Sunday, May 9, 2010

Bald Eagle Hanging Out With Pelicans


This was a not very successful attempt to shoot through the spotting scope with my new camera (the wider angle lens doesn't allow it to fit inside the scope's eyepiece, leaving substantial "vignetting" around the edges). But the subject was fascinating: we'd been watching some pelicans on a sandbar far out in Lake Byllesby, when the dark blob in front of them moved and we saw that it was a bald eagle, tearing at (presumably) a fish on the ground. The focus and lighting are not good, but if you click on the photo you'll see the eagle with its head down to eat. It flew away shortly thereafter.
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3 comments:

Mary S. said...

Neat! We have a huge egret that has been hanging out on the pond behind our house the last few days. We've had them before, but this one is large.

Myna said...

Such a nice blogspot.

I have seen a couple of bald eagles outside Northfield just beyond the road that winds behind St. Olaf college. It is the road with all the beautiful spotted cows and sometimes pigs in the pastures.

I have been trying to find someone in Northfield who knows what kind of owl (I assume it is an owl)which makes a melodious warbling sound. I have such a bird in the pines behind my house and the sound is heard between 3 and 4 AM. The only sound I can find on the internet that sounds like it, is that of a Tawny owl, but they are in England.

I was hoping someone might know.

Blessings~

Unknown said...

Thanks so much for your note. I asked my "resident bird expert" (who doesn't himself think he is much of an expert). He suggests the possibility, startling though it may seem, that it could be a robin. He says they are very often the earliest birds heard in the morning and they do have quite a large repertoire of calls, so it might not be the familiar "cheerily, cheer-up!" call we most often associate with a robin. Other possibilities might be a nightjar or whipoorwill. If it definitely sounds owl-like, but also melodious and warbling, I'm afraid we are out of ideas for the moment!