SUNSHINE TEASER

 

We’ve not seen much sun these last ten days so a week ago Wednesday, when the sun finally appeared, I headed out.  Pictures are so much nicer when the sun is shining.  My hopes were to spot a Snowy Owl, so I visited every place I’d seen one.

 

 I came up empty, however, so I decided to wander around farm country.  The roads were pretty clear and dry and I noticed there wasn’t much snow left on the hills and fields.  

 

 I saw the sun shining on the fields surrounding a pretty red barn, and added the scene to my collection.  But, actually, I was hoping some critters would materialize.

 

 Then, in the distant sky, I saw a large bird in the sky.  I was pretty sure it was a Bald Eagle so I drove to an area nearby where I’d often seen eagles in the winter.  

 

 Right away, I found them in the same tree area where I saw them last year.  I wasn’t really close, but I noticed something new this year.  There were four eagles instead of three.  There were two mature eagles with white heads, and two juveniles with dark heads.

 

 No matter how often I see and photograph Bald Eagles, they are always majestic birds and so exciting to watch.

 

 This mature eagle, one of the parents, was pretty intent on watching something on the ground, probably some kind of prey, perhaps a rabbit or squirrel, although they feed primarily on fish when they are near the Lakeshore.

 

 On another grouping of branches sat two other eagles.  One was the other parent.  Below that was one of the juveniles.  This young eagle was probably between two and a half years old and four years old, due to the amount of white mottling in its feathers.

 

 Below the older eagles, was the newcomer to the family, a very young eagle, probably 6 months to a year old.  This juvenile had little coloring in its feathers and blended in with the environment more than the others.

 

 There’s a reason these eagles make this section of trees a major part of their winter habitat.  The farmer that owns the fields in front of these trees puts out deer carcasses, perhaps roadkill, usually in February and March and the eagles come to feast on the meat. Hopefully, that will be coming soon.  What a family portrait this was!