Eagle Entertainment

Lately we've been fortunate to have some great eagle activity in these parts. On Sunday afternoon, we saw this one sitting in a spruce tree on the shore in front of the lodge. Greg was outside, and he whispered through the kitchen window to alert me . I grabbed my camera and headed upstairs, since our bedroom window is conveniently at about eye-level to the treetop. I took a few shots through the glass, and then decided to quietly remove the screen. It seemed as though the eagle knew we were there (Greg had joined me), but it didn't seem to be bothered by our actions.

It was a grey and cloudy day, so the pictures didn't end up to be very colorful. Still, it was quite a treat to be able to shoot these, and to see this fine bird from such a great vantage point. I knew that if I waited long enough, some sort of action would take place. Sure enough, it decided to take off, and I snapped the next two photos.

We weren't the only ones to see an eagle. Our guests Mark and Renee were hiking on the South Rim trail, and they were able to see an eagle's nest from above. What a neat sight that would be! They said the adult left the nest and was soaring about. They didn't mention if there were any eggs or eaglets in view.

Finally, the raven neighbors had an eagle come into their territory, and they made short order of chasing it away. We were down by the beach, and I heard the familiar calls. We looked up in time to see the eagle gracefully winging its way east, with two ravens in hot pursuit. The ravens' wings were beating rapidly in contrast to the long measures of the eagle. Generally the ravens seem to be large birds on their own, but it is all relative when the bigger guy comes along.