Our part-time resident eagle is back in town for his third winter.
Same cypress tree, same modus operandi.
LAUNCH…
& SNATCH
😦 bye bye birdie 😦
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pics & quips from a wandering writer, photographer, professor, reprobate
Amazing things you see, and have the wits about you to raise camera and click buttons. I’d stand gaping.
I can’t bring myself to ‘like’, I half hate/half mesmerize when you do shots like this because they’re rare in my experience and so interesting. I eat chickens, ducks, I eat fish etc., but I haven’t seen them being prepped from such moments. What a look in the eagle’s eyes in take-off….imagining sauces, whether to saute or broil, and especially Keep Your Distance….what a look.
Your first photograph is fascinating too, seeing the eagle’s ruffled body so brilliantly disguised, only the head (it could be a little bird?) giving it away. Remarkable sequence.
What did Tzuri say?
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For better or worse I am drawn to extreme life & death moments in Nature. Tzuri was napping in the car, but I rather think she was dreaming something similar. 🙂
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Aha. Pretty thought. Birds of a feather.
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Fantastic shots. Such clarity and detail is quite exceptional.
At least this eagle does its own hunting.
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Thanks, Gunta!
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It’s so reassuring to know that he’s still with you/us. He’s truly magnificent. Your photos choke me up with the majesty of it all, and I needed that today.
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I was pleased to see him/her again too. Although, romping with Tzuri keeps me from hanging out at the eagle’s lake very much. Some think she is a “he” and call him Jake. Others insist that he is a “she” and call her Izzy. 🙂
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Is it possible to tell the eagle’s gender from your viewpoint? I’m hoping for an Izzy, because my friend Isabel, whom we called Izzy, was definitely like an eagle–raised eight kids on her own while husband built Alaska pipeline, meanwhile she was full time Supervisor Nurse at Newport Hospital. My Izzy/Eagle has flown, as of 2 years ago this month, but could she soar!!!
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I don’t have a clue as to how to tell them apart. But Izzy, like your friend’s name, is short for Isabelle. I don’t like the name Jake for her, so to me she’s Izzy. 🙂
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YAAY! Long may she soar through the skies and hopefully she’ll leave behind eight splendid offspring!! Perfect!! Izzy was born in Nova Scotia, rode a barebacked horse to school. Left for Boston for nursing school at only 16 yo, and was the closest, dearest, most understanding, heart to heart friend in my life. And she felt same about me. How often does anyone get that joyous experience? Hail to the Izzy!!
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Oops, I just looked at Izzy’s pix again. In frame two, the pupils of her eyes are in dead center of the eye socket, and in frame three they are distinctly up and turned inward towards her upper beak. Now I know where they get “vision of an eagle” from an “up close and personal” standpoint. It almost looks like the mouth changes a bit once the prey is caught, resembling a smile in the corners, but that could just be camera angle. Been seeing these pix over and over in my head all day today, and enjoying every moment of it.
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More amazing pics!!
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Apparently there’s an eagle north of you catching cooties, too: http://phillanoue.com/2013/11/11/the-morning-hunter
From what I’ve read, you can tell the sex by the difference in the size of the beak, but you’d almost need a mate next to it for comparison.
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Thanks for the link to another eagle photographer. I’m “following” him now.
As for the sex differences, I’ll try to hone my skills in that area. 🙂
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The pix of the male and also the one with the alligator on New Year’s Day, who looks the same, beak-wise, show a beak with a more downward curve towards the front of it and the curve seems deeper. At the back corner of the mouth I don’t see the somewhat upturned corner of “Izzy” as we’ve been naming Oops! eagle. And yes, male beak looks decidedly shorter. Gorgeous pix, Phil.
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