They won’t be laying eggs until early next year, but our local bald eagles are already checking out their chosen areas and starting to build (or rebuild) their nests. A couple of days ago I was very lucky to spot one of the Lake Natoma eagles sitting in the nest tree — probably wondering how long before the noisy humans are finished with trail repairs below.

Then yesterday afternoon, I got a bonus sighting out at Folsom Lake. A different pair of bald eagles have previously been nesting in the area where I was hiking, but I didn’t expect to see them flying right over my head! I’m especially grateful for this sighting because my hike was otherwise completely uneventful and I wasn’t feeling too inspired — although I can’t complain much, I still got 5.5 miles’ worth of exercise out of it.