Christmas Eve eagles
We have had a lot of eagle activity at the Lonesome Duck lately. It has been mostly Bald Eagles along the Williamson River in front of our cabin. However, at least one Golden Eagle has been hanging out on Modoc Rim above the ranch in the vicinity of where they fledged young last summer. The above photo was taken Christmas Eve in front of our cabin to an adult Bald Eagle sitting in a Ponderosa Pine across the river.
The photo below was taken from our deck and the above eagle is in the picture but not visible at the normal magnification of the photo. The above photo was taken at the 35mm equivalent of a 2000mm focal length. I think that is somewhere above 30X and it was not blown up or cropped. Pretty amazing what some cameras can do currently.
To get the first photo I casually walked to the Juniper tree to the right of the river side bench as though I wasn’t interested (this sometimes works with different animals as long as you don’t walk directly at them). I braced against the tree and zoomed in to the max to get several photos.
Since the eagle has a dark body with fully white head and tail we know that it is an adult, Bald Eagle. Furthermore, Bald Eagles do not get the clear white head and tail until they are 5 years of age. So, it is at least 5 years old (they live to 25 years easily). Also, I can’t say he, or she. In most raptors, the hawks and eagles, the female larger than the male. For everyday purposes you need to see a pair perched side by side to tell mama from papa.
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