Red-shouldered Hawk nest, and Bald Eagle perched, in Harahan

This morning on a walk along the Mississippi River levee in Harahan, I was treated to an adult (or near adult- it seems to still have some dark on the tail tip) Bald Eagle perched high in a naked tree in the batture off the end of the Colonial Club golf course.  An all-female flock of 37 Red-winged Blackbirds was scattered through the same tree crown, seemingly unconcerned about their mammoth companion.  Three Blue-winged Teal were in the nearby flood waters along the levee base, where a few Northern Rough-winged Swallows were also zipping around.  One Roughwing stopped to gather nest material, and carried it off toward the river. 

A mile or so downstream, a Red-shouldered Hawk was adding a stick to a nest at the corner of Ravan x Riverside.  This nest is 35 feet up in a stately 70 foot pine that sits only  a few feet from the actual street corner.  Also in that immediate vicinity:  my first Green Heron of the spring, three White-winged Doves (which have been regular there over the last few weeks), and a Northern Flicker repeatedly giving its long-call from high in a batture snag. 

Peter