The Eagle Is Watching

A juvenile eagle surprised me this morning on my bike ride. Perched on a power line that runs diagonally over the highway, the eagle was watching a dead raccoon that was in the middle of the road. 

With mottled feathers and a scruffed up tail, the young eagle was patiently waiting for a chance to swoop down and claim some road kill. 

Two hours later, when we drove the same route, there was absolutely no sign of a dead animal on this patch of highway. The eagle was patient and it was watching. 

Eagle in Florida

Yes, that is a bald eagle perched elegantly on top of one of the giant swans that top the Swan Hotel at Disney's complex in mid Florida. The big swans, there are two of them, are probably 25-30 feet high and provide a distinctive sculptural accent to the huge hotel.

We spotted this eagle about 5 pm last night. At first we thought it was an osprey, but close up views in cameras reveal the golden yellow beak that is a characteristic of an adult bald eagle.

Copyright 2013

Wanda Hayes Eichler

Bald Eagle Skull

During the second day of the "Ansel Look" black and white photography class at the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum, instructor Stephen Buchmann showed several of us how to photograph using a mirror as a surface. Another student, Tim, who was using a Minolta system got great results with a tripod and the Minolta equipment. I watched for a while but didn't want to interrupt his work flow.

"Oh just try one," Tim said as he held the auxiliary LED lights and gave me advice on where to shoot using my hand held Nikon SLR camera. The subject at that time was the skull of a bald eagle.

The above photo is my result from that one shot. I did not use a tripod and I did not plan the shot. I listened to the coaching of a fellow student and benefited from the expertise of an instructor who knew the mirror techniques.

I took this shot into my "darkroom" and here is the result of a half hour or so of work. This image of the bald eagle skull helps one to understand the power of the hooked beak in this bird of prey.

Copyright 2012
Wanda Hayes Eichler

No Whining

My fingers gripped the pen. Lines moved hither and yon. The eagle emerged from black wiggles and scribbles. Clutching a banner, stained with ochre and ultramarine and umber, this eagle needed a saying, a truism to be his message.

I wasn't in a patriotic mood that morning as I sketched. The eagle lacked a regalness. The motions of the pen were more largess than finesse. The drawing was more cartoon, less illustration.

And so, the banner came to read "No whining." It is a message that I often remind myself of.

I am a whiner from Day One. This is wrong, that is wrong. This could be better, that could be better. She/he should do this, he/she could do that.

The lists get long and involved and repetitive. It's just plain whining and it can get good and tiring.

But "No whining," says my hastily scratched federal eagle. Like the eagles that paddle the air slowly past the lake house, sometimes just beneath the crest of the bluff, soaring so low and so slow that the sight of them takes away one's breath, this eagle, a reminder to buck up and not whine, is for me.

No whining. Not today.

Copyright 2012
Wanda Hayes Eichler

Young Eagle

A young eagle landed in the very top branches of a cottonwood tree near our lakehouse late yesterday afternoon. For ten minutes or so, the eagle clung to the branch and kept a watchful eye on White Rock Shoal. Ed spotted the bird just as it came to the tree.

This eagle looked to be almost full size with some of the white mottled spots of an immature bird. The beak is markedly hooked; the feet and talons very apparent.

Raptors like eagles are easily spotted in spring when the trees are just budding. This one chose to oversee White Rock Shoal from the high vantage point of Cedar Bluff. The bird might have been hunting fish or mice. Then, too, it might have been waiting for the evening breeze to kick up a fine thermal or two.

Copyright 2012

Wanda Hayes Eichler

The Eagle Has Landed

No matter how many times we see these majestic birds it is always an event to sight one again. This eagle was eyeing the snow covered shoal in front of Cedar Bluff around noon on Sunday, February 6. By mid-afternoon, Ed spotted an eagle again swooping low enough to pick up a small mammal out on the shoal.

We see eagles soaring on the thermals in front of the bluff. We see them hunting fish on the shoal. We see them feeding their young on the rocks in front of the bluff.

It is always an occasion, always a binoculars-and-camera moment when an eagle is spotted.

Copyright 2011
Wanda Hayes Eichler