ANDOVER – Attached are some observations of wildlife sightings on Highland Lake from an August weekend in East Andover.

The eaglet spent the whole weekend (and the whole week prior) crying from its perch on the island. The nest seems to be all but demolished (from the storms, the baby, or the parents?). 

We did see both parents hunting, flying, and perched around the lake. However, we did not see the parents visit the baby at all and are under the assumption that it was being forced to fledge.

The eaglet would go quiet after dark and then begin to cry out again when the sun rose. One evening we did see the eaglet appear to be eating something but can’t be sure.

Finally, on Monday just after noon the eaglet’s cries grew louder and we could see it flapping its wings from my parents property near the island. My parents and I then watched as it took what we assume to be its first flight. It flew about 10 feet very clumsily and landed in a nearby tree on the island. Shortly after it was in the air again and flew down toward the public beach, it was amazing to see it get the feeling of the air beneath its wings. About 10 minutes later it returned to the island and landed near the nesting tree. Shortly after landing, one of its parents flew by and landed just past the big white house of Fourth Lane within view of the island.

The baby began crying out again not long after arriving back at the island. We assume that its next step is learning to hunt. Should be an eventful month as it learns this new skill.

The loons pictured (as far as I could see) did not appear to be our loons, and throughout the weekend we saw as many as five loons on the lake.

Attached are some pictures of the cormorants too as they are quite odd looking, and I thought it was pretty cool to see three of them on our tiny lake.

Here’s the link again to my shared album for all to enjoy. Hoping to get a couple more trips in before the boat comes out for the season.