Woke up this morning and pulled up the blind and spotted a bald eagle (minus the flag bling :D ) eating breakfast over at our neighbors. Unfortunately it (the breakfast) looked to be either a barn or neighborhood cat (sorry BanzaiCat). Tried to get some pics, but the camera on my phone sucks at zooms. Eagle didn't cooperate either and grabbed his breakfast and flew up over a fence into a pasture.
In my neck of the woods (Orange County, NY, West Point USMA area) their populations are booming. They are very beautiful.
We are in Northern Virginny. I've only seen the eagles 2-3 times in the 15 years we've been here...and one once at Mt. Vernon. They are indeed beautiful. As a cat owner(?), I just wish he/she had breakfasted on something less domesticated.
Like your actual neighbor?
Here in Fla. it's the time of year for my little Hummingbird buddies to fly away up north. :'( I will miss them until the fall.
We have a famous population of bald eagles over at Reelfoot Lake in the far northwest corner of TN, about an hour's drive away. Every once in a while one will float over our direction, though it's still rare to see one!
It was rare here to for a long time, until about 10 years ago.
We mostly have Golden eagles here. The Bald Eagles congregate on the lakes. They are quite common in Alabama.
Auburn ran a program for a couple of decades putting Golden Eagle eggs in Hawk nests. They imprinted on the Hawks and then propagated in the Wild.
The Eagle you may see at big sporting events usually comes from Auburn's program. They frequently have an Eagle flight at Football games.
Coyotes get the cats in our neighborhood.
We've had a rapidly increasing population here in Wisconsin, mostly in the northern parts of the state. There are some that hang out around the bluffs along the Mississippi and Wisconsin Rivers. Two years ago, one briefly showed up in our backyard near Madison. I managed to get some photos, but most were out of focus, but the last one turned out okay.
(https://i.imgur.com/IKsWrrn.jpg)
The other ones weren't as good, as I was too busy fumbling with the camera settings. This one was okay:
(https://i.imgur.com/7V3i416.jpg)
The first one is a hell of a good shot!
Quote from: airboy on March 08, 2020, 12:59:44 PM
The first one is a hell of a good shot!
Yeah, I finally got my act together with the camera for the last shot. I had been walking around the pond when I spotted the eagle. The crows in the background of the second photo were raising a ruckus about the eagle being in the area. By the time I got back to the house, grabbed the camera and got to a place I could take a shot, the eagle was getting ready to fly away. Most of my shots were garbage, as I was my settings were all wrong. I finally got everything sorted out in time to get the last shot as he was flying away. I haven't seen another one on the pond since then.
Living on a pond gives me an occassional opportunity to get some good shots of wildlife. Here's one of a sequence I took last June which shows a Blue Heron getting his breakfast:
(https://i.imgur.com/dEh3JPi.jpg)
For those who, like me, didn't want to scroll around a huge blue sky looking for the nice bird... ;)
Quote from: Tripoli on March 08, 2020, 12:07:59 PM
We've had a rapidly increasing population here in Wisconsin, mostly in the northern parts of the state. There are some that hang out around the bluffs along the Mississippi and Wisconsin Rivers. Two years ago, one briefly showed up in our backyard near Madison. I managed to get some photos, but most were out of focus, but the last one turned out okay.
(https://i.imgur.com/IKsWrrn.jpg)
The other ones weren't as good, as I was too busy fumbling with the camera settings. This one was okay:
(https://i.imgur.com/7V3i416.jpg)
I keep a Wild Turkey in my liquor cabinet. Does that count? <:-)
Quote from: steve58 on March 07, 2020, 04:14:21 PM
We are in Northern Virginny. I've only seen the eagles 2-3 times in the 15 years we've been here...and one once at Mt. Vernon. They are indeed beautiful. As a cat owner(?), I just wish he/she had breakfasted on something less domesticated.
Yea it must be stressful as a cat owner to know there's a big eagle around!