I saw a Bald Eagle today!

[Stephanie]

On my way to work. He was perched in a tree. I did a couple of double-takes but there was no denying it! What an awesome sight!

I know that there have been sightings in the same general vicinity via this website:

http://www.baldeagleinfo.com/eagle/directory/NJ.html

[arkess7]

Oh they are so beautiful! Born and raised in Florida I have always seemed to see them around lakes.....they are an awesome sight!

[O Town]

It used to be a rare sight here as well but in the last 10 years we have seen quite a few. As a matter of fact a few weeks ago while taking the kids to school we spotted one in the top of a half dead tree. I dropped off little one and came back home it was still there. Then the following day hubby and I saw two flying, I think it was a couple because they are known to stay mates for life. We still stared in awe. It is definitely special when you spot one, no matter how many you have seen in the past.


Cool link too Stephanie.

[CajunMama]

How neat! It looks like that site has sightings for other states too. New Orleans area seems to have quite a few sightings.

[Squarethecircle]

The Washington metropolitan area has quite a few preserves with eagle populations. They are quite something.

[vbhoutex]

I am so glad the Bald Eagle is making a comeback! I used to see them in the trees in the swamps in Gulf Breeze, FL where I grew up. We tried to climb the huge loblolly pine to their nest, but the tree was too big around for our little bodies and there wasn't a limb anywhere close to the ground that we could get a rope to. Unfortunately that swamp area is now a subdivision, but I wouldn't be surprised if there are some in the wildlife refuges in the area.

[Stephanie]

I stumbled across that website when I was curious about a nest that I saw off of the Atlantic City Expressway crossing the back bays. There were two huge birds there and I was wondering if they were Eagles. I thought the site would tell me that there was a nest spotted there (never did figure out for sure). Anyway, I was excited to see that there had been several sightings within the past year in the very same area that I saw mine.

It really is great to know that they are alive and well and that you really do have the chance to see them in your own backyard. It gives me hope.

[breeze]

They're so beautiful, aren't they? Several hundred come to Reelfoot Lake in Tiptonville, TN
every winter. In the early 1960's, there were no nesting eagles there, and gradually they
have come back. I never see them here in middle-TN, though. You're so lucky to have seen
one on your way to work!

[CajunMama]

Remember a couple of years back when there was a live cam on an eagle's nest? But the eggs weren't good

[Stephanie]

Remember a couple of years back when there was a live cam on an eagle's nest? But the eggs weren't good

I remember that live cam. It was a shame about the eggs. I wonder if the couple has had any eaglets since then.

breeze - yep, by the 1960's and 70's the affects of DDT on the Bald Eagle eggs were coming to light and regulation was drawn up on the use of it. It's a wonderful success story. It must be an awesome sight at Reelfoot Lake every winter.

[O Town]

Oh yeah the Eagles nest at Hornby Island I believe was the name. I have looked back time to time to see if they have had another camera and there hasn't been one. Seems like I do remember reading that the following year they did have one egg hatch successfully..............*OTown goes to look at old bookmarks......


Some quick digging around and I found this
http://www.hornbyisland.net/eagles.html
They did go on to be successful the following year and hatched 2 eggs. Gives links where we can check up on them this spring, there should be cameras.

[Stephanie]

Thanks O Town for that link!

I love the names of the eaglets of the various nests. I didn't realize that they lived so long - almost 30 years. I'm glad that the Hornsby Eagles were successful parents.

[SaskatchewanScreamer]

I always do a double take when I see them here.......not that they are that rare since "The Churchill River region of Saskatchewan contains the second-highest density of nesting bald eagles in North America" (Alaska has the highest) but because they stand out so much in the wide open, and flat, plains (we can see them from quite a distance away). The Southwest corner of Saskatchewan also tends to have some that stay year round (it really is surprising to see those massive birds still here in the middle of winter.......however that area benefits from Chinooks so winter is usually nicer there).

[Stephanie]

They are pretty massive, aren't they Saskatchewan?

[SaskatchewanScreamer]

Oh yes! It seems that we can see them from almost a mile away (so when they fly over they truly take your breath away).

Stephanie I checked one of my contacts photos at Flickr (he lives in British Columbia but has done 2 books on the prairies and I see he has a couple of Bald Eagles in his collection): http://www.flickr.com/photos/pageworld/ ... 6/sizes/o/

He didn't manage to capture one here (the above was in British Columbia). But I expect I'll see some once he moves to his prairie home.

His prairie landscape pics certainly show why the Bald Eagle is so easily sighted here http://www.flickr.com/photos/pageworld/ ... 670922715/

[Stephanie]

That picture of the canola field with the color contrasts between the yellow and the blue-gray sky is amazing! I guess that you would be able to see anything, particularly a bald eagle in that sky.

Being unfamiliar with Canada, I wasn't expecting to see prairie land. It's amazing how it goes on and on.

[DaylilyDawn]

I have seen a red tailed hawk many years ago when taking my hubby to work. I had never seen one before and he almost crashed into the windshield because he was chasing a dove. Even now I see ospreys that have a nest on a light pole at the middle school' football field. Then the sandhill cranes will land in the field behind the middle school.

[O Town]

Funny this thread got bumped because today I saw one of our neighborhood eagles fly right over my house pretty low too. I was out there with my kids and sister in law and I was like OMG theres a bald eagle, and she was like ...ho hum...yeah I see it. Like no big deal. I get excited everytime I see one.

[Stephanie]

DaylilyDawn - I've seen Red Tailed Hawks and Cooper Hawks in the area. I'm sure there's a variety of others around here as well.

O-Town - is there water near by your neighbor's home or your neighborhood for that matter? they do feed on fish.

I keep looking in that tree every morning on the way to work to see if I can see him again. I'm sure I will.

[O Town]

LOL, do we have lakes around here? Check out this link Stephanie you may be really surprised how many are in
Central Florida. There is one around every corner. Zoom in and out and bit and look around, they are everywhere. This is my
neighborhood.

http://maps.google.com/maps?t=h&hl=en&i ... 53637&z=13

I love looking at the hawks too, they are plentiful around here though, you can see one everyday if you look
for them. I love when I see them flying over with a fish in talon, spectacular. But sadly about a month or so ago
as I was leaving my house I witnessed a young squirrel getting snatched by a hawk. I heard the swooping of its
wings getting close, looked up and saw the tussle of the branches in the oak beside me and then BAM off he went
and I could hear the squirrel squealing all the way across the field by my house and up into another tree where I
am sure he made a meal of it. I hate seeing that, I know its life but still hard to watch and hear.