EAGLE WATCHING

 

I was out shooting with my friend Jan from Northport, hoping to show her a Snowy Owl.  It wasn’t to be, however, so we headed to farm country to look for eagles, cranes, and hawks.

 

 Not far from the Roadkill Cafe, we spied this Bald Eagle at the edge of a farmland pond.  I wondered what it was up to.

 

 The eagle wandered over to what appeared to be a slit in the ice and stared intently at it.  From my perspective, the spot seemed similar to an old fishing hole iced over.

 

 Using its hooked beak, the eagle pecked at the hole, attempting to deepen it.  Could there be fish in the pond?  Perhaps the eagle had made that assumption.  What did it see through the ice with its excellent vision?

The eagle looked over at the two of us shooting furiously through the car window.  We were far enough away to be respectful of the eagle’s space, but close enough to get good shots.

 

  Ignoring us, the eagle when back to its work.  It seemed to pull up something stringy from the hole.  Or was it drool I was seeing? 

 

 The eagle opened its beak and brushed away whatever was there with its talon.  It needed to be mighty careful putting those sharp talons anywhere near its face!

 

 The eagle gave us a classic pose with its head turned to the left, almost like it was posing for coinage.

 

 The pose to the right was good too, but I could see it was sneaking a peak at us with its yellowish “eagle eye.”  My gut told me it’d had enough of us clicking away with our cameras.

 

 And I was correct!  It spread those gigantic wings and took off over the blue ice away from us.

 

 Pumping the wings up and down, legs still dragging below, it sought the momentum it needed to reach cruising height and speed.  What a beautiful sight it was!

 

 I tracked it as far as I could as it soared over the empty cornfield.  It’s always an awe-inspiring experience to see a Bald Eagle, but to photograph one at these close distances…well, it doesn’t get much better than this!