Eagles

[donutsweeper]

On Saturday we drove down to the National Eagle Center about 2 hours south and east of here.


There are four birds that live there, all unable to be released back into the wild

Harriet- A bald eagle who was hit by a car in WI and suffered serious shoulder damage and can't fly as a result





Donald- a golden eagle, found injured in CA and brought here to be rehabilitated, but no longer able to hunt due to talon damage.






There was also Angel, who was brought to the Raptor Center in MN after having fallen out of the nest as a baby.



And Columbia, hit by a van in WI and suffered a seriously broken wing.



Now is a great time to see eagles in MN, especially along the Mississippi because they are currently migrating back to Canada. We drove along the river on both the MN and WI side and saw some amazing eagles, including a golden just hanging out in a tree right along the side of the road (not near any place we could pull over though).

At a scenic overpass in Wisconsin we saw the following

A golden and bald eagle soaring together:




And a bald eagle soaring happily




What a great day.

Comments

[rustydog.livejournal.com]

Oh, wonderful! Those are great pictures, and I love that you got some eagles in flight. That's not easy. So glad you had a good day!

The success of the eagle recovery program in North America since the 1960s is really inspiring. Even back when we were kids, I know it was rare to see a bald eagle!

There are some bald eagles at the zoo here in the same situation - injured, unable to be rehabilitated enough to return to the wild. They're really amazing to see up close.

[donutsweeper.livejournal.com]

They had some high powerful binoculars at the eagle center and you could really see a lot of eagles then. But the drive back was amazing, eagles swooping down to the river- you could see them right out the window!

[http://users.livejournal.com/_medley_/]

Ooh, love the pictures, and that sounds like an awesome day. And for some reason I love that there's a bald eagle named Harriet.

[donutsweeper.livejournal.com]

All the eagles are named by school kids. Harriet spent the entire time staring out the window. Son said it was obvious she was thinking "all the fish in that river would totally be mine if I could just get out there."

[http://users.livejournal.com/_medley_/]

Aww. I bet she was.

[donutsweeper.livejournal.com]

I think it's great that centers like this one exist though. Rehabilitate the bird if you can, give them a comfy life if you can't

[http://users.livejournal.com/_medley_/]

Oh, absolutely! That's good work they're doing.

[padawanpooh.livejournal.com]

Those are great pictures: looks like you had a good day :-D

[donutsweeper.livejournal.com]

Yes, it was a great day. Glad you liked the pictures!

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

Just running past but had to stop to say OH! And BEAUTIFUL, and THANK YOU. Lovely pictures :)

[donutsweeper.livejournal.com]

*waves as jades speeds past*

Glad you liked the eagles!

[adafrog.livejournal.com]

Cool.

[donutsweeper.livejournal.com]

glad you liked!

[aeron-lanart.livejournal.com]

Brilliant pictures, thanks for sharing. I've seen Golden Eagles in the wild from a great distance when I've been in Scotland and it was an amazing sight.

One of my favourite Birds of Prey is the Red Kite (http://www.redkites.co.uk/) which was almost driven to extinction in the UK but is now beginning to be seen in more places. You can see them doing aerobatics over the M40 - I nearly crashed the car coming back from London last year when I saw them!

[donutsweeper.livejournal.com]

oh WOW look at that wingspan. What a great picture

[aeron-lanart.livejournal.com]

Can't take the credit for the pic, but it is a beautiful one. The tail is really characteristic and means Red Kites can be identified quite easily. There are a few places that have Red Kite feeding stations - mid Wales being the biggest, which is the only place the Kites still bred for many years.

[donutsweeper.livejournal.com]

Isn't it great to see when something on the edge of extinction makes its way back?

[phoenix64.livejournal.com]

Oh, those are lovely! I'm very sorry I missed a recent fundraiser for our local wild bird rescue center, because they have the coolest education birds (the ones that can't be released), generally eagles and ravens and owls.

[donutsweeper.livejournal.com]

Thanks, aren't educational birds the best?