Happy Friday!

What an amazing experience I had yesterday on my way home from work.  I have the tendency to constantly scan the area for photo opportunities (a practice that will cost me one of these days.)  So as I was driving along I noticed a vehicle on the South bound side of the road with its flashers on and parked on the shoulder.  A quick glance and then back to the road ahead, but out of my peripheral vision I caught a familiar sight.

Just in front of the parked vehicle was an eagle sitting on the shoulder of the road.  My first inclination was “Oh no, it’s been injured.”  I drove on for a few seconds feeling bad and then decided to turn around and see if I could help.  By the time I found a place to turn around and get back the two cars and the eagle were gone.  Whew, apparently everything is okay.  So I drove further South until I could turn around again.  I headed North at a slower speed because I wanted to make sure everything was okay.  As I got back to the spot where I had seen him before, there he was again as he had just landed.  I grabbed my camera and shot a few shots (none  of which were worth showing.)  Then on my way again.

I got to thinking that eagle might take off and fly right into a car or semi and I didn’t want that to happen so I turned around again and went back.

It was a long process of driving very slowly on the shoulder and finally I stopped the car about 15 feet in front of the eagle who was feasting on some road kill.  I know a little disgusting but they will eat about anything.  I like to think of them catching fish over the shimmering water with their large golden talons firmly grasping a silver fish and their bright yellow eyes with their piercing intensity staring ahead.  But the fact is they are scavengers and will eat what ever they can find.  🙂

For the next 20 minutes I stood not more than 8 feet from this eagle who was dinning on a the remains of a raccoon.   Occasionally he would look at me (as in the first image) and apparently didn’t think I was a threat so he kept eating and let me take his picture hundreds of times.  🙂

Most of the time I just looked at him and marveled at this magnificent creature.  I’ll admit it, I have a thing for eagles.  To be this close for this amount of time and to watch him eat with little or no regard for his surrounds was just amazing.  I know of no other word to describe the experience.

All of this time cars and trucks are going by at 70 plus miles per hour and occasionally the wind from those big rigs would buffet us but we didn’t mind.  Then I got a feeling that we weren’t alone.  Another vehicle had pulled up behind us and the gentleman was standing by my front door taking a picture with his cell phone.  Shortly there after the eagle decided it was getting too crowded and flew off about 200 yards to a field.

I told the guy I was going to get something from my car and see if I could get the carcass off the shoulder and down in the gully so he wouldn’t have to be so close to the road.  The gentleman said, “I’ve got an old pair of gloves in the truck, let me get them.”  So he picked up the raccoon, YUK!  He gave it a mighty toss and now the eagle could eat in total peace and safety.

I thanked the gentleman and gave him one of my photography cards and told him he could see the eagle pictures I took if he visited my blog.  I hope he does.

That’s it for today.  Hope you enjoyed the up close and personal images of this eagle.  I doubt that I will ever get that close to an eagle in the wild again.  What a thrill!

Thanks for stopping by.  Enjoy your day and be careful.