The eagles have nested

I’m trying to convince myself that watching an eagle’s nest for long stretches of time is not a waste of time.

I’m sure the 150,000 or so other people who join me at any given time of the day -- or night -- are trying to convince themselves of the same thing.

There’s a lot on the web that’s a total waste of time.

But I think that watching two bald eagles and their three eaglets in a nest 80 feet off the ground in northern Iowa is not one of them.

It might be that fact that the subject here is the bald eagle, our national symbol, once threatened with extinction.

Or it might be the fact that I just love raptors (I plan to come back in my next life as a red-tailed hawk.)

Or it might be the steely resolve these parents have in watching over their children. My happiest moments -- even as an aging, empty-nesting Baby Boomer --come from being a parent.

The live video stream of these eagle parents is courtesy of the Raptor Resource Project.

They placed and camouflaged a high resolution web cam in a cottonwood tree where the eagles live in a nest that is six feet wide and about six feet deep, about 1.5 tons of nest, if you can believe it.

It’s unique on a couple of levels. The bird’s eye view of the camera is such that it puts you right there, high above the banks of Trout Run, a stream that runs through Decorah.

Turn up the volume and you can hear the wind, which seems constant, and the occasional chirping of birds.

And there’s the occasional rustling of the eagles themselves as they shift position over the three little ones.

It is fascinating to see the pair exchange parenting duties.

I can’t tell the male from the female, but the other morning one parent was nesting, the other arrived. After a couple of minutes they touched beaks -- as if to say “OK, your turn” and they traded places, one taking the position over the brood the other flying off.

It's an intimate a scene as you’ll ever see.

And it’s interesting to see their diet. Over the course of several days I’ve seen dead rabbit, muskrat, crow and fish in the nest, picked apart and fed in little pieces to the hungry eaglets.

But mostly I’m impressed by the commitment to duty.

Steely eyed determination when it comes to my kids --it’s what me and the eagles have in common.

That and we both like fish (the rabbit, muskrat and crow, not so much).

Live video by Ustream

Roots and wings: A Father's Day story

I'm here in New Hampshire. My daughter is in Connecticut. And my son, the recent college graduate, is in San Diego, or maybe Los Angeles, as he continues a cross-country journey by car.

You'd think I'd know exactly where he is at every mile of his trip. He has a cellphone that he carries with him all the time. I have a cellphone I carry with me all the time. Same with my daughter. And yet, we don't talk to each all other the time.

And I think that's a good thing.

As I approach Father's Day -- my 25th as a dad -- it's an interesting question for this Baby Boomer to ponder. When it comes to being in touch with your grown children, how much is too overbearing? How little makes them think I don't care?

I guess it comes down to this: I care enough not to bug them too much.

With my two kids and my wife Jane's four -- all six of them over 21 -- we have a fair amount of experience watching how children grow up and grow out of the house.

We have a magnet on our refrigerator that says: "Give your children two lasting things ... one is roots, the other, wings."

The hope is that we've grounded them enough so that we don't fret too much when they spread their wings and fly away.

It used to be while they were in college that we'd talk a few times a week. Now it's once a week or so.

They know they can get a hold of me when they need me. I know how I can get a hold of them when I need them.

It's a mutual trust between parents and children -- we trust in each other's love to know we're there for each other, even if we're not there.

It'll be the first Father's Day that I won't have the company of my son, David. It certainly won't be the last. As they get older and as circumstances will dictate, they won't be there in person to celebrate Father's Day. It's the same with birthdays and holidays. We'll be together for some, not for others.

The cellphones and Facebook and Twitter and email give us access to each other all the time. But the 24/7 means of being in touch in fact requires a delicate touch.

Roots ... and wings.

Make them grounded. Let them fly.