View Full Version : Bald Eagles
I'm in south east Wisconsin and over the last several years we have started to ocasionally see an eagle now and then. Went out for breakfast this morning and drove under an oak tree that had an adult pair sitting in it. Really made a good start to my day. Beautiful birds.
swamprat
03-14-2009, 09:01 AM
last year we wear camping in the adirondack mts.was taking a boat ride on stillwater res.and seen a pair for the first time.almost makes your life complete
Brenda
03-14-2009, 09:44 AM
We have a pair at our local lake, but I have only seen pictures of them in the paper. There are also bald eagles near Piasa and Hardin, IL. on the river.
Michael Palmer
03-14-2009, 08:18 PM
Just saw my first Vermont Bald Eagle last summer along lake Champlain in NW Vermont. Vermont is the only state without a breeding pair. They've been releasing juveniles in the Dead Creek Wildlife Management Area in Addiason County...50 miles south of Burlington. Two summers ago a pair started nesting in a pine tree along the Connecticut river. The top was blown off in a storm, and the birds never finished raising their brood. Last summer, a friend found a hatched shell along the river while fishing. Still, no nests or juveniles seen.
It's only a matter of time before we have a successful breeding pair back in Vermont.
NewBee2007
03-14-2009, 08:36 PM
It still takes my breath away to see a bald eagle in the wild!:)
The first eagle I ever spotted in the wild was over Lake Champlain near Port Kent. I was taking a train North from Albany to Montreal. I have also saw an eagle in the wild when camping at Fish Creek Campground near Saranac Lake...we were kayaking back to our campsite doing the loop from the campground via Floodwood and coming back before returning to the outlet to Fish Creek there was one in a snag looking for dinner...then 2 weekends ago we spotted a pair within 10 miles of our house in some trees overlooking the Hoosic River in Peterburgh, NY.
ps---If I can find the picture of the one I took from the Fish Creek trip, I'll try to post it.
Tom G. Laury
03-14-2009, 10:07 PM
Never fail to impress. We have so many nesting sites in the foothill & mountain lakes it's amazing. I used to think of eagles as territorial year round denizens but from what little I understand there are great migrations to winter grounds.
They will use nesting sites for ...generations?...and it's fascinating to see the pile of bones at the base of a nesting tree, makes a big mound.
mudlake
03-14-2009, 10:22 PM
I went to Alaska a couple years ago. I saw more eagles on on one of those whale watching trips. I saw thousands really! They were like Red wing Blackbirds we have lots of those here in NY. We saw them catching fish eating sea gulls it was great. They sure are not humming birds. Seeing all of them made the trip for me.(to Alaska) There sure lots of space in Alaska. Tony
Jesse
03-14-2009, 11:05 PM
I am a commercial fisherman on Lake Michigan. We have around 20 eagles in the neighborhood now - the population has grown a lot the past 10 years. During this time of year we throw fish guts out on the ice for them. They never get real close - maybe 75 yards if we're lucky. Just the other day, one flew past the boat to an ice cake that we had put a few carcasses on, grabbed one in its talons and kept flying.
They are big beautiful birds - there are both mature birds and "yearlings" at this point - ones that have yet to get the "bald" head.
I saw one of their nests on a nearby island a couple of years ago. It was about this time of year, maybe a little later. It was 6 feet across and 8 feet deep, in a old sugar maple about 35 feet up. As I got closer to the tree one of the eagles circled and made an unhappy-get-out-of-here call.
They are amazing. Although, they really are just slightly quieter and bigger seagulls - the majority of their diet is scavaging. Most people think that they swoop down and grab salmon off the top of the water all the time - that is mostly in Alaska during the spawning season. Not to say they don't catch a lot of fish - but they mostly take opportunities to steal food from smaller birds and animals.
Ken&Andria
03-14-2009, 11:21 PM
They are amazing. Although, they really are just slightly quieter and bigger seagulls - the majority of their diet is scavaging.
Yeah, I was in Adak few years ago, the eagles were all over the dump. Just like seagulls. Big, huge seagulls with sharp pointy ends....
We have lots of eagles around here, every once in a while one will fly over the house. Owls too. Everytime I see one I do a head count on the cats....
Thought they taste like chicken! Ok sorry, could not resist that.
okiequeenbee
03-15-2009, 12:35 PM
Here is a link to a camera that is on an Eagle nest in northern Oklahoma. I spend almost as much time watching this as I do my OB hive. I enjoy watching the parents bring the fish in to the young, and watching for that first flight. http://www.suttoncenter.org/eaglecam.html
MapMan
03-15-2009, 01:00 PM
Just saw my first Vermont Bald Eagle last summer along lake Champlain in NW Vermont. Vermont is the only state without a breeding pair. They've been releasing juveniles in the Dead Creek Wildlife Management Area in Addiason County...50 miles south of Burlington. Two summers ago a pair started nesting in a pine tree along the Connecticut river. The top was blown off in a storm, and the birds never finished raising their brood. Last summer, a friend found a hatched shell along the river while fishing. Still, no nests or juveniles seen.
It's only a matter of time before we have a successful breeding pair back in Vermont.
So is the Vermont Bald Eagle a subspecies of the Bald Eagle? :scratch:
MM
Da Yooper
03-15-2009, 01:03 PM
Here's a couple shots I was lucky enough to get of one. There is a nest not a 1/4 mile away. In the first one you can see the nest and the eagle about to land in it.
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm12/J480Photos/127_2706.jpg
http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm12/J480Photos/127_2711.jpg
It is a blessing to live so close to such a beautiful family of birds. Just have to keep an eye on our smallest dog. :eek:
Fred
NeilV
03-15-2009, 01:54 PM
There is a juvenille Bald Eagle that lives near one of my beeyards. Last year, I saw it about 1 out of three times I was checking the bees. Pretty birds.
Walliebee
03-16-2009, 04:12 PM
Here's another good cam:
http://birdcam.xcelenergy.com/videoindex.html?cam=eagle
Hambone
03-18-2009, 10:44 AM
Here is a link to a camera that is on an Eagle nest in northern Oklahoma. I spend almost as much time watching this as I do my OB hive. I enjoy watching the parents bring the fish in to the young, and watching for that first flight. http://www.suttoncenter.org/eaglecam.html
Is this Eagle sitting on some eggs? I have been watching her for the last 3 hours and she ain't moving much. I have named her Meredith (wife). :D
Hambone
03-18-2009, 11:55 PM
I read that she is on some eggs. Should be hatching any day now!
NeilV
03-23-2009, 06:39 PM
Hey Okiequeenbee and anybody else who is interested:
I told my wife about your link, and she's hooked. Watching the eagles has become part of the routine in the house.
One of the eagles' eggs hatched, for anybody who wants to watch long enough for mama eagle to get off of baby eagle.
Neil
Eaglerock
03-23-2009, 06:53 PM
Hey, someone posting about Eagles...Yes yes yes, it's all about me!
Hambone
03-24-2009, 09:19 AM
Here is a link to a camera that is on an Eagle nest in northern Oklahoma. I spend almost as much time watching this as I do my OB hive. I enjoy watching the parents bring the fish in to the young, and watching for that first flight. http://www.suttoncenter.org/eaglecam.html
For anyone that has looked at this one. She has 3 eggs and one has hatched. Very cool to watch.
okiequeenbee
03-25-2009, 03:44 PM
I spent enough time in front of the computer today that I finally got to see the baby! Way cool. And I saw one of the eagles bring in some sort of food and watched them feed the little eaglet. I'm glad everyone is enjoying the eagle cam. Now, I must really get some work done.
Daisy Kindle
03-25-2009, 09:08 PM
Karl,
I live near Green Bay and Appleton, but in the country. I have a pair that have been here for the last 3 years. What a site! Enjoy!
ClintonTull
03-26-2009, 02:04 AM
I live down here near st. louis. I had a boat on the mississippi near st. charles and down at the river ferry of grafton illinois you can count 20-40 eagles floating the ice and in the trees. I have tons of pictures of them from last year. Didnt go up there this year as my boat sank Feb 15th.
http://tulltraditions.com/photos/thumbnails.php?album=67&page=1
dcross
03-29-2009, 03:28 PM
Got to see what happens when one eagle cruises down the Platte river this time of year on Friday, quite a show with all the cranes launching at once:)
Jesse
03-30-2009, 08:53 AM
When I was like 10 or 11 my dad woke my younger brother Hans and me up. He had been out to check his commercial fish tug and said there was something we had to see.
We got up and quickly put some clothes on - it was probably 7 in the morning in March. There was still some snow on the ground and the lake was still mostly ice covered.
We went down a small access road on the southwest side of the Island. It lead to west harbor. About halfway down the gravel road - we stopped, Dad glanced at us,
"It's here, get out."
We clambered out the passenger side of his old 76' F150. As we rounded the front corner of the puke green truck, there was movement in the cedar trees.
A large mature bald eagle took a few cautious steps away from us. Dad looked down at us,
"She has ice on her wings, let's help her."
There was a brisk wind out of the northwest - the shoreline was about a hundred yards away through a dense evergreen forest.
We fanned out about 50 feet apart and slowly drove her towards the ice covered lake. As she got closer, the wind picked up.
She broke through the edge of the woods and spread her wings. She jumped and flapped in one motion, struggling to gain altitude. She circled once over us - almost to say thanks and headed off.
It was a great moment - it would have been even better if we would have been late for school. ;)
Eaglerock
03-30-2009, 09:10 AM
Jesse, what a wonderful story... so did you get hot chocolate before getting ready for school, and sit and talk about what happened?
Jesse
03-30-2009, 10:56 AM
Jesse, what a wonderful story... so did you get hot chocolate before getting ready for school, and sit and talk about what happened?
No hot chocolate - that's not dad's style - we drove home where we got our lunch and homework and he gave us a ride to school. It's funny how I had forgotten about that - 'cause animals were my thing - it was around the time my parents were separated, that might have something to do with it.
I used to be given all sorts of nature magazines - I would cover my room in pictures and I filed hundreds of photos by type of animal kingdom. Birds of prey and big cats were my favorite. I had encyclopedia's and field guides and audubon books - I would trace them and color them and send them to my great-grandma in florida.
It's funny I never realized that I had a passion for animals still until a few months ago - so, I decided I'm going back to finish school, switching majors from business to wildlife ecology - it's been 6 years since I was in school, I'm a little nervous because I actually want this - I'm planning to send out my application to Madison for the spring term in '10 in the next couple of weeks.
Wish me luck - I didn't mean go off on a tangent there - sorry if it's off subject
I actually saw an eagle collecting sticks at the edge of my Grandma's property about two weeks ago.
Back on point :D
Eaglerock
03-30-2009, 02:59 PM
It's funny I never realized that I had a passion for animals still until a few months ago - so, I decided I'm going back to finish school, switching majors from business to wildlife ecology - it's been 6 years since I was in school, I'm a little nervous because I actually want this - I'm planning to send out my application to Madison for the spring term in '10 in the next couple of weeks.
Wish me luck - I didn't mean go off on a tangent there - sorry if it's off subject
Jesse- Good Luck! I am glad you found your passion. Some live a life time and never find theirs.
treebee
03-30-2009, 04:58 PM
This might be interesting, Around here (Northwest Missouri)we get to see the bald ones pretty often but the last couple of years myself and a few mates have been catching them on deer carcases.Last November I was passing by one of our fields and thought I had seen a bunch of buzzards about 50 yards from the road but It was winter and they should have been snow birding some where south of the border. They we,re on a small buck (:no:courtesy of our poacher population) as I approached I had the honer of having 9 to 11 beautiful bald eagles rise up and circle above my truck for a good minute or so they seemed mad that I should disturb there pick-nick and settled all around me in the fence rows of the field. Made my day. Went for the camera ,dead battery , went for the phone, no signal just got to sit and watch. Saw one the other day on the side of the road perched on another road kill deer we pulled within twenty feet of him and he just sat there ruffled at us didn't take flight until I moved the truck a little more. Makes me wonder if they our proving the theory around here that we're loosing a lot of our small animal population to bad farming practices and pesticides. John
Eaglerock
03-30-2009, 05:15 PM
Last November I was passing by one of our fields and thought I had seen a bunch of buzzards about 50 yards from the road but It was winter and they should have been snow birding some where south of the border. They we,re on a small buck (:no:courtesy of our poacher population) as I approached I had the honer of having 9 to 11 beautiful bald eagles rise up and circle above my truck for a good minute or so they seemed mad that I should disturb there pick-nick and settled all around me in the fence rows of the field. Made my day. Went for the camera ,dead battery , went for the phone, no signal just got to sit and watch. Saw one the other day on the side of the road perched on another road kill deer we pulled within twenty feet of him and he just sat there ruffled at us didn't take flight until I moved the truck a little more.
Sound more like Turkey Vultures
http://vulturesociety.homestead.com/TVFacts.html
http://www.holoweb.com/cannon/turkedy.htm
http://www.desertusa.com/magdec97/dec_pap/du_tkvulture.html
http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Turkey_Vulture.html
http://vulturesociety.homestead.com/
http://www.answers.com/topic/turkey-vulture
treebee
03-31-2009, 07:53 AM
I was plenty close enough they we,re eagles, big bald and beautiful, just like me:D this has been going on for a couple of years and not just during heavy snow or ice they do act like the buzzards but there not here in the winter.
That eagle hatchling in Oklahoma is certainly growing fast. Probably helps that he gets all the "roadkill".