The eagle is back in our neighbourhood again. My husband says she has surely been here all along but I could swear she disappeared during the coldest months of winter. From my accustomed location in the living room easy chair, I have been watching her gracefully floating back and forth on the far side of the river for the past hour or so. I am told that she has a two-metre wing span. I never saw an eagle in the wild until we moved to the country a few years ago: how I would love to see her up close… Even with my binoculars, she appears very tiny – I can only just see her white head and the white at the tip of her tail feathers – but that is just because the river is deceptively wide. You can't really appreciate the scale until you see a 16-foot canoe going by on a warm summer day, looking no larger than a black fly.
She almost never ventures toward our side of the river but yesterday, she was so close that I could easily see her without my binoculars. She was inspecting a little opening in the river where the water – surrounded by ice jams and almost black – is starting to melt. I expect she was fishing but I never got to see her make a catch.
Today I once more spotted her soaring by on the other side of the river where she always makes her nests. She had a huge branch in her mouth. Makes me happy just thinking of watching her raise another brood of eaglets several months from now. By mid-summer, the babies will be huge, awkward and fluffy, appearing to be twice her size, but still helpless and needy as she teaches them to fish on the shore.
The ravens are not happy today – they must be easily six times smaller than the eagle but they follow her everywhere. They are all very territorial: just daring her to make a wrong move. I can't imagine how they would defend themselves if she actually decided to fight back.
There are so many positive sides to a burnout.
That's beautiful. When I was a kid, we would go looking for eagles along the Mississippi River. They are so amazing to see in the wild.
How wonderful to have that on your doorstep. I'm fascinated by birds of prey, and here in Scotland, we see many…but I don't recall ever seeing an eagle in the wild (although I have watched Ospreys on their nest, through binoculars and seen Sea Eagles at the zoo). They were enormous. I remember standing looking at them for the longest time because I was just so impressed by them. To see them flying would be a dream.
We used to have a Peregrin Watch near to Aberdeen. The parents had nested in disused quarry and they had cctv on their every move. Actually, there are many things like that here. There are a number of Osprey nests that have live streaming. On our (many) road trips around Aberdeenshire, we often count how many birds of prey we see.
You have a nice style of writing.
Recently I've been nominated for the sunshine blogger award, and I wish to nominate you too. I hope you don't mind.
Heh. I follow most everyone who follows me but typically only leave comments if the source is exhibiting some innately dense truth. You seem to have internalized joy itself, Patti. You are a role model.
Oh and I appreciate you following me back as well!
Haha! Woah, happy to spread the vibeZ miss.
Never seen an eagle, except in pictures, you are a lucky one!
Last week on Discovery, I saw an each swoop down on a deer and take it with her! Very fierce birds.