Golden Eagles

[ChrisKavanaugh]

I was out riding early this morning. The fog turned the coastal mountains into islands in a grey sea with the salty smell of the Pacific twisting between the heavy cologne of sage and other chapparel bushes. Then I felt her. Looking to my right a female golden Eagle was gliding down and took a huge rabbit. I returned relunctantly to my apartment and scrambled up an omelet, scratch biscuits and coffee. I turned on the tellie expecting the onslaught of Christmas movies. I tuned to our community channel and discovered Jeff Watson of Scotland and a marvelous documentary on Golden Eagles.

 

[Motorbike Man]

You lucky, lucky git!!!!

 

[TAHAWK]

One of my happiest memories is from 1989 and Philmont Scout Ranch. I was backpacking with a crew up a canyon. The trail was several hundred feet above the floor of the canyon. I looked to the right and there was a Golden Eagle gliding down the canyon and watching us. We must have been interesting, because the Golden wheeled clockwise and slowing climbed back up the canyon, watching us again, then turned back and disappeared. We talked about that incident repeatedly, and at least some of the Scouts -- now adults -- recall it all these years later: "Remember the Eagle?"

 

[jdlenton]

Wow large birds of prey are amazing aren't they "you can feel their presence" I’m lucky enough to have encounter golden eagles, red kites, black kites, buzzards on many of my mountain and field trips these experience are unforgettable and I carry them with me always. The most recent and amazing one was at our wedding!!!!!!!!!!! What I really wanted was for a red kite to come and give us his blessing and to my absolute astonishment he did.

we got married in an 11th century barn, just as we were walking out after the ceremony in to the garden a mature red kite swooped low over the barn and straight over our heads he circled for a short wile giving everybody a good looking at and as majestically as he came he swooped off over the trees and into the distance ammazing!!!!!!!!!!!Makes me want to cry just thinking about it

 

[Wayne]

Jdlenton.

Nice story mate and something that you will remember forever.

 

[ChrisKavanaugh]

I was 3 days into my first Coast Guard assignment on Kodiak Island Alaska. I'm walking down this road to my barracks and there is a bald eagle sitting on a stop sign! A few months later I'm walking back in deep , dark winter and somehow spot a snowy owl in the drift. I thought it was dead and slipped it inside my parka for the feathers. By the time I got inside it was reviving! Some idiot had shot it in the wing. I promptly called my Chief who was a falconer and a medical corpsman friend. We removed several pellets and determined no bones were broken.He had lost all his primaries and couldn't fly. A call to Fish and Game gave us permission to keep it safe until they could swing by. Next morning the Captain pulled a suprise barracks inspection and I've got this owl chewing him out. He calmly announced the District Admiral was flying in, and to have the owl at our dress review. So I stand in ranks with owl pooping down my middy blouse. Admiral walks by and praises me for fullfilling our conservation mandate. That weekend we went to a local taxidermist who had an owl on display. While I talked about a mythical brown bear I needed prepped the chief pulled out poultry shears and borrowed the primaries. Later I watched fascinated as he spliced them into the damaged quills with glue. our owl began an exercise regimen dive bombing everybody in sight. F&G came and he spent a while in rehab until his natural primaries moulted back and was released. Years later I watched a 'falconer' abandon a young redtail who whouldn't come to him. I wound up tieing feeder mice to the swimming pool fence by their tails to feed it. Eventually he establishe his territry there and began hunting enough on his own. Later he got a G/F and they nested in a tall eucalyptus ( oz gum tree) The ungratefull female divebombed everyone. I have the scars to prove it. :rolmao:

 

[Jon]

..... That weekend we went to a local taxidermist who had an owl on display. While I talked about a mythical brown bear I needed prepped the chief pulled out poultry shears and borrowed the primaries. Later I watched fascinated as he spliced them into the damaged quills with glue. .....

:rolmao:

 

[jamesdevine]

The Golden Eagle is currently being reintroduced to Ireland with great success. Here is a link http://www.goldeneagle.ie/

James

 

[Ginger]

I had the pleasure of seeing lots of bald eagles over Christmas. I stayed with friends in a cabin on the shore of Lopez Island (in the San Juan Islands, which lie between the US northwest coast and Canada's Vancouver Island)

http://www.romartraveler.com/RomarPages/SanJuan&GulfIslands.html

On the drive up from Seattle it felt like we saw a hawk every mile. They were sitting on posts by the freeway and I presume they were each in their territory watching the mown grass by the freeway.

On Lopez Island, we saw a bald eagle in the field, presumably rendering its prey, many in the air, and several in various trees. A few weeks back we were hiking the west coast of Whidbey Island and saw two pairs of bald eagles soaring low along the length of a coastal bluff. They maintained their speed and relation to each other for the mile or so that we could see them. We also saw a hawk working a bank in the strong onshore breeze. It would use the breeze to quarter this bank while maintaining a height about three feet above ground. At the end of the bank it would soar up and let the wind blow it back to the other end of the bank and then start quartering again.

Back to Lopez... other things we saw included a kingfisher (not sure what kind). It was noisily working the seashore about ten yards off the rocks, presumably looking for fish. It was about 20 feet beneath the cliff edge we were standing on.

We also saw several seals which were big enough to probably be sealions. They were swimming in rough water by rocks. One young deer popped out of the woods on to the road in front of us and clearly hadn't learned to run from cars yet. We slowed down and waited till it vanished.

It was a fantastic Christmas day to see all this. On the way back we dropped into a shellfish farm and bought a pound each of fresh mussels, clams and oysters. I had half the clams steamed and dropped into a mushroom and tomato sauce for supper just now. Scrumptious!

As it's my birthday tomorrow, I'll be steaming up the rest of the clams and the big blue mussels for breakfast. Then I'm off to a business meeting, where I hope I don't smell too.... seafoody!

Have a great New Year everybody.