American Bald Eagle Encounters in the Swamps of Florida

I am always awe struck when I get the chance to have a glimpse of this beautiful majestic bird that is our national bird here in the United States. As I said in my article "Fishing from a Kayak on the Mosquito Lagoon," I am so lucky to live where I do. It's really swampy here in the Geneva, Mims and Titusville area, but it is peaceful and beautiful. If you are driving on route 46 from Sanford to Mims, like I do very often, you will see an eagle or maybe even three or four on the way. You can almost always count on seeing one when you are crossing the bridge that goes over the Econ river and Lake Harney connection. They sit on the power poles waiting for their next meal.

I live on Lake Harney and I get to see these birds all the time. I never take it for granted. I have learned their call and always look up to see them. An Eagle has the softest call, more of a chirping sound if you ask me. You would never imagine that call would come from a bird so large. Eagles are around 28-37 inches tall with a wing span of about 84 inches. Don't ask me where I got this information, it's just in my head because I have always been amused by the facts of this magnificent bird. Compare that with the hawk's loud screech. The hawk can be between 15 - 25 inches depending on the species and his loud screech fits him perfectly. Y'all can listen to the call of an eagle by clicking on this link and turning up your speakers. http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0207/sights_n_sounds/media2.html.

I love this time of year the most because the younger ones play while they are in flight by tipping each others wings to throw them off balance while chirping away in delight. I was out in my pasture the other day feeding and had been in there for about 30 minutes caring for the new baby goats and trying to keep the pig from eating their food while trying to keep the mother goats from eating the food of the horse. I finally got a chance to look up to see what type of birds were out and what did I see? An adult American Bald Eagle right above my head in a pine tree! I was literally standing at the base of the tree and there she sat just looking down at my plight. I could tell it was a female by her size. Females are larger than the males. I hurriedly walked from the pasture trying to open and close the gate quickly without making too much noise because I didn't want to scare her. Then I walked quickly towards the house until I was halfway there and started to run as fast as an old lady like me can run. I flung open the door without worrying about closing it behind me and ran into the office for my camera. Please let her still be there, please let her still be there. Then I ran back outside and halfway to the pasture, the whole time trying to see if she was still perched there. I caught her in my site and slowed down to a quick walk again. Back through the gate, quietly opening and closing it and then finally about 10 feet from the pine tree. I have a small window on my digital camera so, I didn't know if the pictures I was taking were going to be good or not, but I was hoping. I took about 20 pictures of her before I decided I was on the verge of being a crazy lady. Then I returned to the house to tell the rest of the family about my adventure. They all went outside to admire my American Bald Eagle with almost as much enthusiasm as I.

The following day, I was headed out to the pasture again to feed and what did I find? Two baby American Bald Eagles in a different pine tree closer to the front of the pasture. Again I went running for my camera. The babies were beautiful even though they didn't have their white tails and heads yet. They are a lighter color brown than their parents and have flecks of brown and white on their bellies, the underside of their wings and their tail. Their beaks are dark brown instead of the beautiful yellow of their parents. I read somewhere years ago that they don't acquire their adult plumage until they are 4 or 5 years old. I started snapping pictures and only got about four taken before SHE returned. Yup, their mother must only like to have HER picture taken because she swooped down out of nowhere and chirped wildly prompting her young to take flight. I got a few shots of them flying away, but they were very blurry. They are not very good pictures, but I'm proud to have them and share them here on Associated Content.

To end this article I would like to add a few more American Bald Eagle facts just in case some of you aren't avid eagle watchers like I. Eagles can only be found in North America and are considered a protected bird under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act. They have been endangered since 1967 and were only recently removed from that list in June 2007. See http://www.fws.gov/migratorybirds/BaldEagle.htm for details. American Bald Eagles are in the raptor family.