Tag: Bald eagle

Dinner on the Fly

Like many Americans, my spirit animal is the bald eagle, our national symbol. And at this time of year, local nest watching is often at the top of my list.

But when I can’t get out, like many others, I watch Jackie and Shadow, a nesting pairs of baldies in Big Bear, CA via a webcam on YouTube. This remarkable pair has a long history and considering the daily struggles they face, one wonders how they, or their offspring survive.

The camera is hosted by The Friends of Big Bear Valley, and as I write this, there are 38,405 viewers watching! But because of the site’s restrictions on reposting, I won’t go into more detail, but I do invite you to visit the site and to witness this amazing pair for yourselves.

And if you can get out and about here at home, be sure to swing by and view any of the nests we have in Sequim, but please do so respectfully, and quietly; we want to keep them active as long as possible.

And as this image displays, fish are a mainstay of the eagles’ diet, for both the parents and their chicks, and here in Sequim we are very fortunate have a good supply to accommodate them but unfortunately, we don’t have a webcam!

Incoming Eagle!

Every Spring, Sequim’s Olympic Audubon Society hosts the Olympic Bird Festival.

This year, it will be held April 10-13th, and if you haven’t participated, or you’re new to birding and not sure where to go or how to start, now’s your chance to get started and to discover what you’ve been missing.

Classes are offered (mostly at the Dungeness River Center), boat and field trips are available, and as always, an eager and helpful staff of professionals is there to help guide your way.

And If you’re a seasoned birder, then you already know the benefits of attending, so I expect to see you out there, along with this old baldy, who by the way, looked as if he was diving straight into my lens (and I couldn’t have been happier)!

The Perfect Couple

I found these two snuggling up on a snag not long ago, and although a bit far from Sequim (at Semiahmoo), they have plenty of siblings, and/or cousins, in our area. And seeing that we have such clear blue skies as I write this, I couldn’t resist sharing them with you.

Although nothing is ever “perfect” with any couple, I think this pair comes quite close.

Our National Symbol…

Finally…the bald eagle is now OFFICIALLY the national bird of the US! Although it’s been on the Great Seal of our country since 1782 and has signified strength, courage, freedom and immortality for generations, it is not always on its best behavior. Benjamin Franklin actually objected to it being chosen to represent the country, saying:

‘I wish the bald eagle had not been chosen as the representative of our
country; he is a bird of bad moral character; like those among men who
live by sharping and robbing, he is generally poor, and often very lousy.
The turkey is a much more respectable bird and withal a true, original
native of America’.

…but we eat turkeys and glorify eagles! Yes, because aside from their faults they are still incredibly fascinating, as was this one…although eating something very unmentionable.