This Dawn Chorus is a photo diary spanning captures of Bald Eagles during the six month occupation by them in the Flint Hills of Kansas. Bald Eagles spend about six months of their year here in the Flint Hills of Kansas every year. They arrive in the fall and leave in the spring. My first sighting of a Bald Eagle this year occurred on October 19th. My first sighting the previous year was on October 6th.
After that October sighting it would be almost another month before I saw another Bald Eagle here. However, the November second sighting was a beginning for regular sightings. As the days and weeks went by I was able to determine a pattern to their behavior enabling me to became somewhat able to predict where I stood a good chance to find them at any given time. It became clear that I was seeing the same three Eagles over and over regardless where I found them, but sometimes they were in company of additional Eagles. Once that point was established it became more personal with every sighting. I saw other Eagles too, nine at one time once, but these three were my “regulars”, and one of the three was the most conducive to tolerating my intrusions. Of course, I translate that tolerance to mean “we’re pals, pard”.
I made first acquaintance with the three regulars on a visit to John Redmond Reservoir. I named all three. White Wings is the youngest of the three.
I learned that if I went several dark days hunting my regular patch (within 15 miles of my home) without spotting any eagles I could cruise the 40 highway miles back over to the reservoir and there they would be. I also learned driving the backroads (“as the eagle flies”), instead of taking the highway route, the lake is only a tad over 20 miles from my house. I found nine eagles there at the Reservoir, but the three pictured in the composite above were dominant cogs in the activity at that sizable lake. There were other adult eagles in that population besides Main Playa, so for her two younger subordinate followers to assume a dominant presence came as a big surprise to me.
Ocean Diver posted this attractive chart that I like very much. It displays the way Bald Eagles appear at different ages in their lifespan. This year I succeeded in capturing photos of Eagles at every stage of age pictured on this chart!
By this chart I rate Zorro at 2 ½ to 3 yrs old, Main Playa at 4 ½ to 5, and White Wings at about 1 1/2-2 years of age. Birds going through molting stage can make for difficulty establishing a specific age. My visits to the Reservoir this winter resulted in an accumulation of a lot of Eagle photos. Win, win for me after losing a huge chunk of my existing photo collection in January.
After spotting the Eagles high up in some trees where I took their pics to make up the perched composite above I went on over to the spillway pool to take pics of the multitude of water birds on that portion of the Neosho River.
Main Playa appeared just as I was preparing to leave. She made several passes over the pool, landed on a concrete pier, then took off, making several dives and swoops up to higher altitude. On her final circle she seemed intent on investigating my truck, and maybe especially the Pendleton (raptor) hat I was wearing, swooping down very low right over my head. Then she took off to go cruise the lake upstream from the dam.
As December rolled by the lake froze over, so catching fish became more difficult. But Eagles are relentless and when enough warmer weather arrives to melt a few holes in the ice they were busy keeping an eye out for fish desperate to come up for air. The Eagles park on edge of the ice wherever a hole has melted and sit there until a fish appears, then they snag them and fly off to a handy feasting location. You could look out across the lake and see Eagles scattered out at different spots for about as far as the eye can see.
After a week or so of intense cold we had an influx of unseasonably warm weather. The lake ice melted rapidly in brilliant Sunshine.
This seems like a good time to take a break and listen to the Song of Bald Eagles in a surprising example of backyard science.
During the winter the Eagles had expanded their range to include all the area between the lake to my place 20 miles to the southwest, and another 10 miles beyond that. During their forays back and forth I was treated to several excellent photo sessions.
As winter was giving way to more spring like conditions I found White Wings about half way between my place and the reservoir. He was under siege by a horde of Crows who seemed to have murder on their minds. Surprised? I saw him land in a treetop while the Crows landed on other branches around him. He didn’t seem overly stressed, maybe because he was used to it. When I walked toward the tree and let out a yell intended for the Crows they took right off, but so did White Wings. The Crows left toward the east while White Wings stayed and circled round and round right over my head and the small meadow I was standing in. Higher and lower, but right over my head. As I clicked the shutter button on my camera (about 70 times) I could feel that I was having “one of those moments”.
The Eagles also took a liking to the airspace right over and around my place. They were here for at least part of every day for almost 3 weeks. They were especially interested in the watershed lake right across the road from my driveway. The Eagles had discovered the carcass of a dead deer in the mud at the north end of the lake to work on and they stayed with it until it was nothing but a skeleton. Part of their diligence was to prevent others from taking a share, so they patrolled the airspace and herded all interlopers away from their prize.
After the exhilarating Red Tail diving incident I didn’t see any Eagles for a period of time. I suspected they had taken off on their way back to the north. Then one evening when I went for a load of water I was in for a great surprise. Almost 9 miles west of my place I spotted Main Playa lazily flying circles near the spot where I fill my haul tank. By the time I got stopped and ready to take her photo she took off over the trees for parts unknown. I filled my tank and just got started back toward home when White Wings appeared directly overhead. I hurriedly stopped and jumped out to catch him putting on a riveting show.
Believing this could be our last contact my eyes begin to play tricks on me. I couldn’t tell if the camera was focused or not.
I accept this performance to be his going away gift, knowing that if I ever see him again he will look so different I won’t be able to recognize him. This moment will have to last me forever for the him I have come to know.
This has been a little taste of what turned out to be my best year yet photographing Bald Eagles in the Flint Hills of Kansas. I hope you heard the Eagles calling you.