If I had to pick among my "favorite" birds, this wouldn't even make the top 40. However, they sure are neat-looking birds. Just don't think of them pulling that diaper apart at the local dump, huh?













I'm excited to see what Sharon might add...

Jack

Not an eagle ...but a pretty.girl...

Both beautiful birds.

Im with Jack on this. I feel that gorgeous Gold Laced Wyandotte of Nessy's is much more desirable. What a perfect hen.

On the other hand eagles have some amazing talents.

Years ago the Idaho Parks&Wildlife commissioned me to do a series of info road signs around the big N ID lake , where eagles gathered every early winter for the local salmon run. Bird watchers from all over would travel to those spots to take photos, and the signs , made into metal and bolted into huge wood beams were an educational highlight for tourists as they eagle watched. Days after the first set was put up, someone in the night, with a well thought out plan, cut those metal signs out of the big beams with a chainsaw and stole every one of them. ID Parks and myself were pretty irritated . Fortunately, the Parks had extra signs made , and so they replaced the signs of my art and info into beams once again. I wanted to tell the thief, why not just take good photos of the signs instead of stealing them all ? Sheesh...

The eagle I painted on my truck when I pinstriped it, was to attract folks like bikers who love flag/eagle art on their tanks . I met the driver of the semi who was transporting the amazing Vietnam Traveling Wall exhibit this summer. He wants me to paint a few Vietnam images on this semi that he has in mind , when he repaints his rig. That truck is kept perfectly maintained , inside and out. I offered to paint the images as a donation for his driving that remarkable exhibit in honor of all Vietnam veterans.

Your nice eagle shots are well-timed with tomorrow's Veterans Day remembrance, Jack.

I saw this off colored eagle a half a dozen times on Chirikof Island. I saw it once flying with a regular color bald eagle. I took the pictures through a pair of binoculars.

We get them in big numbers in fall and spring with the waterfowl migration. Getting more every year that stick around and nest. Can really be hard on snared coyotes though not as bad as the Goldens.
Avian Influenza has put a little damper on the population in the past couple years, had some nesting pairs that would suddenly disappear during spring migration and with the sick and dying snow geese everywhere it’s probably that AI was the culprit.

Well done Sharon ..bet that trucker was thrilled ..to say the least

Thanks Nessy. I hope he is just that when I'm done painting that semi for him. Not sure when this project will pull together, but we are planning it at some point in the future . That rig is his full time job, so the timing of squeezing in stripping it down , painting by hand , time curing, then clear coating will have to be timed just so.

It is one of the Cree traditions that if you see a soaring eagle a spirit is rising. A somber thought that someone has passed.

They do possess some interesting large lice, but we can not wash them now as the higher ups have ordered.
even the green stained ones that have died of lead poisoning.

I see them stealing fish from osprey regularly. This one flew to close to an osprey nest and they osprey was chasing it. The eagle flipped upside down in an effort to grab the osprey with its claws



In the spring you can see them feasting on winter kill shad

For a glorified buzzard,,they are a Noble looking bird.

Excellent post