Saturday, January 23, 2010

Going on an Eagle Hunt...

When ice drifts down the Hudson River, it is time to head to the nature center to look for bald eagles. I tend to always have the same luck at these events. Either I have the camera and there are no eagles, or I forget the camera and we see many. The stars must have aligned last Thursday, because we finally had everything--camera, eagles, and fair weather!

Of course, the mature eagles still decided to take me down a peg and stayed far enough away that this was the best my camera could manage...

Bald Eagle At least it's visible! Considering I couldn't see it in the viewfinder, I'm amazed it came out this well.

The swans were more cooperative. My son took this wonderful shot of a swan on the river:

Swan on Hudson

Then I took some shots of the kids to prove they were there...

Marina

Chase

Sierra

Afterward, we went back to the nature center to warm up a bit. (Could you tell we were cold?) I took some shots of the feeder birds.

Cardinal

Goldfinch

Another birdwatcher came in to tell us he had sighted a juvenile eagle. Marina and I dropped everything and rushed over (Chase and Sierra were in play mode by now, no sense in dragging them away from their friends.) We were rewarded with a wonderful view of this immature bald eagle, possibly a first year. We thought it was very griffin like.

Eagle Silhouette

Eagle Again

Eagle

6 comments:

Risa said...

Awesome pics! Last year we did a trip to Vancouver and I stopped the car and made everyone get out when I spotted a bald eagle hassling some ducks over the river. He finally landed on a branch and I got a few shots (no zoom! Argh!) They are such a magnificent sight, it's a day you don't ever forget.

Mama Self said...

We saw our first ones on our way to Mount Rushmore. Love your pics!

And we love the Marx Bros. movies (thanks to my dad). I'm going to look into getting my hands on Harpo's biography.

And, you can see our boys' behavior under my Darwin post...never a dull moment! ;) Wouldn't trade it for the world.

Mama Teaching 3 said...

Wow!!!! I so wish I could go!

Stephanie said...

What magnificent pictures!

flmom said...

Awesome, awesome, awesome! These made me look even more forward to the bird count coming up soon. :)

Inner Elder said...

I love that young eagle, especially his Mohawk hairdo. Loved the pix of the kids; glad to see Marina wearing her glasses. And what a winning smile, Chase. Love, Mom/grandma

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