Monday, April 12, 2010

The Eagle Has Landed

Eagle 008

The Eagle has landed.  No, really.  So it’s 7:00 AM and the dog won’t stop barking.  I go out to check on the reason why and see that she is pacing her Invisible Fence line and barking her Golden Retriever Head off at something big and brown with a white head in the neighbor’s front yard.  Well, darn if that doesn’t look like a Bald Eagle!  Where are the binoculars?????  OMG!  It really is a Bald Eagle!  

So after my husband and son confirm that I am not having a hallucination I start to worry about said Bald Eagle.  I mean why is he sitting in the wide open in my neighbor’s yard?  Shouldn’t he be up in some huge tree in the forest or on a mountain somewhere?  So in between making the morning coffee, packing my son’s lunch and putting some breakfast together I keep checking the window to see if he was still there.   My husband takes the camera and says he’ll get some photos as he is driving out to work.

My son was right when he said that’s not normal behavior for a bird that big to be just sitting on the ground like that.  Do you think he escaped from somewhere and is lost???  Maybe he escaped from the Natural Science Center?  Good idea.  So I called them.  Of course at 7:30 AM no one is there to answer the phone so I leave a message.  “Yes, Um…..there is a Bald Eagle in my neighbor’s front yard just sitting on the ground and we were wondering if A: you even have Bald Eagles and B: if you were missing yours?  Please call me back when you get this.”

Eagle 015

And then shortly after 8:00AM, my son shouts down that he was flying away. He said the wing span on it had to be more than five feet across.  That huge bird sat on the ground for almost an hour!  I guess he was just resting.  So I am guessing he wasn’t hurt if he was able to fly away….and you know…the Science Center never called me back.  I guess they must get calls like that all the time and since it wasn’t the tiger that got loose…why bother? 

11 comments:

Princess Freckles said...

WOW! I've never seen a bald eagle before! That sis just too cool! I'm glad he wasn't hurt. I bet your son got a huge kick out of that!

Anonymous said...

Very cool! If you're into birds, I have some cool footage of peacocks during the mating season: http://accessorytoromance.blogspot.com

Stacey said...

Totally cool! Maybe he was just soaking up the sun. I'm glad he was ok and I'm glad you had the pleasure of seeing him. :) We see the big hawks all the time but never an eagle. That's so neat!

Kathy @ Creative Home Expressions said...

That is amazing! I never realized they were that big. Well, you've got pictures to prove it and you'd think someone would be interested ~ especially the Science Center! And here I thought I was special with the same duck couple that come to swim in my pool cover every Spring, for the last ten years.

Malisa said...

What a cool experience for your family! The wing span on an eagle is so amazing...I will never forget the first time I saw one close up in flight. I'm not a bird person, but that was an awesome experience!

Malisa

Anonymous said...

How cool is that! I have never seen a bald eagle up close before...thank you for sharing this with us :)

Erin said...

Holy cow dookie! Amazing! I've only ever seen one in the wild in Alaska.

RNSANE said...

What a gift for you..to look out your window and see a bald eagle. Maybe he was on a long journey and just needed a break. That can't really be normal behavior, though. I do hope he's all right. Makes me think that he's not really well.

Great photo...I'm sure you needed it to reinforce to yourself that you weren't off your rocker!!!

www.thewhitefarmhouse2.blogspot.com said...

That is very cool to have that so close. He looks so majestic. I love eagles. Such a pretty bird.

Unknown said...

Wow! How cool, and what a neat photograph. I hope he is okay. I've never seen bald eagles just sitting on the ground like that. Normally I've seen them sitting up in trees or swooping down to grab some fish out of a lake for lunch. They are always so majestic and beautiful. What a cool memory and story for you to have. :)

foxy said...

Wow!!! That is SO DANG COOL!