Sunday, January 08, 2012

Golden Surprise

Friday morning found me pursuing our local squirrels and enjoying the unseasonably warm weather.  Seeing half a dozen squirrels running through the woods is very common now as their mating season is is full swing.  A female followed by her lusty admirers creates quite a ruckus as the males chase her up and down trees each trying to best the others in his quest to mate.

It was during one of these squirrel melees that I heard crows calling loudly as they flew overhead.  Looking up through the tree tops I could see that they were pursuing a much larger bird.

Quickly loosing interest in the squirrels I grabbed the camera gear and went to the edge of the nearby meadow to get a better view.  Sightings of bald eagles has become somewhat commonplace in our area and at first I thought that the bird was a immature bald eagle.

Imagine my surprise when I was able to identify the bird as a Golden Eagle!  As if that were not enough there was not one, but two of the majestic birds wheeling through the air as they swooped over the rolling foothills in search of prey!

These images are not of the quality I normally post because of the long distance, hand holding the 600mm lens, and extremely heavy cropping.

4 comments:

Montanagirl said...

Fun surprise for you! We saw two Bald Eagles yesterday, and we've seen a couple Goldens too. Always see more in the winter time around here.

Peggy said...

What a great surprise for you Coy! I have yet to see a Golden!

Brian King said...

That is awesome, Coy! I've never seen a Golden Eagle. I recently had my first Bald Eagle sighting in the wild. It was an immature eagle and it flew right over me.

Elaine said...

Well done, Coy!