[Rhodes22-list] Bald Eagles!

[Rik Sandberg]

Roger,

Eagles are pretty amazing creatures. We have quite a few of them around 
here, so we get to watch them in action quite regularly. It really sucks to 
be the duck, or whatever they've decided is for lunch though. Their aim is 
pretty deadly. Many times we have watched eagles swoop down and pluck fish 
right out of the water and never get more than their feet wet. It's good to 
see they're coming back after a close call with extinction.

Rik


At 04:36 PM 2/4/2003 -0500, you wrote:
>Hi Everybody,
>
>I was sitting here at my computer working on some internet job searches 
>when I looked out my window just in time to see a mature male bald eagle 
>land in the tree right above my dock!  I couldn't believe my eyes.  I've 
>lived on Sanford Lake since 1977 & have never seen a bald eagle here until 
>now.  I jumped up to go get my 35 mm camera.  I got back just in time to 
>see a female bald eagle join this male (a nesting pair perhaps?!?).  The 
>female eagle didn't land in the tree.  Instead, she began diving on a 
>flock of about 12 bufflehead ducks, which were in the water feeding on the 
>sandbar about 100 yards off our beach.  The male eagle joined her & you 
>should have seen the ducks scatter in all directions!  My 35 mm camera 
>takes several seconds to boot up from a cold start.  By the time the 
>camera was ready to shoot, the action had moved off down the lake out of 
>range.  I went out on our deck with my binoculars & saw both eagles snare 
>ducks in their talons in mid flight!  They both flew off with a duck in 
>their talons in same southerly direction down the lake!  It was totally cool.
>
>Roger Pihlaja
>S/V Dynamic Equilibrium
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