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Bald Eagles (1 Viewer)

OK_Scissortail

OK_Scissortail

Oklahoma State Bird
I finally got to see, not one but two, Bald Eagles in my county. I am still very excited over seeing them. We were driving down the interstate highway while heading to Arkansas when we identified the two eagles flying next to the highway while still in Oklahoma. This was only about 20 minutes from our farm when we saw them. The Eagles were just flying around having a good ole time, swooping in the air here, diving for a ways, then back up to swoop another direction. Was too cool. Bad thing is we were driving and by the time we got pulled over to side of road, grabbed camera and got out of car to locate them again in sky they were pretty far off. I did get photos of them but they out distanced my zoom for a nice shot but have some for my own documentation. I wish I had some great clear ones to show you all but the ones I have are rather embarrassing. I had two Eagle Tours planned in January to see the Eagles in the wild which I will still go to hoping for a close up shot in the wild but I am equally happy with seeing them without a tour, out of the blue and doing what they do best, souring in the sky with beauty and dignity. Awesome!
 
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I know exactly what you mean. It's an awesome feeling. I had this happen on two occasions. Once in the desert near Zion NP the other in the Eastern Sierra Nevada. Both times were incredible views and completely luck. When I went to Alaska it was a totally different story. So many baldies you couldn't not see them! It was still great and many more opportunities to take photos.
 
It is so wonderful to see Bald Eagles in your neighborhood, especially when it is so unexpected.

Just shy of a year ago, shortly after our local Christmas Bird Count, my wife & I went out to one of the nearby (about 1 mile away) locations we had visited on the CBC. We were looking down at the small lake area next to the Cooper River in Camden, NJ for shorebirds, ducks, etc. When we looked up, we casually glanced into the trees surrounding the lake and lo and behold there are a pair of Baldies sitting in the trees. I caught a few photos through my scope. Here's the link:
http://johnjos.smugmug.com/gallery/4544201_c6zvW#267716864_zFQ8v

So unexpected and so fantastic. We never saw them there again unfortunately.

So congratulations on your sighting of a Bald Eagle so close to home.
 
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Hi, I don't know how I missed replying, must had been the Holiday chaos. Anyway glad you got some great shots of the Eagles..too cool! Must had been awesome to see! I hope this will be my month to see some close up in the wild and get some nice photos.

Congrats on your siting as well! :)
 
No problem. Thanks, it was a great surprise to see the two Baldies there for sure. I'll have to keep an eye out this year for their possible return. Happy New Year.
 
New years Afternoon update...I spotted 3 Bald Eagles...WOW..I just drove to the lake Dam that is about 5 minutes from my house to see if anything was around like ducks etc..told my son to keep an eye out for Bald Eagles just in case, not really expecting anything. To my surprise after taking a few photos of some Pelicans I saw 2 Bald Eagles flying above. They were still out of distance really but got this shot posted below. I went back again about an hour later and saw one more. Took some more photos but plan to get up early in the morning to catch the Eagles feeding for some better close up pictures. Nice New years surprise. :)
 

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Got up early this morning and headed out to the Lake Dam and saw one juvenile Bald eagle with two adults. I saw a total of 5 Bald Eagles this morning! I met a gentleman there who saw me with the camera and he came over to tell me he has seen 15 at one time where I was at. The juvenile is last years chick. I have been at the location at 8 am in the morning, 3pm and 4:30 pm so time doesn't seem to matter much with this bunch here. I believe I saw some common Goldeneye ducks but will post later for ID.

Off to go to another dam and search for more Eagles along with some loons and ducks.
 
Here in wintry central Montana, both bald and golden eagles have not migrated south. We see them daily. They are both highly active predators. We watched a golden eagle come in on a flock of mallards feeding on some barley hay fed to cattle. It was quite a sight to see one descend suddenly and catch a mallard. The ducks are too large for the eagles to fly away with, so they stay on the ground and eat away. Immediately, magpies & ravens began to harrass the eagle, but he kept pulling out feathers until he was able to get to the breast meat. After about 10 minutes, another golden eagle swooped in and the first one relinguished possession and walked about 10 feet away. The second eagle was larger, suggesting it was a female. She fed for quite a while, but then one of the yearling cows decided to come over and investigate the scene of the crime. This forced the second eagle to abandon the duck remains which quickly were devoured by the ravens & magpies. We viewed this scene from our bay window through a Pentax 80 mm spotting scope with 36 power eyepiece. Distance about 300 yards on snow background. Nature in fullest. John
 
Wow John, that must had been quite an event to witness! By your description I almost felt like I was there too. I don't think I'll ever see a Golden Eagle unless I travel. We have the Southern and Northern Eagles here. I didn't know there was a difference but a nature center told me that both are here. The southern are smaller then the Northern but still a large bird. The ones I have photographed lately are the Northern that have migrated down here. Pretty thick here right now, at height of season. See them almost everyday too.

Very cool that you have both the Golden Eagle and the Bald Eagle!
 
Ok - Our seeing both the bald and golden eagle is a year around thing. If you get off Montana's Interstate highways and get into the back roads, eagles are very common, particularly where much road kill occurs. Of course when they are nesting they aren't seen as much. The migration patterns have been altered somewhat with many eagles staying the entire year. The elimination of harmfull pesticides and protected status has done much to increase their numbers. I mentioned that the mallard was too big for them to fly away with. That is really not an accurate statement. What I think happened is that during this time of year when energy demands are so high and meals are few in number, the eagles needed to eat right now, plus they don't have to return to nests to feed young as in the summer. Some people claim that a fifteen pound eagles can fly away with a load equal to their body weight, but I have never seen that. But a mature, healthy, well-fed eagle may have the omph to do that for a short distance.
During the summer when the nesting birds have returned to our area, they are often seen harrassing eagles. Like little dive bombers, these tiny birds who are so agile in the air swoop in like bees on the attack, but veer off before contact. The eagles just can't manuever in the air to catch them. Crows, ravens, and magpies are particularly audacious and daring around eagles, in the air or on the ground. Fun to watch.

John
 
Great to learn of them in your area. We have more bald eagles in Florida than any place else in the Lower 48, I believe. With only a little effort, one could see one or more bald eagles any day from October to May. Some stay over the summer, but most migrate far to the north and return in the fall to nest. In Pinellas County FL (Tarpon Springs-Clearwater-St. Petersburg), we have 25 active nests!

See: http://www.myfwc.com/eagle/eaglenests/nestlocator.aspx

Dale
 
Dale that's pretty cool..October to May..wow! That would be pretty cool ! So glad to hear of others being able to see Bald Eagles and enjoy them. I don't know how long the Eagles that migrated down to Oklahoma stay but hope they hang around for awhile.
 
Hi John, excited to hear that the Bald Eagles numbers are increasing and that they are doing well. Very interesting information and amazed that the smaller birds harrass the eagle and don't get hurt. Glad and it would be fun to watch since no one gets hurt. Too much of a softy to watch sad things happen even if it is nature. Nice that some stay during Winter, they might be missed if all left.
 
Hey OK, I just remembered that while fishing/birding last year I found this giant nest atop a "power tower" I guess you could call it by an old power station. I posted it on a thread here and the consensus is it could be either a Bald Eagle or Osprey nest with the latter being more likely. I've seen both on that river though equally (one sighting each) so when spring comes I'm going to check if the owner will come back.
 
Thanks for sending the link Matt. Pretty cool photos of the nest. I really couldn't tell you either but look forward to when you find out. :)
 
Hey Everyone,
Pretty new here (haven't even decided on a primary set of bin's) but my girlfriend and I got cabin fever today and decided to go to the boat launch to get some outside time. Looking over a rather large bunch of Canada geese, ducks and gulls we noticed across the river a LARGE set of gangly looking wings take up a spot in a tree. I had my russian military bin's and she her nikon monarchs trained on the spot in seconds. Still not 100% sure because of inexperience but it had an all white head, mostly white (more muddled) underbelly w/ almost a racoonish mask (brown?) across it's eyes. Then another came up and took it's spot while the first went to a branch about 75 yrds further upstream. (This is about 400 yrds from where we're standing.) Hate to say it but I found out just how illequipped my leupold sequoia spotter really is.
Being pretty darn cold we decided to try going up the road to approx. directly across from the two adolescent eagles(?). No dice....
So we went to the boat launch about 1/2 mile from the house. Again, tons of geese, ducks and gulls. But Melissa (girlfriend) sees about 250 or 300 yrds up-stream and on the ice a full fledged Bald eagle. Set up the spotter and bring it to bare immediately on the spot. This NEVER happens mind you, it's always a goodly amount of doing to get it set just right. But there it is! Unfortunately as soon as I started zooming it took off...Still, VERY Excited!
Apparently the Bald eagle restoration program (Suffield, CT) is working!
 
WOW! That is great and how exciting for you both! The first ones you saw were probably Juvenile Bald Eagles and then the full adult Bald Eagle. Good to hear the restoration is working. In Oklahoma we did this and have quite a few Eagles that stay here all year. Been seeing a lot of Juveniles so that is a good sign for the population. Right now we have a lot that have migrated down from the north mixed in with the others.

Very happy for you both that you were able to see the beautiful Eagles. An awesome experience. :)
 
Some more eagle information. Over a week ago I flew from Montana to New Mexico to attend to some family business. On the flight I sat next to a Crow Indian gentleman whose art talents are renown in his tribe. We were talking about eagles and the Indian head dresses or war bonnets worn by Crow horseman in the recent inaugural parade - President Obama had invited them to participate. Only the feathers from golden eagles are used for the bonnets. Only members of recognized tribes are allowed to be in possession of eagle feathers according to federal law.

Today I drove to Helena and saw both golden and bald eagles on separate road kills -on the shoulders perhaps 20 feet from the main pavement. These are usually either mule or white tail deer. Interestingly, the eagles tolerate cars passing by at high speed without interrupting with their feeding. But if a vehicle slows down they become nervous and if it stops, they flap away without hesitation. The crows, magpies and ravens pretty much stay put unless one gets out of the car for a better look, and then they leave. Even though eagles are protected, they show less tolerance of man than most raptors here in Montana.
 
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