I spent a gorgeous weekend up at Highland Lake getting my parents’ dock and boat out. We could not have ordered better weather but the nights were a reminder of colder days to come.

My mom and I were on a mission to finally name our eaglet, as she has been the major spectacle of the summer. We are currently assuming that she is a female because our collective Google knowledge has informed us that the female bald eagles are larger than the males, and she is significantly larger than one of the adults.

We wanted a name that would embody her incessant screeching and self-advocacy. We had a few different names in the running until my mom said “Sassy.” I think it fits her perfectly.

We didn’t see much of Sassy but we heard her in different parts of the lake. The Google warriors of our Highland Lake neighborhood have read that she is still unable to hunt and will be dependent on her parents for the first two years of her life. Around the same time she will develop her white head.

In a recent update, Donna Baker-Hartwell, a member of the loon watch, let us know that she saw Sassy catch a fish and bring it up into a tree! This gives the whole lake community hope that, despite her sometimes pitiful cries, Sassy is indeed learning to take care of herself.

We also got to watch as a juvenile loon ate a catfish. We were unsure about how exactly this bird was going to be able to swallow the considerably sized fish. But sure enough, once it found the right positioning, it swallowed it whole.

These are likely to be the last Highland Lake photos from me of the 2024 season but I look forward to what there will be to see next season. As always, anyone can see all my Highland Lake photos in my shared Google photos album: photos.app.goo.gl/bLGcKKdHqpYSwqqAA