Where Eagles Dare to Fly
So, I could fill this post with more pictures of sheep and lambs and calves…
A little love from Daddy.
Or I could fill this post with cute pictures of my kids and especially my boys like I usually do for Boys in Motion Fridays…
By the way, they were laughing hysterically through this–even the rams over there watching like a pack of schoolboys.
But I got the coolest pictures of something else yesterday when I left the office!
From a distance, they look like adults…
They sort of tie in with the farm, since they were definitely in range of our property “as the crow flies.” And they might have been boys and were definitely in motion.
{PS. If you’re squeamish, I just wanted to mention that these birds are eating roadkill. If that might bother you, now might be a good time to stop scrolling.}
…But up close you can see how speckled and scruffy they look. Especially under their wings.
I just can’t help but stop in my tracks anytime I see that striking white head. It’s just ingrained in me the same way Liberty and Justice are not just concepts but actual daily operating parameters to us. (Just for the record, yes, I did actually name our barn cats Liberty and Justice. I told you, it’s ingrained.)
They’re all juveniles. I don’t know age or anything, other than that. There were 2 more circling overhead, too.
I’m not sure if this is a natural reaction on my part because they’re beautiful, or a social construct that’s been embedded in my psyche by my Dad–which is also quite possible because I have no doubt he would have stopped dead to get pictures too!
I think this one was screaming to chase the others away, but I’m not an eagle biologist or anything. That’s just a guess.
Either way, it was as awesome as it always is. Remember back in November? As long as their not actually circling over our lambing pasture, anyway.
That one in the back was definitely smaller and scruffier and more speckled.
And I don’t know what their official “status” is, but calling them endangered around here is getting to be a bit of a stretch. There were 4 of them at this site yesterday afternoon (and two still there this morning!). They must have several nesting sites that are not on the “official” lists.
I know this isn’t a “good” pictures, but these are big birds. There’s just something so powerful about the way they fly. You just can’t call it “flapping.”
As long as they leave us be, I don’t mind one bit. And it gives a bit of a thrill to see all the buzzards and crows scatter as one comes winging in!
I love bald eagles too. They are just…majestic! And I’m not sure they’re endangered anymore. 🙂 But beautiful? yes.
Wow and I was just worrying about the coyotes and wolves. Funny how something so beautiful can make you not like them. B
We’ve had more trouble from eagles than from coyotes, although they are in the area too. I’ve heard out farther west that they have trouble with Golden Eagles too.
Wow! I don’t think I’ve ever seen an eagle outside of a zoo! The lambs are so precious!
Until we moved here, I’d only ever seen them once in AK and faaaaarrrr across the Potomac once at home. Nothing like these up close and real moments around here! I find it so exciting, but sometimes I wonder if my kids will end up taking it for granted since it’s so much a regular part of their world.
Awesome!!! What a neat thing to experience!!!
So glad I’ve taken to keeping my camera with me almost all the time! My camera phone can cover in a pinch, but this was definitely a moment to pull out my [little] big guns. 🙂
Eagles give me goosebumps! I hadn’t seen that many in the wild until I went on a trip to Alaska – they were as plentiful as Robins. Wow!
Love the picture of your boys and the attention they were getting from the fuzzy folks!
Immature eagels don’t yet have the white on their heads. So perhaps the “one in the back” (scruffier & speckled) was an immature one. They are magnificaent. I get tears in my eyes when I spot them!…:)JP
Beautiful pictures! I had a pair that stayed by my place for a month last spring. Then they headed on, but it was great to see them here.
What FANTASTIC photos! I am always in awe of the bald eagle – we don’t see them often here, generally just in zoos. How amazing to watch them fly free!!
Absolutely amazing photos of the eagles–how cool is that. We don’t see them here at all, so I get really excited to see them like this 🙂 Thanks for sharing with FFF!
Thanks for stopping by (I really love FFF!). It’s something that never gets old for me either!
I saw my first Bald Eagle (other than in a zoo) last Spring in our tree row. It was beautiful and I smiled all day long just thinking about how awesome it was to witness such a beautiful animal in it’s natural surroundings.