Eagles!!!

All good things must come to an end…and so it was today with our sunny weather.  Since it was kind of dull and grey out and I really didn’t expect anything to be much different from yesterday…I only took the small camera with me.  Boy!  was that a mistake!

Look at the Bald Eagles!!!  At one point I counted 96 of them, which would mean there would be well in excess of a hundred in the area ~ already!  It is only the 7th of October!

The water levels had dropped to the point that we did our usual walk – it meant wet feet as we waded through one spot…but that is OK, they’ll dry. 

Made it over to the log bay, spooking a Ruffed Grouse along the way…

and watched this display of Eagles and Gulls actually flying down and dipping onto the water surface….

I’ve never seen that before ~

I took this shot to show where the logs of the log bay are now, water depth wise…it was right out there the Eagles were putting on the aerial display.  As I stood there, 4 of them came and perched in the larger Poplar trees right beside me…combination of leaves still on the trees and not having the right camera with me means I don’t have any clear pictures of that to show you, but fear not, there will be lots in the future!

Here is a more distant shot of the eagle activity…

Eagles weren’t the only birds in the area…..

These posts to the north of the log bay sported two Glaucous wing Gull and a Great Blue Heron….the Heron was one of 4 I spotted.  There was also a Belted Kingfisher flying around.

Off to the north of the estuary there were more Eagles lined up along the shore..

Back at my end of the walk, another shot of just some of the eagles out on the flats. 

It wasn’t just Eagles in abundance though….these are just a few of the flocks of ducks that were active all over the area….mainly Mallard I think, although there were American Wigeon, that one lone male Gadwall, and 6 female Common Merganser, right in close to shore.  It was the activity of the Eagles that was making the ducks so restless…

In fact…I watched a young Eagle even dive bombing Canada Geese …there was in excess of a hundred Geese just off shore and more kept flying in…

These were just a very few of them.  The Geese didn’t seem to perturbed by the Eagles…they just hissed a bit and ducked their heads as the Eagles swooped down at them.