My Best Eagle Picture

Last Friday I had the day off so I decided to head over to Carpenter Nature Center to watch them do some banding in the morning. The morning was sunny and relatively warm so I decided to run over to Prescott, first, and check and see if I could spot the Barrow's goldeneye or harlequin duck that have been hanging around there this winter. I did not see either, but I was fortunate to have about 10 bald eagles hunting down on the river. I sat in my truck for about 2 hours and took pictures of the eagles.

Minnesota has the most pairs of nesting eagles in the lower 48 states.

Do you know which state has the second most pairs of eagles in the lower 48 states?

The size of the eagle varies by what part of the country you are in. Eagles from the south are smaller then the eagles that we see in Minnesota while those from Alaska are much larger.

Like most raptors female eagles are larger then the males. This is known as reverse sexual dimorphism. Females in Minnesota are around 10 to 12 pounds while males are around 8 to 10.

In 2007 the bald eagle was taken off of the endangered species list. They have made a great comeback from the days when DDT decimated their population. However they still face several challenges, namely habitat loss and lead poisoning.

I was very happy with this picture. In my opinion it is the best eagle picture that I have ever taken.

After a while the clouds started rolling in which made it more difficult to get clear sharp flight shots. That did not stop me from trying though.

It is amazing how some good old sunlight really makes the details stand out.
I am guessing that this guy will blame that miss on the darkening skies too.
In the winter the eagles gather around the open water. They need open water to drink and to find fish, which is their main food source. Eagles are opportunistic eaters. They need to conserve energy so they will try and eat whatever takes the least amount of energy to catch. This sometimes gets them into trouble as it did several weeks ago in Kodiak, Alaska. In Kodiak 50 eagles descended on a dump truck hauling fish guts from a seafood factory. The truck was uncovered and the eagles ended up pushing each other into the slimy, oily mess. Twenty eagles were drowned or crushed in this tragedy. The remaining 30 were saved and taken to the Bird TLC in Anchorage. This is old news that has been covered by several bloggers, such as Ocean over at Island Rambles, however I am sure that the Bird TLC could still use some more support. Even though this story is no longer in the news they are still doing great work. Taking in 30 eagles at one time is a huge undertaking so if you can help them out please do.