I got to see my first Bald Eagle in the wild!

[Glamrock]

Up here in Minnesota. Driving back to the hotel yesterday, and I see this massive creature on the side of the road. As I got closer, I realized what it was. It was chewing on some roadkill with either some ravens or crows. As I'm not a birder, I can't tell the difference. I was surprised. I didn't think different birds would share. According to every animal documentary I've ever seen, this doesn't happen. But I saw it with mine own four eyes. As I passed, I swear to god and everything that's holy, that eagle made eye contact with me. And the look I got was, "what? You gotta a problem with me? "

No! I'm just making my way back to my hotel man!

Majestic, proud, kinda arrogant. Pretty Badass if you ask me. As a south side Chicago Irish boy, this was a pretty amazing moment for me. Biggest birds we see in the wild are crows or seagulls, dig?

[littlemissmartypants]

1. That's fantastic, Glamrock.

Wonderful news.❤

[underpants]

2. And you complained about this work trip

Cool you got to see that.

Some years ago my wife and I were driving back from a dinner and we saw a bird on a fence post in the near west end (Richmond). My wife said "Holy shit, that's an eagle". We slowed down and it gave us the same sort of look - Yeah I'm a damn Eagle. (Insert word).

[Glamrock]

4. Right?

Arrogant fuckers! But amazing to see.

And yeah, I bitched. Still will. Who wants to drive 10 or 11 hours just to get to work? But beautiful country. Rolling hills covered in fir trees. Frosted all day because it's so fucking cold. Frosted trees in the afternoon sun. Gorgeous, just fucking gorgeous.

[Yonnie3]

3. They are impressive birds

I used to watch their nests along the James River near Williamsburg, VA when their population was rapidly declining. They are doing better now.

[malaise]

5. Very cool

Rec

[pwb]

6. We have a pair nesting on the upper Hudson.

I have land on the river and every once in awhile they visit my trees. I feel honored.

[Glamrock]

15. As you should

I was blown away!

[Cracklin Charlie]

7. I saw one a couple weeks ago.

He was floating down the Missouri River on a big chunk of ice.

Badass is a great description.

[Generic Brad]

8. There are a lot of them nesting along the Mississippi

The bluffs between Red Wing and Winona hold many.

I'm glad you got a chance to experience that.

[Grasswire2]

9. I am fortunate to live in a place where there are resident bald eagles just up river..

...and they often cruise overhead, hunting. They are quite intimidating. Canada geese often eat and sleep (and poop) on my lawn, and they keep a wary eye on the eagles, who can take a Canada goose away by the neck, I've read. Sometimes one will land on the big locust tree out my window. Very intimidating.

[drray23]

10. Good for you. They are majestic animals.

We have a couple of them living around our property. I see them several times a week flying over or standing in the field. This has made us worried about letting our cat go outside.

[TomSlick]

11. There are a few at a local lake.

No matter how many times I see them, I'm always startled at such majestic birds.

[Tetrachloride]

12. The closer you are to large open water, the better.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

13. Been seeing them for the last 15 years in my area.

Washington State that is.

They're pretty impressive. Their call is unlike anything I expected.

[Glamrock]

14. I wish he (or she) would have yelled at me!

Although, coupled with that look, I may have just stomped the accelerator!

[MurrayDelph]

54. There's a working nest next to the bridge over the Columbia River

where it leads to Longview Washington (which is where my doctors are).

As a bonus, there is frequently a herd of elk along the drive to get to the bridge.

[Petosky Stone]

16. I've seen places where they are pretty much like pigeons...

I travel for work, and it's not uncommon to see them here and there. I've seen them in the Philadelphia city limits.

I once worked at a plant next to Lake Champlain and where the only unfrozen part of the lake was where the plant discharged it's return water. There were at least 50 eagles around that spot, cherry-picking fish. The guy said they'll be there until that spot freezes over, and then he doesn't know where they go.

They are numerous enough in the west that many ranchers do not object to shooting them, if they start losing to many newborn livestock.

[Glamrock]

18. Wow!

That's incredible! The most I can hope for where I live is the occasional hawk. And you know when they're there. Everything goes deathly quiet...

[flotsam]

17. Saw my first in Colorado while in the service in 72'

Saw my first up this way (New Hampshire) about 10 years back. In NH the one I saw was on a lakeside pine, whereas in Colorado I saw many, but the most beautiful where flying the morning thermals on the perimeter of a box canyon. I still would like to see some in the mountain notches north of here.

[JayhawkSD]

19. I used to fish the Firehole River in Wyoming.

Outside Yellowstone park, a good bit of a hike to the area where I fished. Watching nesting pairs of Bald Eagles was very common in that area, and was one of the reasons I went there. Standing in knee deep freezing water, in sight of the glaciers from which the river melted, with Cutthroat Trout hitting my dry fly about one cast out of three, and watching three or four nesting pairs of Bald Eagles. Could life be any better than that>

I used barbless flies, landed about half of the fish that hit, and returned all of them to the river.

[Ferrets are Cool]

20. They are beautiful birds...

however, many zoologists refer to them as buzzards with a better PR agent.

[catbyte]

21. They are badass...

[yardwork]

27. I never get tired of watching that!

[fascisthunter]

39. That F'n Fool

[Doreen]

52. Now, that is a good bird.

[catbyte]

22. ...

[Glamrock]

24. Looking at your two replies

They seem to know good vs evil!

[Warren_Pointe]

23. Here in Arkansas

I saw a bald eagle eating some roadkill as I rounded a curve. It spread it's wings and, I swear, the tips reached almost completely across both lanes as he flew quickly away. Until then, I did not realize that they ate carrion.

[Roy Rolling]

25. Nesting

They have started (or I noticed) bald eagles nesting here in the New Orleans suburbs. A nest a block away high in a tree allows them to fish for food in Lake Pontchartrain or any of the rivers and bayous.

An amazing cooperative arrangement.

[Glamrock]

26. Why won't they come yo Chicago?!?!?

Ah well, it is what it is. They have a number of em at the Michigan City zoo. But it's not the same as seeing them uncaged. I feel blessed to have seen one regardless of how short the sighting happened to be.

[Sancho]

28. You may want to watch this link....SFEC...

https://www.dickpritchettrealestate.com/eagle-feed.html

It's a nest of eagles...and the babies are just about to fly.

Addicting.

[Glamrock]

31. Danka

[BumRushDaShow]

29. I have never seen one in the wild

although I understand there is a nesting pair a few miles from me (exact location was not disclosed by those monitoring them for obvious reasons given I live in the city - Philly).

However regarding birds and "sharing" - oh they will "share"... at least the city birds. All you need to do is watch what happens with a piece of soft pretzel on the sidewalk. The grackles and pigeons will start pecking at it and as it breaks into small pieces, the sparrows will come flying in and munching some of the smaller pieces, after which one sparrow will come zooming in, will take the chunk that is left, and fly off!

My sister's neighbor had a feeder out and there would be cardinals and robins and bluejays and sparrows and woodpeckers (2 different kinds) all gathered around it. Then the woodpeckers would come over to my sister's house and start pecking on the deck rail.

[Glamrock]

30. Oh fuck a woodpecker!

They've destroyed my facia! I'm getting ready to do concete siding. Bastards!

[BumRushDaShow]

32. She has both the pilated and downy woodpeckers

I remember going over there one time and seeing the smaller downy one and not knowing what the heck kind of bird it was... until I saw it start pecking. And then the pilated woodpecker makes sounds like you are in a jungle somewhere!

[LakeArenal]

33. I swear I'm the luckiest girl in the world.

Being retired and living where I do. We saw at least six eagles this week. We know the whereabouts of at least five eagle nests.

Today we saw two eagles. Then we saw that the sandhill cranes are back.

LIG. (Life is good)

[url=https://postimg.cc/tZSVfJz0][img][/img][/url]

[url=https://postimg.cc/XBry0W2r][img][/img][/url]

[Ohiogal]

34. We saw eagles

last year here in NE Ohio nesting near Mosquito Lake when we used to take our old Lab Molly up there for walks. This was a couple years ago.

They are the most awesome, magnificent, fierce looking creatures, aren't they? Like they just don't give a shit what you think of them.

[Glamrock]

35. Exactly!

You know the look I got!

[a kennedy]

36. I posted this before.......

https://www.raptorresource.org/birdcams/decorah-eagles/

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100211856584 Decorah Eagles have been one of the first nests the world has been watching......

[Ellipsis]

37. They're everywhere around the Wisconsin River now... everywhere.

There's a nesting site not far from here by Ferry Bluff they restrict access to yhe trails this time of year.

Heres a great video from Dutch Harbor Alaska...you can enjoy.

[Glamrock]

40. How cool is that!

Closest I've ever come to that kind of experience was my step brothers Macaw. I was asking him to get on my arm so I could take hom downstairs. He grabbed my finger with his beak and and as he applied more and more presuure, I thought, oh shit! I'm about to lose a finger! Just as he broke the skin, he relented. Then he stepped up onto my forearm, let me pet him, and let me take him downstairs. Totally worth the pain if you ask me....

[Ellipsis]

59. check this Facebook post out

https://m.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=2567946029914450&id=705508029491602&set=a.705533759489029&source=49

[fascisthunter]

38. They Are Beautiful and Why they Represent This Country

and always will.

[CaptainTruth]

41. A couple years ago one landed in my back yard, about 30 feet from the house.

I just happened to be looking out the window when the eagle flew over the yard, into the territory of our local osprey, & the osprey forced the eagle down onto the ground right in front of me.

The eagle sat there for a couple minutes until the coast was clear & then flew off. I haven't seen it since.

[Glamrock]

43. Wow!

If that happened here, I'd never let my 13# dog out the house!

[handmade34]

42. you have been blessed!!

[Glamrock]

44. That's how I felt too!

[BunnyMcGee]

45. Bald Eagles near Chicago

My wife and I saw two flying above us at West Beach in the Indiana Dunes National Park, which is just east of Chicago. They were circling and slowly moved away. My camera telephoto helped me see the white heads, but moved too quickly to get a good pic.

[Glamrock]

46. Really!

How awesome! I live 30 minutes away, if that. I'll have to start keeping an eye out. Thanks!

[BunnyMcGee]

48. you're welcome

That park also surprised me when we took an organized hike. There are native cactus growing there, and I always associated cactus with the southwest or flower shops!

[Glamrock]

49. Oh I knew we had cacti in NW Indiana. My buddy's dad has a Christmas tree farm down I'm Culver.

Forget about walking barefoot down there!

[Rabrrrrrr]

47. I see them quite often, and every time it's still a moment of freaking awe.

How very cool that you got to see your first!

If you have time while you're in MN, check out the eagle sanctuary in Wabasha. https://www.nationaleaglecenter.org/

[Glamrock]

50. Thanks for the tip!

[Rabrrrrrr]

58. You're welcome! Though from what I've seen on the news,

I think MN is closed today!

It's a great place - really interesting little museum, many talks each day about eagles, including some of the eagles that are there for rehab, and a couple permanent resident eagles that were too injured to ever fly again or be able to take care of themselves.

And outside, eagle nests all over the park, plus it's right on the Mississippi, so up and down the river eagles are all over the place.

[mahina]

51. Wow.

Strange!

I’ve seen eagles from a long distance, at least I thought they were eagles. Couldn’t tell if they had any hair or not.

I’ve seen them flying solo, only on the continent. We don’t have eagles here but we do have hawks. They don’t have hair but they aren’t bald hawks.

[panader0]

53. I saw a couple in the Kenai, Alaska, visiting my daughter.

I've seen several Golden Eagles here in SE Az.
They can get pretty big, as can the Great Horned Owls around here.
My property borders BLM land and there is a large pond adjacent to my place.
Lots of birds, ducks at times, even a few Blue Herons.
Just up the canyon is the Ramsey Canyon Nature Conservancy, home to
special species of hummers.
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g60778-d108765-Reviews-The_Nature_Conservancys_Ramsey_Canyon_Preserve-Hereford_Arizona.html

[Beringia]

55. I lived in Homer, Alaska for a while and there were always quite a few of them at the peninsula

They were very, very common. I got very used to them, like no big deal.


Here is a webcam of an eagle on Channel Islands, California

https://www.nps.gov/chis/learn/photosmultimedia/bald-eagle-webcam.htm

[Poiuyt]

56. I'm still in awe whenever I see one

Fortunately, they nest along the river in my town in Wisconsin. I always think of them existing only in Yosemite or the Grand Tetons. For them to be right in the middle of my city makes me feel very fortunate indeed!

[FightingIrish]

57. Not long ago I moved to La Conner, Washington where bald eagles are abundant

I never tire of seeing them. After my late wife’s unexpected passing, I reconnected with an old friend. When we decided to get married, we had to decide whether we would live here or in my home in Oregon. I was leaning toward La Conner but hadn’t committed. One evening we were enjoying the community pool. I told her I was close to deciding but, if an eagle were to fly over, it would be a done deal. I swam to the shallow end. When I turned around she pointed up to a beautiful bald eagle flying low over the pool. We have a special fondness for these magnificent creatures.

Here are two of my closest encounters practically in our back yard.

https://flic.kr/p/HRZ2kr

https://flic.kr/p/24wHRQr