Beauty taken for granted

[ctom]

Sometimes things happen that drag us back to a simple reality that we take beauty for granted. I'm not talking women here....something more wholesome all together.

Where I live, right in the heart of a town of 115,000-plus people, we have a population of bald eagles, mostly breeding pairs. We see them almost daily. While fishing the waters that we have available locally eagles are a common sight. In fact, along the Mississippi River right about now the eagle migration from Canada stops and we can see hundreds of eagles in a day on the river. There are times that they are so common that I take them for granted and look past their staure and beauty.

I have a large creek and a major river that merge right behind my back yard. This merger is inside a wide open parkland where huge cottonwood trees stand. Two or three of these huge trees are eagle magnets and to see the birds in them from our kitchen window is , well, nothing to see anymore. Common. Until this morning. In our yard I have an old, old oak that is perhaps 125 years old and is starting to show its age with some dead limbs that are in need of trimming out but I just hate to cut on that tree. This morning as I stood in the kitchen making my coffee with the sun just cracking the horizon, a shadow came across the window. I stopped long enough to take a peek and here, forty feet from the window on one of those lame limbs, sits an eagle. This isn't the first time I have seen one on this limb, but the combination of the bird's colors and the color of the rising sun, a fiery red, was maybe one of the finest pieces of natural art I have laid my eyes on. I watched this grand bird for maybe a minute before I got the idea that the camera should capture this. Of course as soon as I moved to pluck the dumb thing off the computer desk the eagle saw my bright white shirt move and it flew off to a tree much further into the park....that area where they again become hum-drum.

Even in an area where many reside, getting an eyeful like I got this morning sure brings a guy back to the bottom line of how incredibly wonderful having them around is. Thanksgiving is right around the corner. Take a second to look around for truely there is so much more to be thankful for than we realize in our day to day lives.

From our house to yours, Carole and I wish all of you a great and safe Thanksgiving holiday!

[412BaitCo]

Well said and if you ever get that chance to snap a picture I'd love to see it. I've never had the chance to see one in the wild but think it would be amazing.

[fsh4fun]

Thanks for sharing that moment with us. I live on the Menominee River that flows into Green Bay,and we have eagles in our back yard also.I live in the U.P. of Michigan,and across the river is Wisconsin. Theres quite a few homes on the Michigan side,but someone owns a large tract on the Wis. side,and its not developed. The eagles are always landing in the trees across from our place,and feeding in the river. We also have loons,but mostly in the spring. When I here their songs it brings me back to our houseboat trips to Lake of the Woods. Thanks again.

[Jason]

Awesome!

[ctom]

Last winter I had the occasion to spot a golden eagle in one of those big cottonwoods. We have two confirmed breeding pairs of golden eagles within 70 miles of home here, one in a vast wildlife management area between Rochester and the Mississippi River call Whitewater and one near Alma , Wisconsin,  straight east of Rochester on the big river....just north of Andrew a few miles and across the channel. I think the Whitewater pair will venture our way because of the winter goose population we get....often in the 70 to 80 thousands. We have a late goose season and lots of wounded birds make it back to the lake a couple blocks away from our house. The goldens enjoy the spoils. Much larger birds than the Bald eagles, the goldens are actually quite rare in these parts, much preferring the mountains of the west. Where we have the two local pairs holed up its darned rugged and in bluff country so they're right at home I guess.

[kipbass]

I have seen a few on south Toledo bend lake here in Louisiana. They are a better fisherman than I! It's quiet a site to watch them snatch a fish from the waters.

[Denny Welch]

My wife and I took an Alaskan cruise a few years ago.  One of the ports of call was Prince Rupert's Island.  No more than 100' from the dock was a giant fir tree.  It had no less than 50 bald eagles perched on it's branches.  It is one of life's beautiful memories.

[pjmcla]

We seldom see eagles; but have several pairs of Ospreys that inhabit the Joe Wheeler Refuge.  They will take coots and ducks as well as fish.  There is one pair that for several years has nested in a high power line tower in the middle of Flint Creek. 

[ctom]

My pet crappie lake 12 miles north of town has two pairs of breeding osprey on it. There is nothing that can be more heart-stopping than to watch one of these birds drop 300 feet and nail a fish in the water, they surface and fly away. The wind noise on that drop is something else to hear too.

[superharmonix]

I am going to have to find some videos we took this past summer on the Umpqua.  That river has KILLER smallmouth fishing, and we have a good friend with some river side acreage.  About 400 yds upstream is a seriously savage rapid and about 600 yds down stream there's about a 10 foot waterfall, so as you can imagine, most of the time we have the spot to ourselves.  There are 6 osprey along this stretch, and one with an odd shaped tail we affectionately call "Ozzy".  He knows the sound pf my buddies boat and comes around every time looking for a meal.  This past summer I finally took the camera and we got some amazing videos of Ozzy coming down and grabbing smallies about 8 feet from the boat, multiple times.