Sometimes when I drive by this tree at the side of the estuary, it is loaded with bald eagles, decorating it like so many Christmas tree ornaments.
Today there was only one eagle — an immature one at that. The rest were busy foraging below the tree and up the river mouth at the Regal Eagle Deli. The last putrefied chum salmon lie like wet paper towels on the banks, exposed by the dropping tide.
Perhaps this one had eaten his fill and couldn’t stomach one more mouthful of rotten fish.
“Oh rats!” he says. “Another bird watcher.”
“I’ll give her my Exorcist pose – body facing one way, head looking the other. That’ll confuse her so she won’t know which is front or back.”
“Now, where was I? Oh yeah … urp … trying to digest that disgusting fermenting fish.”
Regal eagle looks for food,
Fish again? Not in the mood.
Chilly air, he shivers high
In the tree so he can spy
Rotten fish washed up below.
Better eat in case of snow.
Leaner times around the bend,
Need to eat or life could end.
Though he’d like fish still alive
Choosy eagles don’t survive.
December 5, 2017 at 10:16 pm
Beautiful, and so different 🙂
All we see around here are Manatees, Dolphins, and Alligators 🙂
Cheers !
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December 6, 2017 at 8:13 am
And for me it would be something very different to see those! That’s the beauty of exchanging blog posts. We get to see (at least in photos) what we would not normally see in our own areas.
Have a great week, Hans.
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December 6, 2017 at 1:11 am
Oh, with bald eagles – we had our fill! Good we had the guinea fowls to protect the chickens. I love your little rhyme and the picture is great!
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December 6, 2017 at 8:14 am
The guinea fowl would warn you of eagles being around but what’s to stop the eagles from picking up a guinea fowl? Did you ever lose any of them to eagles?
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December 6, 2017 at 8:44 am
No, they are ganging up in a big flock and make awful noises while running back and forth. The eagles never bothered to dive down into this big flock of guineas. The chickens are much slower and dumb (but when the guineas were screeching they went to hide right away).
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December 6, 2017 at 8:50 am
So the guineas were good watch “dogs.”
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December 6, 2017 at 10:02 am
Yes and life savers too!
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December 6, 2017 at 10:11 am
They serve a good purpose. Not just silly squeaking birds.
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December 6, 2017 at 3:53 am
Seeing an eagle in the wild is always a special treat. Thanks for sharing your beautiful photos.
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December 6, 2017 at 8:11 am
We have a lot of eagles around here because of the tall trees and the nearby food supply (salmon in the fall and herring on the beach in the spring).
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December 6, 2017 at 6:26 am
When my little Ivy returns from the doggie spa she looks like a main course for the local eagles. I keep a sharp eye on her while we walk the neighborhood. Love your poem Anneli and I can certainly understand the eagles wishing for a little variety in their daily caloric intake.
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December 6, 2017 at 8:10 am
Thanks, Dawn. We keep an eye on the eagles around here too when Emma is out in the yard. Some of them are just a bit too interested in small dogs!
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December 6, 2017 at 8:53 am
We had a eagle nesting in one of the trees in our yard in Comox. The only reason we knew it was there was because we saw the mother coming and going. We never did see the actual nest – she had it so well hidden.
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December 6, 2017 at 10:07 am
We usually have eagles nesting nearby and in a way it’s nice to see them but the downside is I have to watch out for the dogs (Emma anyway, where she’s smallish) and the other thing is the constant shrieking once the young are hatched. It goes on from morning to night.
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December 6, 2017 at 8:53 am
Great photos of the eagle!
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December 6, 2017 at 10:08 am
Thanks, Terry. No tri-pod handy so I just tried not to wiggle too much when I zoomed in.
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December 6, 2017 at 9:41 am
That was great! 🙂
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December 6, 2017 at 10:09 am
Thank you. Thanks for reading it.
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December 6, 2017 at 9:41 am
I like the 2nd picture, Anneli. Thanks for sharing the picture and your thoughts,
Pit
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December 6, 2017 at 10:09 am
He sure is scowling down at me!
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December 6, 2017 at 11:17 am
Maybe he just doesn’t care! 😉
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December 6, 2017 at 12:20 pm
I’m sure the eagles are used to people stopping here. There is a bit of a viewing station nearby because so many birds are in this part of the estuary.
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December 6, 2017 at 2:11 pm
We have a tree where they usually are breeding and a viewing station not far from here, about 40 mile away, on the LLano River.
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December 6, 2017 at 2:22 pm
Long way, but at least you don’t have to listen to them shrieking in the spring.
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December 6, 2017 at 3:41 pm
For Texans, not such a long way. 😀 But long enough, you’re right, for us not to hear them.
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December 6, 2017 at 11:54 am
This is a white-tailed sea eagle, isn’t it? Only that the tail doesn’t get white until it’s about five years old or something.
Ellington
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December 6, 2017 at 12:25 pm
It’s a bald eagle. I think it takes about four years for them to get the white head and white tail feathers, and the beak goes bright yellow then too.
I see that your white-tailed sea eagle (similar) is common in Scotland and Ireland (over in that general area anyway). The bald eagle is our west coast of Canada bird. You can see a better picture of it here on this Wikipedia link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bald_eagle
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December 13, 2017 at 10:50 pm
Thanks for the bald-eagle link. Our white-tailed eagle was all but extinct in the 1960s. Now it is common here in Sweden where I live.
Ellington
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December 13, 2017 at 11:18 pm
That’s very interesting, Arletta. Thanks for that.
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December 6, 2017 at 1:15 pm
Very cool zoomed in photos. To see an eagle would be a rare treat for me. I haven’t even seen any at my dad’s ranch in Wisconsin. One time I saw a pair of them at the lake in our subdivision when we lived in Florida. I was able to get photos of them, and I still marvel that I actually got to see eagles in person in the wild. I can’t imagine it being an every day occurrence with them filling up the branches of a tree.
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December 6, 2017 at 1:22 pm
I guess each area is different and we get used to what’s common in our own. I would love to see what people in Wisconsin or Florida see.
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December 6, 2017 at 1:40 pm
My dad sees a lot of wildlife in Wisconsin. I’m sure he has eagles there, but I’ve not seen one. I’ve seen lots of deer and turkeys on his property. He takes photos of the foxes (is that right for plural?) and sends them to me. I’ve seen enough of hot beaches. I’d love to see your majestic part of the world.
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December 6, 2017 at 2:21 pm
I guess we both need to do some traveling!
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December 8, 2017 at 10:09 am
Poor baby! Maybe nobody told him where they were–they ditched him! Maybe you should have shown him the way? No? You are better at bird photos than anybody.
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December 8, 2017 at 10:38 am
I think what happened is that he is stuffed and can’t hold anymore. As for the last part of your comment, it made me think of Fleetwood Mac. “Tell me lies, tell me sweet little lies….” 😉
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December 8, 2017 at 12:11 pm
I like that you see eagles, Anneli. It is a nice change of pace. It was like a fun ditty, your poem. These were quite remarkable.
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December 8, 2017 at 12:13 pm
I like writing silly little rhymes. I hope it gives others a smile too.
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December 8, 2017 at 12:19 pm
This was clever and not silly at all. Of course I love your sense of humor and when you have animals communicating is fun, too.
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December 8, 2017 at 12:40 pm
It’s fun to imagine what the animals are saying.
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December 9, 2017 at 11:12 am
OH! I just love the image of eagles on a tree as if they’re Christmas ornaments! So incredible!
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December 9, 2017 at 12:01 pm
I had hoped to get a picture of the tree full of eagles, as I had seen it several times when I’ve driven by. I guess that’s another lesson to “seize the moment.”
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December 9, 2017 at 5:11 pm
Yup!
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December 9, 2017 at 5:04 pm
Wow. How do you get these shots???
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December 9, 2017 at 6:22 pm
Zoom lens. That’s why they aren’t really, really sharp. But good enough for an amateur like me.
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December 10, 2017 at 10:20 am
Wow! How did you get such a good close-up?
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December 10, 2017 at 10:50 am
I posted the picture of the tree from farther away so you could see the distance. I used the zoom on my camera and tried to hold as still as possible to close in on the eagle. That’s the hard part because with the zoom, every little shake makes a big blur. I took several shots and chose the least blurry ones. I’m glad you liked it.
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December 10, 2017 at 1:31 pm
You did a super job!
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December 10, 2017 at 1:50 pm
Thanks, Jennie. I do love taking pictures.
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December 10, 2017 at 2:25 pm
And you do it well!
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December 10, 2017 at 2:48 pm
Tnx. 🙂
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December 10, 2017 at 3:17 pm
🙂
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December 12, 2017 at 11:34 am
Wonderful photos, Anneli. The salmon are pretty gross when they start decaying alive. Thank goodness we have these birds to clean them up.
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December 12, 2017 at 12:54 pm
Yes, C-gulls and E-gulls.
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December 12, 2017 at 2:14 pm
Ha ha. Nice. 🙂
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December 12, 2017 at 12:39 pm
What a grumpy eagle. But can we blame him? Fresh fish is so much better for the disposition. 😯
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December 12, 2017 at 12:53 pm
I think they all have that grumpy look. Nothing cute about any of them. But, yeah, eating rotten fish would kind of sour your day.
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December 15, 2017 at 4:08 pm
Great close-up shots you got!
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December 15, 2017 at 6:59 pm
Thank you. I was glad he held fairly still for his photo.
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December 18, 2017 at 6:45 pm
I liked this bird’s eye view of an immature eagle. I loved the poem, too.
The ending made me sad, thinking these proud birds have to settle for rotting fish if they want to make it through the winter’s cold months.
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December 18, 2017 at 7:11 pm
They love it though!
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December 18, 2017 at 8:12 pm
Oh, I didn’t think he did, maybe took your words too literally. I thought eagles preferred living animals, fresh blood. . .
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December 18, 2017 at 8:21 pm
Not sure. I’ll have to ask next time I see one. They do take crippled birds, so I think they’re opportunistic (fresh or rotten, doesn’t matter).
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