About Those Stains on the Tail Feathers

[Clark]

I always thought it from guano.
Not so.





Happy Friday!

 

[troy]

Dinner is about to be served, I know those talons are about as big as a human hand, great picture!!!

 

[Carkin]

Great job capturing the moment! Very cool!

 

[Clark]

The next few frames.
It was a large shad. Maybe female shad larger than male? I forget.
The above image was 635. The missing images were nothing special.

636



637



639



640



642



That bird struggled a bit.

 

[17andgrowing]

Those are some amazing shots, thanks for posting.

 

[Clark]

Those are some amazing shots, thanks for posting.

This is about 45 minutes from the last Turnpike exit.
Don't go on Thanksgiving weekend. They call it the million dollar weekend(cause of all the expensive lenses elbow to elbow), but the traffic on way home was just silly.

Thanks!

 

[NYEric]

.. but the traffic on way home was just silly.
Thanks!

Just a gift from your local DOT!! :evil:

 

[cnycharles]

I remember the turnpike on the way home that year, you could count the pebbles in the pavement it was so slow

 

[Ozpaph]

great shooting

 

[Marco]

Good clips. Thanks!

 

[emydura]

A fantastic set of photos.

What a beautiful bird the Bald Eagle is. It is hard to think of a more beautiful raptor. So it is very common in the US?

 

[SlipperFan]

A fantastic set of photos.

What a beautiful bird the Bald Eagle is. It is hard to thing of a more beautiful raptor. So it is very common in the US?

It was on the verge of extinction years ago, but has made a remarkable come-back. I wouldn't say it is common, but there are places where it is fairly abundant. Even in my area of mid-Michigan, I've seen these birds 3 times, one in my back yard, killing a squirrel and then not being able to figure out how to eat it!

 

[emydura]

It was on the verge of extinction years ago, but has made a remarkable come-back. I wouldn't say it is common, but there are places where it is fairly abundant. Even in my area of mid-Michigan, I've seen these birds 3 times, one in my back yard, killing a squirrel and then not being able to figure out how to eat it!

Thanks Dot. I thought the Bald Eagle was very rare at one point. Great to hear it has made a strong come back. I guess the Bald Eagle to the US is what the Wedge-Tailed Eagle is to Australia. It is our largest raptor and very well known. It too was hunted to very low numbers as farmers believed it killed lambs. In fact there was a bounty put on there heads. The truth was they only ate dead or dying lambs. Since hunting was banned they have made a very strong comeback and are now commonly seen throughout Australia. I think the abundance of the introduced rabbit has really helped them rebound in numbers. There is no more majestic sight then to see a wedge-tailed Eagle soaring in the sky.

 

[Clark]

No DDT. But the new killer is......
Windmills/wind farms. Birds in general. Its a gauntlet.

And they always had lead poisoning around. Still a problem with gut piles during hunting season.
Or wounded game gets away and dies later.
Or lead sinkers stuck in the guts of fish.
Or, or, or......