Thursday, July 29, 2010

The Eagles In My Yard


In response to a few questions, I will tell you about the eagle in the picture in the previous post. The photo was taken in my yard. It involved walking a few feet and pointing my camera in the tree. They are that close. When we first moved on this small bay we saw a few eagles now and then, in fact, on our first morning in this house I got up early, put my son in a backpack, and walked along the beach. An eagle flew over my head and I couldn't believe it. I had never seen an eagle before. I thought I'd died and gone to heaven. I rushed up the hill to tell sleeping Hubby what I'd just seen.
I don't wake Hubby anymore when I see an eagle. They are everywhere, having made a full recovery in their numbers. In fact we have eagles in our yard all the time now. We hear their cries all day long and the sound of that 6 foot wingspan coming toward you is something to behold. It thrills our guests but we have become a bit ho-hum about them. At times there can be 25 plus eagles flying around.
Their main and preferred diet is salmon but have been known to catch a small animal....about the size of a Chihuahua. That poses a problem for Solomon and his caregivers. He can't go out into the yard unattended. This year has been a bit unusual in the fact that we are seeing evidence of the eagles catching small game. A neighbor reported a sighting of someone's pet rabbit flying across the bay. I believe it is usually the young immature birds but can't be sure. A while back an eagle was feeding on a possom at the farm and dropped it somewhere. I could smell it but didn't come across it until I found Pickles gleefully rolling in it. The dog was smiling! The possom was as big as she is and I got a good laugh imagining her going home smelling like a dead possom.
Call it karma...I call it revenge.

4 comments:

MaskedMan said...

:: envy ::

I've been reasonably close to eagles a number of times, but nothing even remotely like that. Yet another reason to be impressed with the life you've so successfully carved for yourself.
:)

V.L. Locey said...

I`m envious as well. We have bald eagles that nest in the PA Grand Canyon but I have never been lucky enough to see them.

icebear said...

We have a number of them up here too, not quite so many that sightings are mundane, but nobody drives off the road when one flies over. :o)

They are quite impressive.

We get to see a red-tailed hawk every now and then, there are a few families of them in the area, working hard to keep he population of chipmunks and squirrels down.

Terry Golson said...

They're making a comeback here in Massachusetts, too. I've already heard of one picking up a pet duck.