But a real honest to goodness, official national symbol, Bald Eagle!!! Today when I was on my bike ride I spied this fellow sitting on cable off a telephone pole overlooking the water at the harbor/wetlands entrance. I have seen him a couple of times before a few months back but was not sure as he had a dark head. There are Bald Eagles across the channel on Santa Catalina island, 26 miles away, but now it appears they are coming south and inland… very cool to see… Today I tool a couple of photos of him with my phone. As you can see he is shedding the dark feathers of an Eaglet and becoming a proud adult
(BTW the large squarish building in the background on the horizon is the old Rockwell Seal Beach plant where parts of the Apollo Rockets were built back in the day)
Beautiful bird. There are several places here in saint Louis for eagle spotting. In fact yesterday they let a trrained one for the cardinals home opener.it flew around the stadium in circles for almost five minutes. Then landed on the handlers outstretched arm.magnificent !
There are very few birds who are more thrilling to see in the wild. Here in Northern CA we are fortunate to have them and here’s a link to a live cam view of one of their nests in a protected area:
That first photo really connected with me. I worked at McDD when the Streak Eagle set the record. But that plane was so highly modified it was good for nothing else, and was sent to the McDonnell scrapyard soon after. I worked in a building that overlooked the yard, and could look out the window and see that bird wasting away.
Cool pix Stik, i saw one take a fish from a glass smooth lake early one morning, darn near drove off the road watching, really awesome to see in the wild like that.
Yeah, I am looking forward to seeing this guy hunt… I have seen most of the other local birds do that around here. Those big Pelicans doing a high speed dive into the waves is always a sight. Nowhere near as good looking or graceful as any raptors, but impressive in its own way…
They are not too far from where we live in Central Florida. One was flying over our house a couple of months back. They are really majestic beautiful creatures. We saw them fishing salmon when we were in Alaska in the summer during a cruise.
We’re actually blessed up here as lake Coeur d’Alene is a favorite hangout for eagles in late fall,folks set up viewing stops along the road with binoculars and cameras. I know of two breading pairs that live in the area almost year 'round. Of course nothing like Alaska. Pelicans would be cool to see in habitat, they’re pretty large birds and that bucket under thier bills is amazing.
When I lived in Dubuque, IA, there was a park a little north of the city right on the Mississippi river. If you waited long enough, you would see an eagle fly across the river and dive and grab a fish. One day my wife and I witnessed 5 of these fish grabs within a couple hours. Really incredible seeing nature like this.
That is a really great picture, Stik! Thanks for sharing!
I done bin tinkin dat us’ns here in TEXAS oughta have them too . Got a pair , Male and Female in and around Schlitterbahn , Here in New Braunfels , Texas .They fly over the Rail Museum a lot ! I hope they have egglets and build a nice population here !
Lots of land in the great republic of Texas, makes sense they are there too, atleast the weather is consistent. BTW not sure where in Texas New Braunsfels is but I hope TB you and yours are safe after the nasty weather down there.
I live in Oregon and there are a number flying around near the rivers. However seeing a pure white-headed eagle is fairly rare. I have seen only one & he hangs out by the gravel quarry by the freeway. He’s a big guy too! Awesome animals!
I like the markings on the one you have pictured. Looks like he wears a mask!
