Photograph by Karen Dobson.
Photography contest, Honorable Mention.
Aquila chrysaetos -- Golden Eagle.
14 Comments
Louise Van Court · 29 March 2010
That is an impressive bird. I just read an article over the weekend about a master falconer who works with and owns two golden eagles. This is not for the timid to attempt. From the article:
Sometimes, the birds need retraining. This year, his male developed some misplaced aggression and focused his efforts on Simpson rather than the rabbits in the field. One day, he looked up to see his eagle speeding toward him, talons fixed. With a quick swat, he batted Bubba away, but not before he got a talon through his upper lip and under his chin, piercing his tongue.
http://www.wyomingnews.com/articles/2010/03/29/outdoors/1out_03-28-10.txt
There are a couple photos that some may enjoy.
Jesse · 29 March 2010
Those birds are huge. I found one out in the boonies a few years ago that was sick and took it into a woman known as the raptor lady. I had a bag sitting on my lap to keep the thing from tearing my legs up and a jacket over it to keep it from freaking out for over 2 hours. When I made the mistake of taking the jacket off once, and all of a sudden both wingtips were sticking out both windows of the truck. I found to that to be impressive, considering that its left wing tip was sticking out the driver's side window while I was in the passenger's seat. It's talons were equally impressive. I figured better the bag sitting on my lap than me, though it never did anything that would have torn me up. It was sick, after all.
A couple of days later it died from lead poisoning. For those of you who hunt waterfowl, use non-toxic shot. The whole lead shot kills birds of prey thing is true, not to mention that it's a good way to avoid getting fined by a federal game warden.
wright1 · 29 March 2010
What a magnificent predator. Definitely an animal to admire... at a distance.
Jesse, my hat is off to you for holding that set of killing hooks (head and feet) in your lap, their owner being sick or not.
Jesse · 29 March 2010
wright1 said:
What a magnificent predator. Definitely an animal to admire... at a distance.
Jesse, my hat is off to you for holding that set of killing hooks (head and feet) in your lap, their owner being sick or not.
If you can catch one on foot with nothing but a jacket and your hands, it's not going to be too feisty. My bag also had a lot of stuff in it that it would have had to go through to get to me, and the jacket did a good job of keeping its beak away from my other extremities. While not nearly so dangerous, I have also had plenty of experience keeping the beaks of geese away from me while carrying them around. I should have known better when those wings came sticking out all of a sudden. I was just a little nervous about that beak being able to get to my hands and didn't have them where I should have. A goose chomping down on you might take some skin off and hurt a bit. An eagle? Well, that's an unhappy and bloody visit to the doc.
Frank J · 1 April 2010
It's still a dinosaur.
Happy Creationism Day!
dogmeatIB · 1 April 2010
Truly a beautiful animal. My wife and I are fortunate to see one fairly regularly on our commute to and from work. Awe inspiring as they soar overhead, I can't imagine having one on my lap, etc.
Jesse, you have my heartfelt respect for the great effort you undertook in an effort to save one of these beauties. Pity it was too ill to survive, but like wright1, my hat is off to you.
every specie should be really preserved as they have their own roles in the ecosystem...
Alan B · 3 April 2010
Forget the bird messing up the picture - those are lovely rocks!!
Jesse · 4 April 2010
Alan B said:
Forget the bird messing up the picture - those are lovely rocks!!
I take it you like NM. It is supposed to be a geologist's wet dream.
Alan B · 5 April 2010
Jesse said:
Alan B said:
Forget the bird messing up the picture - those are lovely rocks!!
I take it you like NM. It is supposed to be a geologist's wet dream.
I'm from England but if NM is like that picture, I like NM!. Any hints or links for places to follow up?
GvlGeologist, FCD · 5 April 2010
Jesse said:
I take it you like NM. It is supposed to be a geologist's wet dream.
Nah, that's Arizona: Grand Canyon, Meteor (Barringer) Crater, Petrified Forest, Painted Desert, Sedona, ...
Actually, the whole SW US is pretty awesome. I've been lucky enough to travel a lot in the area, going to the aforementioned as well as Bryce Canyon NP, Zion NP, and Capitol Reef NP (Utah), Colo. Nat. Monument and Rocky Mt. NP (CO), Carlsbad Caverns (NM), numerous California NP's. Even Texas has some great geology, if you can avoid the people...
Anyone who's interested in geology should try to spend some time in that part of the US.
GvlGeologist, FCD · 5 April 2010
Alan B said:
I'm from England but if NM is like that picture, I like NM!. Any hints or links for places to follow up?
This contains a listing of the national parks I've been to, not only there but in other areas as well.
http://people.sfcollege.edu/greg.mead/links.htm
Scroll down about a sixth of the way from the top. You'll see a table containing links to a bunch of NPs and Nat'l Forests.
Alan B · 6 April 2010
GvlGeologist, FCD said:
Alan B said:
I'm from England but if NM is like that picture, I like NM!. Any hints or links for places to follow up?
This contains a listing of the national parks I've been to, not only there but in other areas as well.
http://people.sfcollege.edu/greg.mead/links.htm
Scroll down about a sixth of the way from the top. You'll see a table containing links to a bunch of NPs and Nat'l Forests.
Thanks for that - I'll have a browse!
Alan
Karen Dobson · 8 April 2010
Just a note to those interested in the rock formation in this photo. Those rocks are in Denali National Forest in Alaska.
14 Comments
Louise Van Court · 29 March 2010
Jesse · 29 March 2010
Those birds are huge. I found one out in the boonies a few years ago that was sick and took it into a woman known as the raptor lady. I had a bag sitting on my lap to keep the thing from tearing my legs up and a jacket over it to keep it from freaking out for over 2 hours. When I made the mistake of taking the jacket off once, and all of a sudden both wingtips were sticking out both windows of the truck. I found to that to be impressive, considering that its left wing tip was sticking out the driver's side window while I was in the passenger's seat. It's talons were equally impressive. I figured better the bag sitting on my lap than me, though it never did anything that would have torn me up. It was sick, after all.
A couple of days later it died from lead poisoning. For those of you who hunt waterfowl, use non-toxic shot. The whole lead shot kills birds of prey thing is true, not to mention that it's a good way to avoid getting fined by a federal game warden.
wright1 · 29 March 2010
What a magnificent predator. Definitely an animal to admire... at a distance.
Jesse, my hat is off to you for holding that set of killing hooks (head and feet) in your lap, their owner being sick or not.
Jesse · 29 March 2010
Frank J · 1 April 2010
It's still a dinosaur.
Happy Creationism Day!
dogmeatIB · 1 April 2010
Truly a beautiful animal. My wife and I are fortunate to see one fairly regularly on our commute to and from work. Awe inspiring as they soar overhead, I can't imagine having one on my lap, etc.
Jesse, you have my heartfelt respect for the great effort you undertook in an effort to save one of these beauties. Pity it was too ill to survive, but like wright1, my hat is off to you.
trampolines · 2 April 2010
every specie should be really preserved as they have their own roles in the ecosystem...
Alan B · 3 April 2010
Forget the bird messing up the picture - those are lovely rocks!!
Jesse · 4 April 2010
Alan B · 5 April 2010
GvlGeologist, FCD · 5 April 2010
GvlGeologist, FCD · 5 April 2010
Alan B · 6 April 2010
Karen Dobson · 8 April 2010
Just a note to those interested in the rock formation in this photo. Those rocks are in Denali National Forest in Alaska.