Yesterday on Lake Hartwell a bald Eagle landed just out of sight on shore. We were able to get very close by hiding behind an island. He didn’t seem worried about us, or maybe the dead fish he was eating distracted him.
I have never been closer to one in the wild. Just a magnificent creature! The white feathers were almost blindingly white. We saw him in the classic side profile.
Of course , neither of us had a camera and had left our cell phones in the truck.
It made our day.
Have you learned some of their calls? Bald Eagles and I would assume Golden Eagles have quite a vocabulary. I can mimic some of them and once in awhile one will answer. The one that sounds like a dog whistle is easy, as is the one that sounds like a seagull. The clicking sound is a tough one that I’ve never tried.
Baldies are abundant here in the PNW. The Goldens are around, but they don’t seem to hang around populated areas so much.
Eagles are fascinating birds to watch.
Glad you got a close up view of the majestic eagle. I’ve had a great birding summer, too. Down in your part of the world (Kiawah) I saw my first Painted Bunting, Wood Stork, and Snowy Egret. Then up here in my world I saw my first Mississippi Kite. I’ve always enjoyed birds but being retired takes it to another level.
Rex , I Liv in Greenville, SC. I grew up on the coast. The upstate is not near as good for birding as the coast. Down there I have have seen all you listed plus Swallowtail kites and an albatross.
We are very fortunate to have seen the eagle up here.
I still remember an encounter with a bald eagle on the Huron River outside of Ann Arbor many years ago. One landed in the treetops on a bluff overlooking the river and as I paddled by with my black lab it watched us and screamed at us a couple times. Then as we continued downstream it flew downstream and landed in the treetops beside us again and screamed at us again. The hair on the back of my neck (which I didn’t know I had) was standing up and the dog was giving me that worried look.
A couple of months ago I was landing on Orcas Island from the ferry. I started the windy tree lined road towards Eastsound when I spotted a bald eagle in a tree a ways in front of me. All of a sudden a second bald eagle attempted to land next to the first eagle. Both then flew off in a loud angry screaming match. But then things got really interesting: both eagles started to wrangle with each other in mid flight. The screeching just got intense. They flew while connected for a few seconds as my car got closer. Then they got lower and lower and finally separated. The one eagle flew up above me but the second one then crashed into my windshield. I was shocked! For a second most of the light and view of the road was totally blocked. The eagle did not seem to suffer any injury. He just brushed over the roof of my car and was gone. Quite the encounter for sure…
I was riding my bicycle down a country road. As I passed a rabbit along the road an eagle swooped down grabbing the rabbit. It took off going the same direction as me and passed overhead about ten feet up with the rabbit. Being passed by a very long bird shaddow is a little unnerveing
Later on that ride an ambulance snuck up and they lit up the lights and sceren right behind me.
@PhotoMax said:
A couple of months ago I was landing on Orcas Island from the ferry. I started the windy tree lined road towards Eastsound when I spotted a bald eagle in a tree a ways in front of me. All of a sudden a second bald eagle attempted to land next to the first eagle. Both then flew off in a loud angry screaming match. But then things got really interesting: both eagles started to wrangle with each other in mid flight. The screeching just got intense. They flew while connected for a few seconds as my car got closer. Then they got lower and lower and finally separated. The one eagle flew up above me but the second one then crashed into my windshield. I was shocked! For a second most of the light and view of the road was totally blocked. The eagle did not seem to suffer any injury. He just brushed over the roof of my car and was gone. Quite the encounter for sure…
From elsewhere on the Internet:
"It’s known, however, that bald eagle pairs engage in a number of courtship rituals as they build their bond. The most famous and recognizable of these rituals is the “cartwheel courtship flight,” in which two bald eagles will fly up high, lock talons and then get into a cartwheel spin as they fall toward the ground, breaking apart at the last minute. “And [in] some cases they actually hit the ground,” Watts said.
It should be noted, however, that nonbreeding bald eagles may engage in this behavior antagonistically, as a kind of ritualistic battle."
So it could be a love/hate relationship just like some of us…
I saw 3 of them doing that in a scrum right over the river. It looked like there was an unwanted suitor trying to cut in.
Buzzard in tuxedo,
white tails and top hat,
a yellow beak completes your freak
of bird-brained aristocrat.
You glide in sight
cause lessers fright
a suave to rob kitty hawk.
Quite majestic but it’s suggested,
use your talons to take a walk.
(as the murder of crows does squawk)
cool stories
@magooch said:
Have you learned some of their calls? Bald Eagles and I would assume Golden Eagles have quite a vocabulary. I can mimic some of them and once in awhile one will answer. The one that sounds like a dog whistle is easy, as is the one that sounds like a seagull. The clicking sound is a tough one that I’ve never tried.
About a month ago a bald eagle flew over me making a call that I couldn’t find a recording of on the internet. It most resembled a Canada goose honking, but less loud and a higher pitch. Repeated 3 - 4 times in a steady rhythm.
We’ve had bald eagles regularly nesting around metro Pittsburgh and the major rivers here for at least 12 years. We’ve had nest cams on some of the sites – a few years ago one caught a confrontation between an eagle parent and a raccoon that had climbed up to raid the nest. Did not go well for the raccoon.
I often see them when I am out paddling. I was on the Youghiogheny River just before its juncture with the Monongahela last Summer and a juvenile baldie came straight towards my kayak about 6’ above the river, obviously scanning for fish. I thought I was going to have to duck but it swooped up just before it reached me. Spotted it a couple more times that day in trees along the bank but never saw it catch anything. But on my way back to the launch ramp an osprey dove about 100 ’ ahead of me and got a nice big fish.
The raptors have really come back around here since they cleaned up the rivers after most of the steel mills left. But the contamination by fracking water dumping and runoff is threatening to deplete the recovered fish stocks so no way of knowing how long this avian bounty will last. We do have the US National Aviary here in town, where you can go to see all sorts of exotic birds (including raptors) and there is a raptor recovery sanctuary in central PA, similar to the one in Boise, idaho.
Our neighborhood eagle pairlost their nest in Hurricane Matthew. Their favorite roosting tree was blown down in Irma. I see 'em around but not as much.