The Eagle Has Landed
This morning on the way into Madison to have my data card looked at, I spotted what I thought was an Eagle. I had stopped at a stop sign and was going to turn onto State Highway 51 when I saw what I thought was an Eagle dive down into a field across the road. I drove across 51 instead of turning to see if it was an Eagle. I did not think so because I had not seen Eagles in this area of Wisconsin before. But there was a large white head poking up in some tall grass looking my way. I had stopped the car on the side of this back road, but was afraid to get out of the car in case I would spook the bird. I shot through the passenger window glass the head sticking up in the tall grass.
Then just as I clicked the shutter, the Eagle flew off holding a bunch of tall grass in his talons! I shot three shots through the windshield of my car as the Eagle flew away about 10 feet off the ground. I was just about to get out of the car when I caught movement out of the corner of my eye. Another Eagle was about to land in the tall grass. I shot again through the passenger window glass the shot that I included as today’s Picture-Of-The-Day.
Then this Eagle lifted off with another bunch of tall grass in his (or Hers) talons. But this one flew away from me. I squeezed off a few shots, but through the glass, none of them turned out very good. I started up the car to see where they were going. I saw both of them in the air heading north towards a wetland area that has some islands of tall trees. I did not see where they landed. Since both we gathering nesting materials, I would think they are a mating pair building a nest in the area.
It will be interesting if I get to see them again or if we find out the location of their nest. They were huge Eagles. I just wish I had more time, a longer lens, and was closer to them. It was less than a few minutes from the time I spotted the first Eagle, drove across the highway to the field, took 10 shots and they were gone. I did not get any good shots because I was shooting through glass, but I might still post them in a Facebook Album. They are a little blurry because I was shooting through dirty glass and did not have time to adjust my Nikon correctly. But it was a great sight to see with my eyes.
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