A morning with a bald eagle family
It’s tough to beat spending time with a family of 4 bald eagles to start the day off right, and yesterday, that’s what Monty and I did.
The trail is high and there’s some exposure that certainly makes having a full pot of coffee in your belly seem like a good idea.
Don’t you wish that your home had a view like theirs? As I approached, the other adult gave us a warning dive close to us but then disappeared. With a wingspan of over 6 feet, the warning is one to take seriously, but the adult seen here showed no sign of nervousness so we continued our approach.
In the cool morning air, the juveniles were much more active than they’d been in the heat of the afternoon a few days ago.
Very impressive babies!
When I saw the other adult a few minutes later, I could see that, being larger, this is the female – though the colourization is the same in both sexes, females average about 25% larger than the males.
The juveniles watched Monty and I quite a bit, but it seemed to be out of curiosity, not any sense of danger. I was watching very closely for any sign that our presence might be causing a problem.
Mom was also keeping a fairly close eye on Monty and I, but was comfortable enough with our presence to turn her back on us for fairly lengthy periods.
Juvenile bald eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) typically start flying in August sometime, but my guess is that these two are in no hurry to leave, as this was the only practise I saw.
Their projectile defecation helps keep the nest clean. A kill site a few hundred feet away has been marked that way by the adults.
Waving those big wings around is apparently tough work – it was funny see that one lay down on its side with its feet up after the activity.
We spent about 20 minutes with the family, then headed back down the trail towards the car. Right above the trail, though, the male was watching us. He’d apparently been out hunting, as his breast feathers were coated in mud. There wasn’t any reasonable way to get around his perch without disturbing him, so we continued on the trail. When I got within about 20 feet, he flew off and landed in an aspen close to the nest.
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