Bird of the Week – Bald Eagle Portrait
This handsome fellow was warning gulls and other eagles to stay away from the salmon carcass he’d found, but he may have also been complaining about the pouring rain.
Bald Eagle, Cordova, Alaska
Bald Eagle shots are very common, of course. To get one that grabs the viewer, you need to do something different. Perhaps seeing the ridges on the roof of an eagle’s gullet meets that requirement.
Technical stuff: f8, 1/320 second, ISO 800.
More bird photos at Frozen Feather Images.
Mike form Iowa,
I can’t get any informaiton from your link, it just comes up a blank page. Perhaps you could summarize it
and elucidate the credentials of those who did the study….
Incidentally, do you happen to have any citations to statistics on the number of eagles in Monatana versus the
number of sheep? Just curious.
Commenting seems a little iffy at the moment so I will shut up and post this.
http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/vpc8/37/ This study by Bart W O’Gara-Montana Co-operative Wildlife Research Center,from 1974 is limited to two relatively small areas near Dillon,Montana with exceptionally high eagle predation rates on domestic lambs. Ranchers had complained for a few years about eagles and the study showed golden eagles accounted for 76% of lamb deaths. There was also a noted decline in jackrabbit populations(cyclical),the majority of depredations commited by juvenile/sub-adult eagles that habituated the lambing grounds because of a lack of nesting/territorial eagles. Sheep populations have steadily declined for decades although I can’t find relevant numbers. Dr. John Craighead estimated wintering eagle population in 1975 Montana at 9000 eagles. A few hundred eagles were trapped and relocated,but O’Gara believes that eagle predation decreased mainly because jackrabbit populations increased.. There is at least one study showing golden eagles are known to prey on domestic calves. Wish I could help more,not sure what else I can do.
Terrific photo, WC. Yes, great images of bald eagles are not uncommon, but yours is the first I’ve ever seen with wet plumage! Thank you so much.
Superb image. Glorious creatures birds in general eagles being a subcategory that inspires a certain awe and respect. I know an elderly gentleman who once ran a sheep ranch on Unalaska and who killed eagles on sight because he claimed they preyed upon his lambs. Has there ever been a documented case of eagles preying on livestock of any kind (including chickens)?
I have a veranda which I have surrounded with humming bird feeders. It is amazing. Sometimes there are a dozen or more of the spectacular aerobats contending for access with one another and at dusk there are twice that number fueling up for the night ahead.
Shortly after moving in here I was sitting on the veranda trying to get my WIFI to connect to the satellite router and a living breathing Toucan landed in a tree nearby. I was astounded. No camera within easy reach so I simply observed it for as long as it chose to stay in view. Just as I was thinking well maybe now I can risk getting up to fetch a camera, s/he decided I was not enough of a nut to contemplate cracking any longer and departed. Note to self #110,789 – always have a camera handy. What a bird! That is the only one I have ever seen in all this time.
I have seen plenty of Araras (Macaws). Usually they are in pairs. Eventually I will put out a platform feeder for them and stock it with Brazil nuts, they seem to like them and with their fearsome beaks crack them open like a fortune cookie.
Perhaps I will take a greater interest in the Avian fauna when I have more time on my hands. I’d like to, but I doubt if it will actually happen. I’d need someone with expertise to train me in how to recognize the songs/calls and then home in on them. Unlike what is depicted in hollywood movies, the high bush (jungle) is mostly silent. There is one bird about which I know nothing at all and have never seen that has a very distinctive call that is a close approcimation of the notorious “wolf whistle”. If memory serves me the Brazilian name for that bird is a play on that theme but for the life of me I can’t think of it now.
Has WC ever birded (?) in Brazil?
http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1036&context=vpc8
Study from Montana documents golden eagle predation on domestic sheep. From the 1970’s. For birdsongs try yjr website Xeno-Canto. Supposed to have recordings from all around the world. There is a bird around here that sounds like a wolf whistle. I call it the “goony bird”, don’t know the rill name. When I first heard it,I thought some body was making a pass at me while I was walking soybeans. Rilly freaky since I am not what a normal person would consider attractive.
My goony bird here in iowa is the upland sandpiper.
Yes..that IS..a stunning picture..and a grand ol bird, but kind-hearts..I must take you on a strange-wild trip. What if all women who believe in..their body, their choice..had that ..Tat..inside thigh with a minnow-fish type drape..on side of beak..with a republican..umm symb on its fin.?….
I did something different several months ago and I purely don’t recommend it-not for the eagle’s sake or my Jeep windshield’s sake. Eagles have made a remarkable comeback in mainland iowa,what with all the dead pigs thrown out back in the hills and fields.. Eagles are living-add your own cliche. Wonder of all wonders,there is a pair of Ospreys nesting at the iowa Great Lakes and I believe they have their own Opsrey cam.
http://tinyurl.com/m5chnyw
Osprey cam link. Click on live web cam and watch wind blow. I get nauseous from swayong back and forth.
They have better vision than we do, apparently – they see in color, have the ability to sharply focus from a great distance, and have naturally polarized lenses or something like that. Can you spot a fish in the water from 300 feet up? Whenever I walk by or beneath one that’s giving me the eye, I always think that they’re seeing me better than I’m seeing them.
I think it more than meets the requirement 🙂
Wonderful photo!
Thank you.
I’ve never tired of watching the eagles here . Lived for 8 years under the flight path of a pair- between their nest up the hill and their fishing waters below.
http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/bald_eagle/sounds
I never tired of hearing them either. The chitter or chatter call is more striking than this audio and a joy to hear.
Many thanks, WC.
I missed watching the Decorah Eaglecam this year.
Love this photo.
*saving in Moment of Inspiration folder*
We’re between thunderstorms for a brief respite here in the forest.
Fine by me; temps in the low 70s.
Apple streusel pie in the oven, which I made from scratch just for the Joy of it.
mmmmm…cinnamon…..
Wishing you all a delicious weekend,
thatcrowwoman
apple streusel?
oh my
Yum! My fork is ready, what time should I come over? 😉
I too missed the Decorah web cam this year, although checked in with the Catalina Island cams some.