Sometimes a Rare Glimpse

[LovelyLadyLux]

Lovely weather today and I was out camera in hand wandering about the meadows and forests searching for photo ops. Suddenly I spied up in a tree this guy. We have lots of bald eagles in this area and often they hover on the tops of dead trees looking out over the ocean in hopes of getting a fish. They're very easy to photograph as usually they don't move much and just sit staring out over the waters.

This guy was sitting up in an evergreen tree amongst the branches which was a bit unusual but he seemed to be content and was just sitting there so I started snapping away



Suddenly he launched himself and I was able to get a really decent shot of him flying in front of the trees in front of me. Wing span was huge.



He swooped past me, circled to the top of a knoll then headed back down towards the marsh which is where I was sitting





Was quite ecstatic to get this bald eagle strutting his stuff so to speak right in front of me and I basically had the camera on auto focus snapping pictures as fast as I could.

Then he LANDS in the meadow and again I was able to get an even better close up. Luck luck luck to happen to catch a bald eagle doing this.



I was fairly close and this guy didn't seem the least upset that I WAS so close and taking his photo so was starting to think that maybe there was something wrong with him This is/was a bit strange when I hear a whistle. Off he takes only to land on the hand of his trainer!!



Seems this particular eagle belongs to a falconer. I hadn't noticed the leather ties hanging from his legs until he landed on the Falconer's hand. They just had him out for his daily stretch of wings. Apparently this particular bald eagle was born in captivity, was a bit of a movie star in that he has appeared in several movies and commercial roles, lives in a bird sanctuary here. Was a teeny tad disappointed he wasn't totally wild however he was definitely beautiful to watch and a magnificent bird.

[Bullet Magnet]

An excellent post. Great Job LLL... Thank You for sharing..

[Ruby Slippers]

Great photos, LLL! Well done you!

[LovelyLadyLux]

Thanks RS. Initially I thought I was snapping a truly wild bird and was quite excited to be witnessing this spectacular aerial flying display then to find out there was a Falconier I felt a bit silly Only in that while we have lots of eagles here they almost always just sit on the top of dead evergreens staring out over the water waiting for a fish.

Best thing though - Now that I know there is a bird sanctuary I'm going to get there to see the rest of the birds coz, as per the Falconier they have owls, hawks, falcons, eagles etc.

[LovelyLadyLux]

Not sure how owls got tagged with being wise. They're definitely beautiful and are totally silent in flight.





Falcons rely on striking and stunning their prey in flight. Falcons are capable of spends upwards of 200+km/hour and are absolutely fierce when they have their prey in their talons.





Vultures are the vacuum cleaners of the animal kingdom feasting on carrion. They will gorge to the point of not being able to lift on and fly which also makes them excellent at projective vomiting to lighten their load so to speak. Not pretty birds by any stretch.





Got these photos when I returned to the Bird Sanctuary.

[Bullet Magnet]

Great Pictures again LLL..

in Certain Native cultures, they have Sky Burials.
They lay the body on the ground on a mountainside and tether it there.
Then the Vultures and other carrion come and take it away, bit by bit.

Not a bad idea in my humble opinion, at least its giving something back.

[LovelyLadyLux]

Happens here with the First Nations (or did) the concept of the elderly being returned to the earth.

Another piece of trivia about vultures is that they poop down their own legs. Their poop is extremely acid and actually eats any residual bacteria off their legs. Will be going back to this Bird Sanctuary. They actually have a breeding program and are doing quite a few interesting things with the raptors.