My life is for the birds

This is a letter I wrote to the editor and which was published on Monday:

"Note to everyone who knows me or even has a passing acquaintance or who thinks he might need to contact me, let it be known than from dawn to dusk from now to somewhere in the coming spring, I am probably going to be very hard to contact. Okay, I do have a phone next to my computer, but that is as good as it gets. I will be glued to my computer watching two bald eagles building their nest, reacting with one another and, I hope, raising their young. What could be more important?

Many tasks will simply not get done: Dishes may pile up. Weeds may grow beyond acceptable limits; I may lose pounds because of failure to cook or even snack; shopping is out of the question (so much for Christmas!); the only clean room in the house is my computer room, but I may have to bring in a food supply, a mini fridge and microwave if I am to survive. The best plan is probably to become totally nocturnal and squeeze in all my eating and sleeping and all human contact between sunset and sunrise. If anyone wonders about me, wait until after sundown, although even then I will be rather busy catching up with my daily necessities.

Today I woke up to the two birds building, or more likely refurbishing, their nest. I really had to leave for church, and when I came back home, the nest was at least twice as tall, but not (as it seemed) wider. It is getting to look “cozier,” perhaps for an upcoming intimacy? Hmm. Just before sundown, they both came back to the nest, went beak to beak for a while. (Hi, Honey, how was your day?) Then one got interested in the rear end of the other. Is something going on here? So much for privacy! Then came the evening blackout. My alarm is set for sunrise!"

These eagles have an interesting background, and they come back to this nest every winter after a summer in Alaska where the salmon are more plentiful. Their nest here is very close to some loud and disruptive bridge construction, but they are determined to use that same nest year after year despite the noise and distraction and despite the efforts of the California Fish and Game people and the California Transportation Department. If anyone has the interest and the time I highly recommend visiting this site as often as feasible. They will be there for at least a couple of months if they successfully incubate and raise an eaglet.

Go to http://turtlebay.org/caltranseaglecam.php during daylight in the Pacific Standard Time zone, approximately 6 am to 5 pm at this time of year. Tonight, they were still rebuilding their nest and flying in and out. They are truly fascinating.