[Maine-birds] Re: bald eagle pair bonding at this time of year?

I may be answering my own question... several sources (here's one) tell me bald eagle pairs could be courting and mating at this time of year.

We did have a pair nesting in town this year and they were accompanied by at least one juvenile in late summer. Perhaps that was the third bird. 
I'm interested in any thoughts or insights about the behavior I witnessed....and should I enter it in the breeding bird atlas?

On Monday, September 21, 2020 at 4:57:30 PM UTC-4 cathie...@gmail.com wrote:

Hi all,

Yesterday, above the Kennebec River in Hallowell, I could see 3 eagles circling slowly, higher and higher for many minutes.

I did not have binocs but the light on their heads and tails as they banked, and their size and silhouettes  made it easy to ID 2 of them as adult bald eagles.

Every few circles the two adults would make bodily contact, with one breaking from its circle to gently (?) collide with the other.

I say "gently" because the collision did not seem to move the other eagle off its soaring by much, and they resumed their lazy circles after every collision.

The eagles stayed in basically the same airspace above the river, floating high enough to be above a small plane heading in to the Augusta airport at one point.

Sometimes the two adults dropped in altitude in concert with each other.

The 3d eagle left the scene after some minutes. I was never able to see if that one was a juvenile or adult. I never saw white clearly on it. 

I saw this same behavior last year.

Do pairs bond at this time of year?

Or are they just celebrating a successful breeding season and their now empty nest?  ;)

Cathie Murray in Hallowell

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