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And Paula also posted this report on WOW ....
Hi Everyone -
First of all thank you for all your support, love, thoughts and prayers during this difficult turn of events.
I went to the NCTC nest today, as you know, to observe what the heck was going on. I thought I would offer a synopsis of the days observations.
I went to the nest today (with 3 other people) to try and understand the dynamics of what has been happening between Liberty, Belle and the intruder. Around the 8 o'clock hour, Liberty and Belle were in a grove of trees near the nest. The intruder flew from the other side of the campus towards the nest....and before she could get there, Belle flew from her perch to the nest. The intruder landed on the perch (branch) above the nest. Soon after that, Lib flew over the nest, trying to draw the intruder away from the nest, which didn't work. She remained on top of the nest for quite some time while Belle brooded the chick and egg. She tried to land in the nest, but was repelled by Belle. She finally left a few minutes after that, heading south.
After the intruder left, it was quite some time before Belle flew out of the nest and soared around the nest for some time, then she slowly soared over the campus towards the east (left on the cam view). She was gone for around an hour or so, when she suddenly headed back to the nest, with the intruder following her. This was around 11:30 to 12:30
After some time, the intruder left the nest tree and soared off to the west (right on the cam view). A little while later, Belle left the nest and was soaring over the nest. The intruder reappeared from the west and Belle guided her away from the nest, towards the east. This was around 1:15.
Next, Belle reappeared from the north (behind the cam view) and perched above the nest and Liberty came in just a couple of minutes later and perched in a tree near the nest. Then Liberty and Belle both took off and soared above the nest together. Liberty continued west and Belle came back into the nest, right before 2pm.
A few minutes later, Belle left the nest and headed straight for the river. I could see her dive behind the trees, then I saw another eagle dive behind her. A few minutes later, Belle was hightailing it to the nest with the fish she caught, with the intruder hot on her trail. Belle landed in the nest, and the intruder landed on the perch above the nest.
Unfortunately, the fish was too late to save poor Paddy O'Joy.
The intruder did move closer to the nest, just out of the cam view at the noon position. Belle won the staring contest and the intruder left, and Belle stayed in the nest, hoping to feed the eaglet. She took a few bites of the fish, but mostly she sat there for an hour or so, waiting to feed the eaglet. When she left the nest around 3pm, she went to a nearby perch, cleaned her beak and did a poop shoot. Then she came back to the nest and perched above it. She looked down into the nest several times, then took off and soared above the nest, then south.
When she came back, the landed at the nest edge (noon position) and all ya'll could see was her feet.
That is when we left the nest area around 4pm.
The only time we saw Liberty was early morning and later with Belle. Other than that, he wasn't around. I can only surmise that this is a battle between the two females, as the intruder was most definitely a female. Every time they tried to guide her away from the nest, she would come back and sit above it. It seemed like when Belle was soaring, that she was checking to see where the intruder was. I'm not sure how all this is going to play out...it appears the intruder returned again to the nest this evening.
My heart breaks for Liberty and Belle, and our Paddy O'Joy, God Rest His Soul.
May Liberty and Belle have the strength to convince the intruder to leave the nest area, and allow them to continue with their own lives.
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I'm glad the NCTC is making a concerted effort to explain things so well.