Sunday, January 11, 2009

Lone Eagle


"Celebrate your success and stand strong when adversity hits, for when the storm clouds come in, the eagles soar while the small birds take cover"
- Unknown

We pass by a well-known bald eagle's nest on the way to our daughter and son-in-law's house, and we always slow our speed to perhaps catch a glimpse of an eagle in the nest. (I wrote of it in October 2007.) We've been lucky several times to see its white head peeking out, but never out of the nest, not even in flight.

Today our luck changed and I can't tell you how exciting it was to see our national bird perched and then soar above our heads. I had my camera with me, as usual, but it doesn't have the zoom power to reach an eagle's lofty environs. That doesn't mean I didn't try, but please forgive the poor quality of the photos. I wanted to share at least a bit of the thrill with you.


There is a dirt lane that leads back to the nest area, which is on
the banks of the Auglaize River. The nest has been here for years.


As we walked back the lane, we got closer to the perched eagle
(seen at the top of a tree to the left of the nest). At the same
time, two Vs of geese flew over.



And there he sat - regal - and watching over his territory.


Then he took flight, over our heads, to tree a couple hundred feet to
our right. After a brief rest there, he returned to his original perch.
When we returned home by the same route, he was gone.

An eagle becomes fully mature at four to five years of age. When full-grown, the adult eagle is actually slightly smaller than the juvenile eagle due to the number of feathers lost in the molting process. Even in adulthood, bald eagles are among the largest birds in North America.

In terms of coloring, male and female bald eagles are virtually indistinguishable. At all stages of life, the male and female cannot be told apart except generally by size. An adult male bald eagle generally measures 3 feet from head to tail and weight between 7 and 10 pounds. The male's wingspan is about 6 1/2 feet. As with most birds of prey, female adult eagles tend to be larger than males and can weigh as much as 15 pounds, with wingspans up to 8 feet.¹
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¹The American Bald Eagle - Recovery From Near Extinction

12 comments:

Tee said...

I'm so glad you got to experience this. I'm keeping watch on a nest that is home to a pair of eagles; I've been lucky enough to see them several times, and it's never ceased to amaze me. I blogged about it (http://bicyclesandbeansprouts.blogspot.com/2008/12/eagle-has-landed.html)...it's one of those extraordinary things that makes me so happy to be here to see. Your enthusiasm tells me we share that feeling. :)

Anonymous said...

Now that is pretty awesome! They give me the chills when I see one. I've never seen one in the wild like that and it must make you feel very patriotic indeed. He sure is grand looking. And he is your neighbor too boot, lucky you!

flydragon said...

Oh, lucky, lucky you!!! I have never seen one around here. What a sight that must have been with those huge wings!!

Lisa at Greenbow said...

I think you have great shots of the Eagle Kylee. It is difficult to get shots of most any bird.

Aren't their nest magnificent? They are so big. I would love to climb up and look into one.

On the nest we can easily observe, but from far away, it looked like smaller birds nested in the bottom of the eagles nest one year. We could always see the smaller birds fluttering around the bottom of the nest at a certain point.

Yolanda Elizabet Heuzen said...

Wow, what a great and unexpected experience this must have been. Thanks for sharing!

Louise Hartwig said...

Exciting!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Mom

Barbee' said...

WOW, how exciting! Thank you for sharing that with us. Quality of photos is just fine for this purpose. We appreciate it.

Gail said...

Kylee,

It must have been thrilling! I am glad you were able to capture the photos you've shown us! Gail

Kylee Baumle said...

Tee ~ We absolutely do!

flowergardengirl ~ Oh believe me, it made my day! We always look as we go by, and today we hit the jackpot!

flydragon ~ People always say how majestic they are when they fly and they truly are. Birds that large don't flap their wings quickly and that just makes them seem authoritative as they make their way across the sky.

Lisa ~ It was great, and I actually thought of you as I was tiptoeing through the snow towards the nest. I knew you would be loving it too. Yes, the nest is gigantic!

Yolanda Elizabet ~ I absolutely was!

Mom ~ I knew you would understand my excitement! Maybe you will get to see it too one of these days. I hope so!

Barbee ~ It WAS exciting! We were glad to be going by at just the right time.

TYRA Hallsénius Lindhe said...

Hi Kylee, wow, how thrilling it must have been, it is a beautiful bird. Is it your national bird?

Take care,

Tyra

Kate/High Altitude Gardening said...

Lucky you. Those are wonderful photos. :)

Connie said...

So glad you got to see the eagle! We see them quite often here, as we drive along the river, but the times I could have grabbed a photo, I didn't have my camera. :-(

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