Bald Eagle sighting

[Van Huskey]

I have been seeing a bald eagle for the last few weeks flying near our house, it has been flying over the water and I assumed hunting but I had been lamenting that I hadn't been able to see it catch a fish. I have seen bald eagles in the wild on a number of occasions, a few of them in Louisiana but never one near our house until this one. I happen to walk out on my porch a few minutes ago a just as I got to the rail to look out my "buddy" came swooping in an snatched a fish out of the water maybe 60 feet in front of me, it made me giddy like a kid. I just hope it stays around, we have lots of interesting birds here, large and small, but eagles are relatively rare and it is just a cool animal.

[Paul McGaha]

Interesting Van.

We had a Falcon come around a couple of times last year. Pretty cool.

PHM

[ray hampton]

what is this famous saying, NO PICTURES , NEVER HAPPEN
just kidding, I am glad that you saw the falcon and eagle

[David G Baker]

I don't have any photos so it didn't happen here in Mid-Michigan either but if you live in my neighborhood I advise you to keep small pets indoors because there is this big bird with a white head and very large wing spread that cruises overhead frequently.

[Jay Jolliffe]

Where I live in Maine we have quite a few Bald Eagle's. I sat for about 45 minuites on day watching an immature one try his hand/claw at fishing. He was either to early or to late to get the fish. A friend saw one dive into the water completely under, come up and out with a fish....Amazing

[David Helm]

Here in NW Washington bald eagles are quite common. I generally see a few every day, with them sometimes sitting in trees on my property. I have to say, though that even seeing them this often, it never fails to impress me.

[Van Huskey]

what is this famous saying, NO PICTURES , NEVER HAPPEN
just kidding, I am glad that you saw the falcon and eagle

The funny thing was my first inclination was to turn and try to get my camera then it dawned on my how stupid it was since it would all be over in a matter of seconds.

There are places down here you can pretty much bet you will see one or two over the course of an hour or so of waiting but until this one I haven't seen one from my house.

[Ted Calver]

When I lived in Alaska back in the sixties, I saw one snatch a salmon out of the water and struggle to get the fish to shore. It was really cool!

[Larry Edgerton]

I am building a house on Lake Michigan and the eagles cruise down the shoreline every day. Not sure about Louisiana, but the steelhead and salmon are cruising up the shores right now, so they are just out to get a bite to eat.

Never saw an Eagle get a fish, but have Osprey. Saw a Red Tail nab a Partridge as I was drawing down on it. I was confused, I had not pulled the trigger and the bird exploded!

Cool bird.....

Larry

[Sam Murdoch]

We are privileged to see them around here on the coast pretty regularly. It's an awesome sight to see 5 or 6 soaring over the house on summer thermals. We have a nesting pair within a 1/2 mile of home. The photo below was taken by a friend in Windsor Maine. Impressive birds that's for certain.

228519

by the way the photo is for Ray's benefit :D

[Pat Barry]

My son and I saw 13, thats correct 13 of them circling in the sky above us last year while we were fishing on a northern Minnesota lake. Sorry, no picture, even if I did all you would see would be specks with my camera. It was quite a sight. The next day they were mostly gone. I think it was a migration stop.

[paul cottingham]

In high school, I had a friend who was a fishing guide in an inlet near our house. He had several eagles who lived nearby trained to circle overhead when he whistled for them. He would then throw bait in the water, and they would strike it from the sky, and carry it away. Unbelievable to watch. Helped him as well, if they got skunked, charters always felt they got their monies worth after that!

[Greg Peterson]

We have red tailed hawks in our neighborhood. They are actually pretty common in the metro area. I don't know if I just wasn't paying attention in my youth or what, but raptors seem to exist in relatively healthy numbers.

We have a pair of bald eagles nearby on the Willamette (Will-lamb-it) river and some Peregrine falcons in the area.

But my favorite is the pair of Western Screech owls that frequent our backyard. Last year they had a brood of chicks in our backyard (well, the neighbors). At dusk we would hear them chattering away and watch the parents hunt - at least until it got too dark. Several times one of the owls would land on the phone line not fifteen feet away from me. I would turn and there it was, just sitting there. Startled me because they made no sound whatsoever.

[ray hampton]

We are privileged to see them around here on the coast pretty regularly. It's an awesome sight to see 5 or 6 soaring over the house on summer thermals. We have a nesting pair within a 1/2 mile of home. The photo below was taken by a friend in Windsor Maine. Impressive birds that's for certain.

228519

by the way the photo is for Ray's benefit :D

thank you for having a benefit for me / where is the money from the benefit / I am hoping that I can see the eagles for myself soon, maybe they will teach me to fly

[Van Huskey]

But my favorite is the pair of Western Screech owls that frequent our backyard. Last year they had a brood of chicks in our backyard (well, the neighbors). At dusk we would hear them chattering away and watch the parents hunt - at least until it got too dark. Several times one of the owls would land on the phone line not fifteen feet away from me. I would turn and there it was, just sitting there. Startled me because they made no sound whatsoever.

Not such a fan of owls anymore, my dog and I got "attacked" by a barred owl a couple of years ago walking in the late evening in our neighborhood. Not sure why, it was dark so I don't know what I did to anger it. It wasn't trying to eat us unless it expected to carry my 75 pound dog off...

[Greg Peterson]

These owls have a wonderfully soothing call, and as for attacking anyone, these guys are slightly larger than a robin.

[Van Huskey]

The ones here I have seen are in the 3ft+ wingspan range. Not big enough to be truely afraid of but they look a LOT bigger at night when they are bearing down on you like a A-10 Warthog on an enemy tank! I do like to hear them at night but they drive my hounds nuts.

[harry hood]

That's pretty common on trails around here. The birds are just very territorial and see dogs as predators I guess. Usually dog folks will put signs up to warn people on the more popular trails.

[Conrad Fiore]

A Barred owl, Strix varia, is about 20" tall, so you must have some huge robins in your neck of the woods. When a pair of Barred owls start that maniacal laughter vocalization in the spring, it is anything but soothing. It sounds like a breakout of inmates from the crazy house.

[Keith Outten]

Lots of eagles, hawks, falcons and owls here in Eastern Virginia. My neighbor recently lost her little dog in my field behind the shop, a hawk got the dog just a few feet from the little girl and it happened so quick I don't think she ever saw the bird.

A couple months ago I went out the back door headed for my shop at night and disturbed an owl that must have been 30" tall setting in a crepe myrtle tree 30 feet from the back door. The owl let out a deep hoot that scared me so bad I barely got a look at him when he leaped from the tree and flew to a tall tree at the other end of my property. Biggest owl I have ever seen outside of a zoo. We used to have lots of rabbits and other small animals in the yard all the time, when the owls moved in that changed :)

In the 70's I use to watch a dozen bald eagles fishing at Lake Anna every evening when I was on second shift at North Anna Power Station. We have a large community of eagles on the James River near Jamestown but the area is protected.
.

[Bill Edwards(2)]

One of my favorite videos - an Eagle Owl


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37MNE8tOBG4

[Greg Peterson]

Conrad - I have Western Screech owls in my area, not the Barred owl. These owls are small little guys by comparison. The screech owl has a nice,descending trill call.

[Dave Anderson NH]

My wife called me to the front picture window late in the afternoon just before dark one day about 18 months ago. A great horned owl was swooping down from a tree across the road and scooped up a chipmunk coming out of a hole in our lawn. It's the first one I ever seen during the daylight hours and that close to the house. Wingspan was almost 5 feet and very impressive.

[Bruce Page]

Visit Kodiak, Alaska in March if you want to see Bald Eagles..

[Van Huskey]

A Barred owl, Strix varia, is about 20" tall, so you must have some huge robins in your neck of the woods. When a pair of Barred owls start that maniacal laughter vocalization in the spring, it is anything but soothing. It sounds like a breakout of inmates from the crazy house.

Well most things that eat in the swamps are rather large! But, these are "standard" size barred owls probably 20-24" high but the wingspan is definately 3ft+, some of the bigger ones here get near 4ft wingspan but that is still within the normal span of a barred owl.

[Conrad Fiore]

Van,
That's the average size and the same size we have here in NJ. Wildly vocal in the spring and a great call to locate turkeys. Get a bunch of those owls going and it almost sounds like a troop of monkeys howling from the trees.

[Jay Jolliffe]

Someone sent me this today. Ever See An Eagle Do The Breast Stroke? This footage was taken at MallardLakes subdivision in Baton Rouge .. Someone had shot a nutria, and it was floating dead in the water. I can't believe what this eagle did to bring that nutria in. I never saw an Eagle doing a breast-stroke before.

http://www.youtube.com/embed/87xNpOYOlQ4?rel=0 __._,_.___

[Sam Murdoch]

Great video!!!! Thanks for sharing Jay. And to Bill too that owl video is a beautiful thing to watch.

[Chris Walls]

Van

Our home looks down over about 40 acres of grass and into a cedar swamp. In the spring we have eagles gather dry dead grass from the field to put into their nest. It's fun to see them land in the tall dead grass thats now flat and dry from the winter and try to fly away with big bunches of it in their claws. I even saw one fly hard at a dead tree and land hard on a branch and it broke off and he flew away with it. We have two nests within about a mile in either direction from us. We used to be able to see the nest with a good set of binoculars , but the top of that tree blew out in a storm and they moved it .

[Van Huskey]

Jay, thanks for the video that way very cool!

Chris, there is one large swamp down here that near the interstate they have placed large metal poles with metal baskets on top the eagles build their nests in them. I can't locate the nesting area for the one that has been around here given the fact the temp is already in the 80s here I would think its nest would be well along. I can't really see any trees standing proud of the others though.

[Myk Rian]

I don't have any photos so it didn't happen here in Mid-Michigan either but if you live in my neighborhood I advise you to keep small pets indoors because there is this big bird with a white head and very large wing spread that cruises overhead frequently.
The Lemmings have moved south, so expect to see more Eagles. Really.