Bald Eagle arrival upended my expectations this year

[Jones4381]

I have to begin by saying this was my first wild encounter with the American Bald Eagle. I've known they have been making a comeback across the US for 25+ years and have heard about local nesting in our neighboring county the last 5 years but I still was not prepared for the moment as I had not encountered one (lived in the general same area (25sq miles) for 53 years.

So Saturday begin with my enthusiasms for life as spring has been in the air with mid 70's temps and all animals and plant life beginning to explode. I sat outside and just listened to start my day...it was divine for almost 45 minutes with my silence and ears keenly listening into the natural world, around 7am. As the morning progressed and I watched to numerous to count (100 maybe) cedar waxwings devour the blue berries that cover the cedar's on my property I knew life was committed to its spring renewal promise
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I was anticipating PM's perhaps as a strong southerly wind blew in this weekend so I was hoping to hear or see my first arrival but to my dismay I only could hear the multiple calls of Red Tail Hawks nearby....Then there were 3 (believe 2 males and 1 female) doing battle over the skies and around the 20 acres of mine and maybe another 50 acres of my neighbors with continuous screeches over a territorial and mate argument I believe. Anyway this continued to the point of what I thought was amazement...but I was about to be surprised...

One of the male Red Tails took up a position in a large Poplar tree that is a good 150 feet high overlooking my pond and driveway...Then without notice I see out of my periphreal huge wings flapping to gain altitude from below my hillside my house sits on....The wingspan had to have been 7 feet+ by my guess and I thought...what the hell "Turkey or Black Buzzard"?? But in about 3 seconds I realized what was stretching for altitude was an American Bald Eagle! The hawk went bizerk and his mate or the other male (not sure I was focused on the Eagle at this point) begin following the Eagle. Over the course of the next 3 minutes (which I rand inside and grabbed my bird binoculars..20 seconds) I was privaledged to watch the Bald Eagle reach an altitude of 1500+ feet and circle over head while the 2 large Red Tails (look small now in comparison) stayed around 1000 feet and continuing to screech. The Eagle eventually headed north on the strong Southerly wind with the Hawks monitoring its moves along with me until it went out of site by the trees on the horizon at the north end of my property...It was amazing...
Now I'm looking for my PM's as this may be the year of constant surprises for me. Peace.

[Dave Reynolds]

.... Jones4381. ... Great story, —. I too set on the steps of my deck in the early morning hours,, Just concentrating on the silence coming from the woods on my property.. That silence and stillness helps me get connected with the Divine.. A bird song breaks the silence, or a squirrel jumping on some dry leaves bring me back to the world.. It won’t be long and the Purple Martins singing will break the silence in my morning. Good Luck and Keep us informed on your colony’s progress..

Dave

[Kegger]

Jones4381:

thanks for sharing your experience! I enjoyed the read and it brought back memories of my own Eagle encounters

[jhcox]

Speaking of eagles we have a nesting pair in our community along side a small creek over looking a large piece of pasture land. This time of year they should have some eggs. Hope to see the young one this summer. Still waiting on my Martins to return. There’s a few purple dots getting closer to my area here in the North Knoxville TN area.

[Spiderman]

We have bald eagles here on the Texas lake I live on. They are always harassing the Ospreys.

I believe they gain altitude and at some point will close their wings and dive on the predator below them with talons outstretched.

The Ospreys have learned to go a different part of the lake when the Eagles start circling and rising.

All beautiful birds that are apex predators in their domain.

Good Luck with Your Martin Season!

[Tallsilver]

Have a juvenile eagle that spends a lot of time on a cypress tree in the middle of a 4 acre pond behind us. We have a problem with cormorants using the same tree to roost in but when the “boss” shows up they hit the water and stay there until he decides to leave. Funny to watch, hope he deters the coopers!

[Spiderman]

The Martins will learn to ignore the Bald Eagle if he decides to stay.

Here they realize he isn’t “their” predator and don’t even fly when he cruises down the shoreline looking for fish.

[paule]

We are fortunate to have three bald eagle nests near by. One flies over about every morning. They don't bother the martins at all. It has also solved the cooper hawk problem we once had.

[MJM]

I have a full-grown monster of an Eagle hunting my 5 acre pond every few days outside Lexington, KY. They are rare here too I believe and my land sits off a small road where I see people pull over when he's here to watch him soar over my pond. He lands on a bluff next to it and he has to be at least 3 feet tall standing there.

Hate it for my fish, but I sure see why whoever first saw this amazing bird determined it was worthy of an entire country.

I'll try to grab a picture of him with my scope camera next time he is here and post it.