Bald Eagles Now at the Lake
People seem to get excited to hear that the Bald Eagle is making a comeback in the northeast after being almost extinct. Personally, I find these birds to be an annoyance equivalent to a seagull and seagulls are something I always refer to as a rat with wings. The Bald Eagle is an aggressive predator preying upon other birds, wildlife and disrupting the life cycle of other animals already on the endangered list so I really do not look upon this nasty bird with affection at all.
One of the things we always loved about Lake Groton is the amount of active loons. There is even a healthy dose of transient loons who come and go. I've learned a lot about loons and their quirkiness by carefully observing them over the years including all the difficulties this endangered bird has with effective reproduction. Having a monstrous predator hovering over their heads, harassing them, agitating them and trying to eat them is of no help to building the loon population. I'd rather see the loons thrive to a healthy population before introducing a significant natural predator to their habitat
Regardless of my feelings for this nasty, aggressive bird, I was looking forward to the challenge of capturing a few photos of the two Bald Eagles known to have made a home at Lake Groton late last summer.
Our first encounter with these Bald Eagles was on our hike to the summit of Owl's Head Mountain overlooking Lake Groton. As we started on our way down the trail from the trail-head, we heard what sounded like a young child screaming. Then we heard it again... and again. At this point, Will, Sheila's dad, realized that this sound must be coming from a bird of some sort. When we arrived back at the house, I did a little research and found that the Bald Eagle is known to screech somewhat like we had heard. This was our first encounter and, although we tried, we never did get a view of the bird through the canopy of the Groton State Forest.
- POST EDIT - August 29th, 2017: Since that time, I have done more research and I have to say that I doubt what we heard this day was a Bald Eagle. I remembered that I heard something similar many years ago when I lived on the Winooski River. I had thought a child was hurt in the woods on the other side of the river. When we crossed the river to investigate, we hiked a short distance into the woods and found a fox in a tree. The fox appeared to be grieving the loss of its mate. Although a Bald Eagle can also produce a longish screeching sound, this screeching that we heard at the trailhead of Owl's Head Mountain was more than likely a fox and not a Bald Eagle.-
A day or two later, we were all playing in the water at the little beach next to the house and had our second encounter with one of these two Bald Eagles.
While we were wading around the beach (unfortunately, without a camera in my hand), our resident loon swam out about fifty feet from shore very quickly and very loudly (about 100 yards away from us). This is fairly typical behavior when something upsets the loons but, there were no boats nearby and the lake was rather quiet, actually. He just kept squawking away for about 30 seconds which is longer than usual too. He was much more animated than usual and for a longer period of time. Afterward, we heard loons at the other end of the lake calling out in this same frantic tone as well. Then our resident loon suddenly disappeared underwater....
The lake was oddly silent... I heard no wildlife... and there are few, if any, boats around the lake this time of year... the lake was eerily silent. All of a sudden, we noticed a Bald Eagle flying down the middle of the lake! He flew into the trees about 150 yards to the left of our house... unfortunately, I didn't have a camera in my hand nor was I even near my camera but this was our second encounter and he was very close.
On the positive side, this second encounter taught me that the loons are a good early warning system for an approaching Bald Eagle. Now, whenever I hear an overly aggravated loon for no apparent reason, I know that a predator is approaching and it is, more than likely, one of the two Bald Eagles. Paying attention to the loons will allow me time to grab my camera and longest lens and get into position for some fast action wildlife photography.
Our third encounter was a day or two later. Once again, the loons started wailing and warning each other up and down the lake... I quickly ran for my camera and ran into position on the corner of our deck. We saw two birds but we all quickly identified them as Crows or Starlings flying toward the other side of the lake... everyone went back to playing in the water but I wasn't so sure the event had fully developed yet so I waited...
Within two minutes or so, a juvenile Bald Eagle appeared following the smaller birds. I captured a few shots but, at the time, I was not sure if this was a Hawk of some sort or a Bald Eagle. Once I uploaded the photos to my little Microsoft Surface, I was clearly able to tell it was a juvenile Bald Eagle and I had captured a few decent shots of it off in the distance. This was our third encounter and I was finally able to capture a few decent shots!
At this point, I knew that getting close enough to these Bald Eagles in order to capture really great photos would be a one in a million chance. I'd just have to continue with this plan... listen for the loons to warn the other loons... grab a camera with my longest lens (a huge 400mm f5.6 lens which would give me an equivalent of 600mm on my smaller Sony camera body) and run into position...
The following day, once again being warned by the loons, I captured some photos of the adult Bald Eagle as it circled up and down the lake. Again, the distance was a problem but I captured some photos nevertheless.
The following morning was my fifth and most memorable encounter.
It was a bit overcast and drizzling on this morning. We were all indoors playing some games when we heard the loons again warning each other by wailing to each other from one end of the lake to the other. I immediately grabbed my camera which was purposely set next to the back door... I ran out to the deck and stood on the corner of the deck where I could brace myself against the railings which come together at a 90 degree angle... scanning up and down the lake... nothing... scan more.... nothing...
About two minutes went by as I was waiting with anticipation and I still could not see any Bald Eagle... "What the heck?"
Suddenly, I heard and actually felt a big WHOOOOSH right behind me and slightly above the back of my head... I turned quickly with my two foot long camera and lens combo in hand and, there it was... the adult Bald Eagle had flown right over me, slightly higher than me and slightly behind me... now the huge Bald Eagle was flying away from me which, unfortunately, never makes for a great photo but I lifted my camera and its long lens anyway in a hurried attempt to quickly capture anything in the viewfinder. I don't know how but I somehow managed to capture him flying way as I was saying, "Holy Shit!"
We saw the adult Bald Eagle a few more times over the course of that afternoon but it was always on the other side of the lake and flying low enough to be mixed in with the background of houses and trees on the opposite shoreline.
I'm hoping to capture at least one "great" photo of the adult Bald Eagle in the next few days but that really is left to chance.
Truth be told, I'm still waiting for the opportunity to capture that one "great" photo of a loon too and I've been shooting loons for many years!
(Note: I captured quite a few photos but I won't do anything with them until I get home to my desktop computer and big monitor so I'll be sharing more Bald Eagle photos sometime in the near future.)
One of the things we always loved about Lake Groton is the amount of active loons. There is even a healthy dose of transient loons who come and go. I've learned a lot about loons and their quirkiness by carefully observing them over the years including all the difficulties this endangered bird has with effective reproduction. Having a monstrous predator hovering over their heads, harassing them, agitating them and trying to eat them is of no help to building the loon population. I'd rather see the loons thrive to a healthy population before introducing a significant natural predator to their habitat
Regardless of my feelings for this nasty, aggressive bird, I was looking forward to the challenge of capturing a few photos of the two Bald Eagles known to have made a home at Lake Groton late last summer.
Our first encounter with these Bald Eagles was on our hike to the summit of Owl's Head Mountain overlooking Lake Groton. As we started on our way down the trail from the trail-head, we heard what sounded like a young child screaming. Then we heard it again... and again. At this point, Will, Sheila's dad, realized that this sound must be coming from a bird of some sort. When we arrived back at the house, I did a little research and found that the Bald Eagle is known to screech somewhat like we had heard. This was our first encounter and, although we tried, we never did get a view of the bird through the canopy of the Groton State Forest.
- POST EDIT - August 29th, 2017: Since that time, I have done more research and I have to say that I doubt what we heard this day was a Bald Eagle. I remembered that I heard something similar many years ago when I lived on the Winooski River. I had thought a child was hurt in the woods on the other side of the river. When we crossed the river to investigate, we hiked a short distance into the woods and found a fox in a tree. The fox appeared to be grieving the loss of its mate. Although a Bald Eagle can also produce a longish screeching sound, this screeching that we heard at the trailhead of Owl's Head Mountain was more than likely a fox and not a Bald Eagle.-
While we were wading around the beach (unfortunately, without a camera in my hand), our resident loon swam out about fifty feet from shore very quickly and very loudly (about 100 yards away from us). This is fairly typical behavior when something upsets the loons but, there were no boats nearby and the lake was rather quiet, actually. He just kept squawking away for about 30 seconds which is longer than usual too. He was much more animated than usual and for a longer period of time. Afterward, we heard loons at the other end of the lake calling out in this same frantic tone as well. Then our resident loon suddenly disappeared underwater....
The lake was oddly silent... I heard no wildlife... and there are few, if any, boats around the lake this time of year... the lake was eerily silent. All of a sudden, we noticed a Bald Eagle flying down the middle of the lake! He flew into the trees about 150 yards to the left of our house... unfortunately, I didn't have a camera in my hand nor was I even near my camera but this was our second encounter and he was very close.
On the positive side, this second encounter taught me that the loons are a good early warning system for an approaching Bald Eagle. Now, whenever I hear an overly aggravated loon for no apparent reason, I know that a predator is approaching and it is, more than likely, one of the two Bald Eagles. Paying attention to the loons will allow me time to grab my camera and longest lens and get into position for some fast action wildlife photography.
Our third encounter was a day or two later. Once again, the loons started wailing and warning each other up and down the lake... I quickly ran for my camera and ran into position on the corner of our deck. We saw two birds but we all quickly identified them as Crows or Starlings flying toward the other side of the lake... everyone went back to playing in the water but I wasn't so sure the event had fully developed yet so I waited...
Within two minutes or so, a juvenile Bald Eagle appeared following the smaller birds. I captured a few shots but, at the time, I was not sure if this was a Hawk of some sort or a Bald Eagle. Once I uploaded the photos to my little Microsoft Surface, I was clearly able to tell it was a juvenile Bald Eagle and I had captured a few decent shots of it off in the distance. This was our third encounter and I was finally able to capture a few decent shots!
At this point, I knew that getting close enough to these Bald Eagles in order to capture really great photos would be a one in a million chance. I'd just have to continue with this plan... listen for the loons to warn the other loons... grab a camera with my longest lens (a huge 400mm f5.6 lens which would give me an equivalent of 600mm on my smaller Sony camera body) and run into position...
The following day, once again being warned by the loons, I captured some photos of the adult Bald Eagle as it circled up and down the lake. Again, the distance was a problem but I captured some photos nevertheless.
The following morning was my fifth and most memorable encounter.
It was a bit overcast and drizzling on this morning. We were all indoors playing some games when we heard the loons again warning each other by wailing to each other from one end of the lake to the other. I immediately grabbed my camera which was purposely set next to the back door... I ran out to the deck and stood on the corner of the deck where I could brace myself against the railings which come together at a 90 degree angle... scanning up and down the lake... nothing... scan more.... nothing...
About two minutes went by as I was waiting with anticipation and I still could not see any Bald Eagle... "What the heck?"
 |
| Flying away after he surprised me by sneaking up behind me and passing me closely with a 'whooosh' that I could feel! |
We saw the adult Bald Eagle a few more times over the course of that afternoon but it was always on the other side of the lake and flying low enough to be mixed in with the background of houses and trees on the opposite shoreline.
I'm hoping to capture at least one "great" photo of the adult Bald Eagle in the next few days but that really is left to chance.
Truth be told, I'm still waiting for the opportunity to capture that one "great" photo of a loon too and I've been shooting loons for many years!
(Note: I captured quite a few photos but I won't do anything with them until I get home to my desktop computer and big monitor so I'll be sharing more Bald Eagle photos sometime in the near future.)
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