Eagle In Flight

Eagle in Flight

Wally and I took the back roads into town yesterday.. The back roads being all the country farm roads (we avoid the freeway as often as we can) and town being Eugene. (Living in Lebanon, Eugene is about 45ish minutes South of us)

We came up on a field where this lone eagle was just sitting in the middle. He took off as I was just about to shoot!

He was flying very slow, more like gliding.. Like he knew what I was doing..

I really love the grace in which they fly.. There is nothing like watching an eagle in flight! Except getting a perfect shot! (these are not the perfect ones.. a little fuzzy,, but still beautiful)

I just thought I would share....

More Eagles of the Pacific Northwest

Wally and I went out for a ride to town yesterday..  Since Wally just loves driving the freeway (sarcasm) we took the back ways..

The back way into town goes through some of the most beautiful farm land around.. 

Grass seed, corn, wheat are just a few of the crops.. Linn county is the "Grass Seed" capital.  Grass seed is sent all over the country from here.. 

We also see alot of cows and horses.. my favorite are the sheep. This is where "city girl" turns into "country girl".  When you see a field of sheep you/I start to look for the ones that have died. I know,, a bit morbid. I never used to be like that either. I would think, you poor thing... Now, when I see a carcass I think, the eagles will be showing up soon!!! That is usually what happens. 

And now, the eagles are showing up back in the valley!!!!

Here we have a pair of eagles.. They are at least 3 years old. The one on the right has his white head and the one on the left is still a youngster.. can you see the mask? He is still young enough that he doesn't have his head totally white. They don't start getting their colors until around 3 years old. 

This could be the dad flying off here.. I have seen the parents watching over the young ones while in the fields. They will be close by as the young ones feed. 

I was so excited to see how these turned out!!! To catch an eagle in flight in focus is not as easy as you may think... 

To see an eagle in flight is enough to make me stop and just watch. The grace in which they move is so beautiful. I have seen groups in flight just flying in circles, but this was the first time I have seen this!! 

 One thing I have learned about these beautiful birds is that the male is the smaller of the pair. It is really hard to tell here but I think the male is on the right. Do you see how he seems to be flying away from her, with his back to her?? If you look at the photo above this you will see him almost flying backwards.  What you don't see (and I just missed) was they had their talons locked together. 

It was like dancing... just beautiful!!! If you blow up this photo you can see the female (???) (the one on the left) with her/his beak open. From where Wally and I were standing you could hear her calling to the other.

Here you can see the eagles in the field. There were at least the 2 adults and I think maybe 4 babies. I have to laugh, sometimes the babies are as big or bigger than the adults!

Here the adults are dancing again.. 

They locked talons again and were like that in mid air.. Well, they are closer to the ground here, but still off the ground. I think they were about 2 or 3ish feet up in this shot. 

AMAZING!!!

Here are the sheep.. They are running back and forth here and if you look closely you can see one of the adults in the field with the sheep. The sheep are not bothered at all by the fact of so many eagles in their field. 

Here they are just flying over the fields while the other is just checking things out... 

This sighting for me was truly amazing, to see the dance and interaction was just stinking cool!!!

So after we finally left this field we wondered further towards home. We saw this red tailed hawk in a tree.. 

He actually let us get quite close. 

When he finally had enough of us making him nervous he left.. 

Right into the field... 

We stopped at another spot on the way home to see if the heard of elk were still where we spotted them on the way to town. Unfortunately they were not,, but I did get a great shot of my Wally!

This was a good day for birds!!!!!

Eagles in the Pacific Northwest

I took a drive to town yesterday.. It was dark and gloomy and very bad lighting to take any pictures at all... but if I am not at work I always have my camera with me...  If I see something I like,, I will shoot and see what I will see.... 

Came home the back way and this is what I found...

This adult was in a tree all alone.. I am thinking it might be a female. It was rather large and I have learned that the females are the larger of the pair..  

Very dark and gloomy... This lighting was really bad, so I tried to get as close as I could.. This tree was in the front yard of a home.. I parked across the street and was about 50ish feet from the tree.. 

I don't make bird noises nearly as good as Wally does.... I only got the eagle to look down at me once. I really think she was ignoring me. 

I didn't see any other adults around.. but I did find some babies up the road a bit.. 

There were a pair in this tree... They were just hanging out together. I was wondering if the adult I saw up the road was the momma of these two. I usually see an adult close by if the babies are out on there own. 

I have seen babies feeding on a carcass with the adults on each side to protect it.. (of course I was on my way to work and didn't have my camera with me when I saw that)

When they thought I was getting to close they flew off..

 You can tell that they are babies because not only do they not have white heads yet.. (they get there colors around 3 years old) but they have white under their wings. I once thought a baby that I had seen was a golden.. I was corrected by some of the photographers I know who shoot alot of birds. I have actually learned alot from them!!

I know that these are still dark but there is nothing like an eagle in flight!!! Baby or adult......  

They are so beautiful!!!