I just saw a bald eagle

gailc

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I was driving home after running a few errands (aka shopping) and I saw a bald eagle fly over the road.

This is the second time I've seen one since fall and it was on a different road too. It was cruising pretty low.
 

babyharley

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We have a few in here town, they are gorgeous! Sometimes we drive over to Wabasha, where they have a Bald Eagle Conservatory, you can get pictures taken with them- they have 2 or 3 that are there, they are gorgeous!
 
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gailc

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A small town a few miles away is some to 1000 islands nature preserve. They have many bald eagles nesting their. Its close to a paper mill and the water doesn't really freeze there so the eagles have a food source. They can have up to 20-30 eagles!! We were told that there is a nest about 5 miles away from our house.
 

gemlady

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Wow....


Sis almost hit one a couple of years ago. We were bopping along the interstate and one flew up from the road right in front of us. (It had found roadkill.)

Unfortunately I missed seeing it because I was looking to the side!
 

lsulover

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I would love to see a bald eagle, sometimes I see that they have them at sporting events. I think it is so cool the way they fly around and then back to their handler.
 

swampwitch

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They are so awesome! I never saw a bald eagle until I moved to Canada!

Their wingspan is amazing, isn't it? It always makes my day to these grand creatures... we get falcons in our back yard sometimes, and otters, but the otters aren't as regal as the falcons.


Cheers, from
SwampWitch
 

hilda>^..^<

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How wonderful for you~I see eagles sometimes but I don't know how to tell if they are bald eagles or not. Since we've moved up here to the boonies (or as Alex Jr referrs to it ''a.k.a. the time before Christ''), we are always seeing hawks...lots of 'em!


Hilda >^..^<
 

satai

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Originally Posted by GailC

I was driving home after running a few errands (aka shopping) and I saw a bald eagle fly over the road.

This is the second time I've seen one since fall and it was on a different road too. It was cruising pretty low.
What an extraordinary sight!
 

satai

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Originally Posted by SwampWitch

we get falcons in our back yard sometimes, and otters, but the otters aren't as regal as the falcons.
I imagine not... still, otters are cuter!
 

MoochNNoodles

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Oh cool! I love bald eagles! A year or 2 ago DH and I were on a road trip and we actually had to stop in the middle of this country highway because one was sitting there. I believe it was eating something or had been. He didn't want to move that's for sure! We were lile 15 feet away at the most...and my camera was in the trunk!!!
 

ldg

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I'm really lucky, because when Gary and I got married in 1993 we got rid of pretty much everything we couldn't take with us and hit the road in the RV. We drove from New York to Seattle, then up through BC to White Horse in the Yukon, then back down to Seattle, San Fran, Southern Cal to Lake Havasu in AZ, through TX (with a couple stops for a few weeks here and there), Lafayette, LA, various places in Florida.

We ended up doing contract research, so we were able to continue living in the RV and travelling all over the country until 2001 - when the nature of our business changed a lot. Both the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center and all the business scandals. So we hunkered down then (started rescuing cats, lol!) and then moved into our house in 2004. Had to be within driving distance of NYC (where the bulk of our customers are) - so we're in Northern NJ.

But we went fishing up in Little Atlin Lake at the top of British Columbia. There was no one else there. And mom Bald Eagle was teaching a baby bald eagle how to scavange dead fish (they are scavangers). It was the wildest thing. And when we were packing up the boat (a 10' inflatable quicksilver with a 4 hp motor), the baby grabbed a fish near the boat landing - like 20' from us. Mom was screeched at something, and it was just one of those moments you can't ever forget. It was like watching a National Geographic special - but live and close up!

We also stayed at a place in Orange Lake, FL for over a month. A turtle made a nest under our bus. We were about 100 yards from the lake - and on the shore of the lake, to the West, a bald eagle had a nest, and to the right, an Osprey had a nest. We spent hours just watching either of them come and go, or hunting off in the distance.

We were out fishing one day, and we got to watch the Osprey spiral so high we had to use the binoculars to see it. It started to DIVE - and it bombed the lake - and flew out of the water with a large fish in its claws. Meanwhile, the Eagle had been hovering off to the East (sun at its back), and it dive-bombed the Osprey - which, of course, dropped the fish. The Eagle then grabbed it.

I started bird watching for fun when I lived in NYC (there was a pair of Red-Tailed Hawks nesting on Woody Allen's condo during the Sun Yi fiasco). But the trip(s) around the country for 7+ years in the RV provided some amazing bird (and other animal) watching.


Laurie
 
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gailc

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We have quite a few red tailed hawks around-they have done a good job on the rabbit population!! Yesterday morning (about 6:15 am) when I walked out to get the newpaper I heard an owl.
But the best story is a few years ago in the fall I drove into the yard and Neil motioned for me to come down to the wood pile-I didn't know what I what I was looking for until he pointed out the Great Horned Owl sitting there. We knew it had to be injured but didn't know what to do. After several phone calls I was referred to a wildlife rehab center. They told me to throw a towel over the bird and put it in a large box and bring to them in the morning!!
We ended up with a neighbor's help tossing a sheet over the bird (it calms them) and putting it in a box with a bunch of holes punched in it. And of course away from the cats!! The next morning we had to shake the box to make sure it was still ok (it was). Then I had t call my boss to tell them I would be to work a bit late as I had this Owl to drop off!! (I don't think they believed me!) The rehab place was about 30 miles away-when I brought the box in they opened it and pulled off some netting from one of the wings. That is why it couldn't fly. They exmained and called me later to tell us it had damage to both of its eyes-one worse that the other and they would rehab it for a few months. About six months later they called and said the bird was ready for release and brought it back to our house were they did the release. The bird just went and took off from the person holding the bird's are. They video'd it for their website and said it was a successful release.
We learned alot about owls in the meantime and to this day (about 6 yrs later) we can still recognize the Great Horned Owls sounds.
 

essayons89

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I'm jealous...LOL!

I don't think there is a more majestic bird than a Bald Eagle. Everytime I see one it takes my breath away. I have a soft spot for all of the birds of prey but the eagles have this sort of regal air about them.

It makes me very happy that their numbers are steadily increasing and hope that their status and protection as a threatened species is never taken away.
 
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