were coming off the meal. However, at no point did we see any adult bring in a meal. There were no observed food transfers, and there was four or five watchers on the bridge at this point. That’s when a second juvie flew in and tried to take the meal. They flew off with the second chasing the first. So the question remains: Where did the meal come from? I guess that a stash is the most likely probability, but it “seemed” to be too fresh. Too bad that Muldur and Scully were not out there with us.

Larry O

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