Hi Tweets,



My wife and I spent Saturday afternoon through Monday morning on and around
Whidbey Island. On Sunday, we spent 8 hours in a boat out on the sound and
we encountered more than 40 Bald Eagles. The most spectacular viewing took
place around a small island where several eagles were competing for the same
seal carcass. We watched for about 30 minutes as one large bird dominated
the meal and had a heated "argument" with a bold young upstart. The clash
reached a climax as the eagles locked talons and spiraled down towards the
water's surface. They broke off about 6 feet above the water. The
youngster's larger flight feathers allowed him to pull up and avoid a
splashdown. The adult crashed into the water but immediately launched back
into the air on the younger bird's tail. Truly thrilling! I have uploaded
photos from this weekend, including the eagle fight, to my web page here:
http://www.goatislandimages.com/field%20trips.htm. They are in the "Whidbey
Island, WA May 2 - 4, 2007" field trip. I did not manage to capture the
talon lock/spiral in photos because I was too busy standing there with my
mouth hanging open to put the camera up to my eye. There are some things
that you just have to watch without worrying about photographing them.



Here are all of the birds encountered this weekend in no particular order:



Brewer's Blackbird

Brown-headed Cowbird

European Starling

Spotted Towhee

American Robin

Anna's Hummingbird

American Goldfinch

House Finch

White-crowned Sparrow

Song Sparrow

House Sparrow

American Crow

Steller's Jay

Barn Swallow

Violet-green Swallow

Killdeer

Black Oystercatcher

Mourning Dove

Rock Pigeon

Double-crested Cormorant

Pigeon Guillemot

Great Blue Heron

Glaucous-winged Gull

Western Gull

Common Tern

Belted Kingfisher

Bald Eagle

Red-tailed Hawk

Northern Harrier



I'm sure I've forgotten some, but at any rate it was a great weekend!



Kevin Mack

Edmonds, WA

www.goatislandimages.com <http://www.goatislandimages.com/>