Views of Sequim, the Olympic Peninsula. . .and beyond
The Canada geese seem to be doing warm-ups for their fall migration. They rest and eat in open fields. In the mornings and evenings they’re gathering up and flying across the skies in increasingly large wedges, doing their raucous goose party honking.
We haven’t had a lot of summer this year. It’s hard to see it drawing to a close.
Yesterday’s post caught an eagle near Dungeness Recreation Area after a nearby field was hayed. Here’s another next to a freshly hayed field. It was one of several that hunted as haying equipment cut down tall field grasses.
Farmers begin haying in June and work long hours through the summer cutting hay, baling, and moving it to storage. Eagles pay serious attention to their work habits.
This is the time of year when many open fields in the area are hayed — the grass is cut and gathered into bales for feed. The process exposes little animals like voles and field mice and means lunch for the likes of eagles. If you’re near fields that are being hayed you can often find eagles on the wing or nearby as they take advantage of easier pickings.
Until I moved to Sequim I’d seen about three bald eagles in my life, all at great distance. It’s frankly awesome to see them regularly, and so close. This one was about 20 feet away at the Dungeness Recreation Area, next to a newly hayed field. And, naturally, it was on a day I didn’t have a telephoto lens. Tomorrow I’ll post another eagle shot.
This little bird kept hanging around and watching us while we were watching the eagles nest across the road. What kind of bird is it?
Good place for bird watching on 3 Crabs Road.
A couple days ago Erin commented asking about eagles in Sequim. We see a lot of eagles here. The only place I can remember seeing as many eagles as I do here was on the San Juan Islands when we vacationed there.
I love watching the birds at my feeders and I thought these two were pretty.