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1-19-09
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Yup, more eagles. I think it's pretty safe to say I am addicted to watching these birds. This time I only combined entries from two days, but 99% of them are from the same outing. Meghan and I went out last Friday morning seeing as how it was unusually balmy. By that I mean it was -30 the night before and -12 when we headed out shortly after dawn. But, a few hand and feet warmers and 20 layers of clothes later and the cold doesn't really even seem to exist! Seriously, it wasn't that bad.
This was a rather cool scene. That steam would be completely gone a couple of hours later.
The eagles were extremely active this morning. Once every couple minutes or so, one, two, or sometimes five or six would dart out of their perch from that tree in the first picture and circle the turbulent waters rolling under the lock-through. This one above is locked and loaded, dive bombing his target. Most of the time they would battle over the same fish which, like always, causes quite a debacle.
Taking his turn over eventual lunch.
I still can't believe I don't have a single shot like this from last year. It's not like I wasn't out enough to see it happen. I was even in the same exact spot last season. I'm thinking the river just wasn't as frozen over as it is now, allowing more area to fish.
It's crazy how this never gets old. Normally I'd just try and get a good clear shot whenever one got anywhere close, but I am now finding myself waiting for one to come and get a fish every time.
The steam sort of adds a cool effect sometimes. Other times it can actually sort of ruin a picture, in my opinion. It looks too "smoky" if zoomed in all the way and there is really no way to tell there is steam in the shot.
The geese and ducks start to get sort of interesting here. As the geese start to wake up from their nice, warm, comfortable naps on the ICE, they take to the water and start swimming around. More on that later.
Juvenile, probably around 3 months.
This one was a little closer. Someday I'd LOVE to take a boat out there and get REALLY close. That'd be phenomenal.
I think the steam starts to lift a little bit here, as it "warms" up.
A goose getting in on the action.
Another aggressive juvy.
Man, such a cool site. This was shortly before leaving. Hunger was starting to set in and we usually go to a restaurant in Rapids City called "The Brothers". Anyone reading this from the QC area, that little place is highly recommended!
On our way out, I see this adult sitting on a pretty low branch right as I exit. At the time he was just glancing all around him, never paying any attention to me. I rested the lens on the window and tried getting his attention. He finally cooperated and gave me a shot.
After a nice hot breakfast, we decided to head back for a bit more. I'm glad we did.
Now this was pretty funny. Well, to me, not that little guy on the bottom branch. I actually noticed him a little while back practically sitting on the bank quite a ways south of where I was. He finally spread his wings, took off, and circled around and across the parking lot and landed on that branch. But, he wasn't alone. Those other two noticed he had a fish and gave him company. The entire time that little guy, which couldn't have been a day past 2 months old, would cry out and sort of wrap his wings around the fish to protect his catch.
He stayed in that position for about 5 minutes. I'm not sure if this was a means of intimidation or if it was to protect his fish.
One of them takes off....temporarily. He didn't go too far, as he found another nearby branch to rest on and keep an eye on the dinner.
Still have one more pest. He was originally on the upper branch, but when that other juvenile in the pic above flew off, he didn't waste any time in hopping down to get a little closer. That young guy obviously still concerned about his meal.
There goes the other. I think he finally realized there was no way he was stealing sushi.
Eventually the other one would take off leaving him all alone to eat in peace. He still side-stepped up that branch about 5-6 feet.
Right below him there was this huge snow bank which ramped right up to his perch (no pun intended). I thought maybe I could slowly climb up it to get some really close shots. I honestly didn't think he'd let me and I'd scare him off with no shot. Well, he cooperated! He almost pretended like I wasn't even there, just gnawing away at that perch (or drum, if you prefer).
Awww, poor little guy. All that work to make sure his meal was all to himself was for nothing. He ended up dropping the majority of the fish below, on the back side of the snow bank.
I walked around the back side just to see the fish, maybe even get a picture of it. Yeah, I know, I'm pretty gross. Meghan mentioned grabbing it and throwing it out on the ice in hopes some more would come and get it. That sounded like a pretty good idea, and as I picked it up, I noticed three more that had been dropped before. Apparently that branch is a great place to eat fish! So, we pick them up and head back to the river, toss them on the ice.
Getting back to the waking geese. Look to the left, that goose in full throttle after the immature. I'm thinking over protective mother, but who knows. It was still pretty humorous. I've never seen this before. Earlier in the day, every time an eagle would dive bomb the water the geese and ducks would scatter. This must have been the alpha goose!
Ha! I'm putting my money on the eagle to win the fight.
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