The eagle has landed

In one of the trees in our yard this afternoon, after the rain and the wind had finally subsided, my husband saw an eagle land. And he did exactly what I would have done.

He quickly ran into the house and got the camera. He put on the long lens and he got right back out there.

Part of being a decent photographer is to simply show up. That’s what I say.




I think he did a pretty good job of capturing this bald eagle.

Odd that a bird with feathers all over its head has the name bald. However, back in the year 1200 a language was spoken called Middle English. The Middle English word balled (or balde) meant "shining white" and was a reference to the mature bald eagle's white head (Choate 1973).

Bald eagles tend to be in areas where there is a large amount of water-to-land edge, such as seacoasts, rivers and lakes. These areas provide an abundant source of their primary food, fish. In Oregon, 87% of bald eagle nests are within one mile of water. (Palmer 1988a; Farrand 1988). (Anthony and Isaacs 1989)

Females are larger, but both sexes are between 28 and 38 inches in length and have a wingspread between 66 and 96 inches (up to eight feet!). Females weigh between 10 and 14 pounds, males between 8 and 9 pounds (Palmer 1988a).

They can fly between 36 and 44 miles per hour. One was clocked at 30 miles per hour carrying a fish. (Terres 1980).

And then he flew away towards the water. This is the view from the field in front of our house, on the other side of the wood. In the center of the photo, you can see a bridge. The water is not far, really.

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And that concludes our lesson for today. There will be a test on this subject later on in the week, so I do hope you were taking notes.

Not really. Although you’d probably be into that, wouldn’t you?!!







A test?
I want to take a test!


George loves tests. Especially if there is a squeaky toy involved. Or a stick.

Until tomorrow, my friends . . .



Thanks, as ever, for your continued visits, for your kind words and for your friendship.