Friday, September 08, 2006

Pretty Birdie

I was sitting at my desk, working on the computer when the crows started to scream. "Well, i know where my cats are," i think, as the crows always scream at the cats when they are outside in the daytime.

But the screaming went on and on, and it was LOUD. I turned around after about 10 minutes of this, and saw that both of my cats were on my bed, following their usual strenuous daytime routine. They were sleeping.

So i walked out on the balcony of my bedroom, and saw that the crows were circling around the big pine tree next to the house. Finally i spotted the object of their concern:



Isn't he (or she) gorgeous? I took a bunch of pictures of his backside, before he deigned to turn his head and look at me with one beady eye. He stayed there for the rest of the day, until dusk, about 4 hours. And the crows screeched and dive bombed (dove bombed?) him the whole time. He didn't even seem to notice them.

There are several bald eagles that live around here. I can always tell it's one of them when i see them flying around because of their size. This picture doesn't really convey the size of this bird. (If you click on the picture you can see him better.)

I feel priviledged that he chose to sit in my tree, like i had been visited by an Indian spirit.

10 comments:

Teri M. said...

Whoa... so amazing!

Andrea Frazer said...

Birds that big really freak me out. Hey, I have a book for you that your humor will love: Christopher Moore's Coyote Blue. Read it, love it. Lots of Indian references and hilarious chapters.

amusing said...

Bald eagles have become mythical because of the DDT scare. They fly over my parents' house from time to time and I always point and make the kids ooh and aah. As it disappears over the trees I always feel lucky to have been there to see it.

Closer to home, my Little Bit of Suburbia has red-tailed hawks that laze in the air currents. And there's a northern goshawk that is a regular visitor. I once watched him devour a bird -- it was still alive -- out my kitchen window. My own private nature channel. Revolting, gruesome, horrifying and yet I couldn't look away. The circle of life, blah, blah. How vivid and primal. There was life and death. Why was I worrying about all that crap in my life again?

Lucia said...

How wonderful! I'll usually go out of my way to see bald eagles, but to have one stay in the tree for hours is very cool. My favorite was when I was in Alaska and the parents were teaching the baby eagles to fish in the river.

Anonymous said...

that is a great picture. We've got some huge hawks around here, not sure of the exact family, but I can't imagine how small they'd seem next to your guy.

Anonymous said...

That is GORGEOUS. I don't think I've ever seen a Bald Eagle up close like that, but they look so impressive....

I love it when life doles out little unexpected treats like that!

Anonymous said...

"In a single day's work, within a radius of a mile, I might discover and record the skleton of a bird, a blossoming fruit tree, a cloud, a smokestack; each of these being only a part of the whole, but each - in itself- becoming a symbol of the whole, of life." Edward Reston

Josephine said...

Oh my, what a blessing! Absolutely spectacular.

peevish said...

That is very cool.

Sonia Wetzel Photography said...

That magnificent creature is why I love living here SO much. We're on Puget Sound, and there are two Bald Eagles that live in the trees up the street year round. During migration, we get upwards of 20 of them for several weeks. Our street is perched on a high cliff over a mud flat. When the tide is out, the Eagles and Heron stand in the mud and grab trapped fish out of the tide pools. When the babies leave the nest, they practice flying in a line one behind another, lead and followed by a parent on the updraft off of the cliff. If you sit out there, you get them at eye level.

About 3 months after we moved into our house (8 years ago) My windows were open and I heard (*Squueeeaaaak!*) an Eagle near the front yard. I looked out just in time to see one swoop low over my house with a salmon in it's mouth, another hot on it's tail feathers making a huge amount of noise. They both landed in a tree in my back yard. The one with the fish was plucking at and eating it, the other was hopping up and down the branch trying to steal a bit and squacking it's head off. I got some video footage of it, and it will remain one of the best memories I'll have of living here.
*phew* Sorry to be so chatty!!