The Bald Eagle Nearby

Penny is perched here on our front porch with her binoculars, glassing that big tree across the road.

Because it was in this very tree that we saw an eagle perching recently.

Yes, a real live eagle that lives nearby.

Here, in the pictures I took then, you see him high in that same tree, flanked by crows that were there to pester him.

By zooming in as far as I could with my camera I was able to capture him like this…

Wow, MAJESTIC!!

“of lofty dignity; stately; grand.”

Here is a video I took as he sat there on that windy day, with those crows pestering him.  It is so amazing to see him alive and responsive.  Just look at that beak!

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By reading the Sibley Guide to Birds, we learn that a bald eagle can be 31″ in length, have a wing span of 80″ (nearly 7 feet), and weigh 9.5 lbs.  It can take 4-5 years to acquire adult coloring – that is the white head and yellow beak.

Not far from our house at the Wildlife Refuge there is a nesting eagle.

My parents love to take part in watching and monitoring this nest.

They took these following pictures over there.

Though in that previous picture, the nest looks almost like another weed head, it really is a huge structure far up in that tree.

This nest originally was an osprey nest, a rather loose and bulky affair, but as the eagles arrive in our area first from their winter migration, this pair claimed the nest and added their own touches to fill it out.

Adult male and female eagles look alike and take turns sitting on the eggs.

Usually two eggs are laid.

Did you see that little head poking up?

Keeping the little ones fed is a full time job as they grow.

Here is what the Refuge looks like this time of year as we watch the buds swell on the trees.  Soon the green will come.

If you look over at this row of pine trees, you will see that I boxed in the location of the eagles’ own original nest.

Since the eagles have moved to larger quarters,

someone else took up residence in this vacated nest…

Now, what do you think of that?  A Canada Goose!

I looked that up in The Sibley Guide to Bird Life & Behavior and found that though Canada Geese often nest on the ground, they do at times choose unusual nest sites such as old eagle or osprey nests.

My, my!  Dad says that the little goslings better watch out for that first step, its bound to be a BIG one.

Almost Majestic.

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“You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians,

and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Myself.”

Exodus 19:4

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