Salmon Woman and I walked near Bethany Lake in Washington County Oregon yesterday. We saw a gull. But you probably would rather hear about the three eagles we saw, although I’ve good pictures of the gull.
We heard the eagles before we saw them; a high pitched conversational chatter. I knew where to look; they have a favorite spot in the highest tree. I saw two, perched away from each other.
After a couple of passes, the overhead eagle flew south. The two eagles in the tree chattered to each other for several seconds, and this happened.
If something flew over like that and landed next to me, I’d be paying them a lot more attention.
For 10 or so years I’ve been watching the eagles and their nest in a tall tree in a forested wetlands about a mile north of where I took this picture. I’ve never seen 3 of them together. Two is very rare.
I’m wondering how this fits together with my odd sighting of an eagle in the Albertson’s Supermarket parking lot two days ago, a mile east of where I took these pictures. Was that a intruder? A prodigal father returning?
I doubt there were chicks hatched at the nearby nest. The local eagle nest watchers haven’t had cameras set up for a year or two to watch these eagles’ nest. The watchers would be there with cameras, if there had been chicks.
The eagles could see their nest next to Rock Creek from their perch.
I judged the eagles’ sex by size; the left eagle looked larger, therefore female. Also I rated the aggressive approacher as male.
Now it’s your turn!
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What have you noted in your area or travels?
What’s your favorite bird? Please post your observations and general location in your comments. I’ll check back by lunchtime.
/s/ Redwoodman