Today we were looking out the window at Fawn Lake as two Bald Eagles
wheeled by, then disappeared. Then a mature eagle zoomed straight
for the skeletal Bigleaf Maple in front of our house, with something
in its talons that I thought was a fish, followed closely by a
juvenile eagle. Loud cries came from the older eagle as it landed
and squawked at the younger bird, which landed a few branches
overhead. When I looked through the binoculars, it turned out that
the eagle had a limp duck in its talons, which I think was a female
Bufflehead, but I'm not absolutely positive, since all I saw was the
light gray of the belly with two dark legs and feet. As I raised a
video camera to capture the eagles, the older eagle objected to my
effort to steal its soul, and promptly flew off before I could
focus. The young eagle followed a few seconds later.

We got a Christmas card from an old friend in upstate New York, who
described going to photograph Snowy Owls during a great irruption
year in her area. The interesting thing is, she said that Amish
people would drive their buggies out in the country to see the owls,
and recalls one young bearded man who watched the owls with
binoculars, his bird book open on the buggy seat. I shouldn't
necessarily be surprised, but I love apparent contradictions like this.

Lee Rentz Photography
Shelton, WA
lee at leerentz.com
http://www.photoshelter.com/c/leerentz