The American Eagle

This is a bird of beauty, strength and grace.  It is a symbol of divine light and earthly power.  The eagle is revered by the Greeks, Romans, Babylonians, Persians and Greeks.  One of the places where eagles have been rehabilitated and restored to their former glory in the US is the Gabbert Raptor Center at the University of Minnesota.  If you get a chance try to visit it or volunteer to work with these majestic birds.  The James River Bald Eagle Rescue has the largest Bald Eagle roost east of the Mississippi River. Check with the Nature Conservancy to see if there is an eagle conservancy in your own state.

An Eagle Named Freedom was written by Jeff Guidry.  It is a moving account of an eagle who was injured and was taken to the Sarvey Wildlife Care Center for rehabilitation of his broken wing.  Jeff was a volunteer at the Center and this story is an account of being diagnosed with non-Hotchins Lymphoma and how much help Freedom was psychologically.

Many Americans have never seen a Bald Eagle in the wild - even though they can be found in every state except Hawaii.  Sometimes people will see them as a zoo.

I happened to be in the right place at the right time to get the above photograph myself.

Some of the places visited often that have a large population of eagles are: Maine, Alaska and the Florida Everglades. Four great areas in Alaska include: Cordova, Wrangell, the Kenai Peninsula, and The Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve (just North of Haines) best time to come is November or December. In Florida three good sites for eagles are St. Mark’s National Wildlife Refuge, Three Lakes Wildlife Management area, and Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. Also Washington, Oregon, Colorado, Kentucky or Tennessee, Nebraska Minnesota and Missouri near Branson. Always check along the open waters of rivers and lakes and in winter near ice fishermen.  The main meal of eagles is fish, but they will eat other birds and mammals. Florida has more nesting Bald Eagles that any other state.

Do you know about digiscoping?  These days a lot of birders use a scope to bring the bird closer so you can view it well.  Now they have developed special attachments for your smartphone that swing it in front of your scope really close and this is called digiscoping.  The photo's come out very nice, but the number of pixels isn't professional grade. 

I actually used an SLR camera.  Usually people use some kind of tripod to keep their camera steady and to avoid any shake.