Bald Eagles

It seems we have new residents here at our home on the lake.

We have grown accustomed to large birds of prey in the trees and skies all around us, primarily red-tailed hawks and northern harriers. And a lot of turkey vultures.

This week King Louie noticed 2 large birds flying overhead. They were dark, with white heads & tails. We decided they must be bald eagles, because, what other bird has a 6-7 foot wingspan and a white head and tail? Still, they were too high for us to tell for certain and our brains were hesitant to believe we were actually seeing bald eagles here at our home! Neither of us had ever seen a bald eagle in the wild, and we've lived in Texas all our lives.

This weekend we saw one come back. He skimmed the lake with his talons, grabbed a fish and alighted (Can a bird that big alight? Perhaps that's the wrong word...) in a tree between our house and the lake. Determined to get solid evidence, I cautiously approached him with my camera. I took quite a few pictures. He wasn't afraid of me at all, and let me get about 30 yards away before he flew off. This may be because he was trying to finish his dinner! You can see his lovely fish in his right talon, against the tree.

It is easy to see why our nation has selected the bald eagle as its national bird. They are truly awesome creatures to see, especially in flight. This bird is wonderfully majestic; proud and strong; and extremely powerful. It is unfortunate they are no longer abundant in our land.

I hope you are able to see one for yourself one day, in "real life." They are incredible!

P.S. I do apologize for the mulitple postings here, and the terrible formatting around the pictures. I tried several times, but cannot for the life of me get the text to format properly around the pictures. You'll just have to wing it. (pun intended)