Eagle(s)

Roger wanted to get out a little yesterday...so we headed up to roam around Parke County....and this was the highlight of our day....isn't he handsome. I wasn't that far away from him....but those twigs in front of him make it hard to focus. I was slowly walking up closer to him when he took off....
Talk about a big bird...he seemed huge....and when he took off, he was just gone. We watched him go down the valley and then came back our way but off a ways to the side...and in the meantime I had noticed another one...a juvenile...and then there was another eagle, but all too far away. I could have stood there forever watching the three of them....I had been complaining that it had been a while since we had seen an eagle and then to see them two days in a row!!!
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I had intentions to visit blogs today but instead last night I discovered a few of my photos were missing from a particular day. I have my photos in folders by day taken...and part of the photos were there, but several weren't. I first checked to see if they were just missing in Picasa and maybe were on the computer but could not find them anywhere. I checked the external hard drive that I had used to transfer them....they were missing on it, also.

So I had to start up the old laptop and transfer them from it. And today in between other jobs I have been going through each folder for the XTi to try to make sure no more photos were missing...I found some that I thought were missing, and have gone through almost 11,000 photos and only found one that I cannot find anywhere...and with the folder it is in, it is nothing special.

I am trying to decide if I am going to do the rest...I probably will but going to take a break from it. I have close to another 10,000 photos from my original Rebel...I just cannot bear the thoughts of starting on those right away.
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It was a beautiful day here....true shirt sleeve weather. I even have a daffodil blooming but did not take a photo of it. We had storms last night, but nothing major here where I live.

More from yesterday....

The above are female pheasants...see how they blend in...they are so hard to see most of the time. They had my attention so much that I did not even see the handsome fellow below till he ran out as I was getting ready to leave.

Besides the 4 ladies and the gentleman above, I saw two others at the opposite end of the strip pits. No chance to photograph them though. It was when I was entirely focused on the eagles.

The one strip pit has lost a lot of water...I have never seen it so low. I don't think it has ever been a deep strip pit like some, but in all the years I have been driving through there, it has not been so low. I am not sure what it means as there is lots of water standing in all the normal places. Anyway, it is full of swans, other waterfowl,

And if you enlarge the photo above and look closely you will see four sandhill cranes. They blend in so well they are hard to s pot. I am hoping this becomes a regular stopping place for them...I saw three out there a while back.

In the photo above the cranes are almost close to the left edge...

Besides the deer pictured above, I cannot say how many I saw.

Oh, I also saw a skunk but by then it was too late to get a decent photo.
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I don't know where to begin...this past Sunday made two weeks that Roger had been sick. Sinus/cold type of thing. He would feel like he was getting better only to feel bad. So got in to the doctor yesterday and he feels like a new man.

And Lo and Sarah were here for the weekend. Cannot remember all she has done lately. On the way here, she asked Sarah "will Mamaw still have the play-doh?" Not sure if she comes to see me or to play with play-doh. haha We were playing with it and she had a ball of it that she was calling the moon, so I asked her if she wanted to go to the moon...she say, "Oh, Mamaw, I don't want to go into outer space!" That from a three year old.

Any day is a good day....

Roger and I have a little saying when we go out for a drive...we say that any day we see an eagle is a good day. In fact, the thrill of it lasts long afterwards. We bore everyone telling about it.

Anyway, all of the following are cropped portions of photos...and in the first three, the eagle(s) are quite quite far away. Anyway, I suggest you use the right click and open in a new tab, at least for 4th shot. It is really a great capture....

I headed out for a drive this afternoon, with the intentions of just passing through the strip pits, but only just passing through. I had almost passed through when up ahead I noticed a couple of birds...one I was sure was a Northern Harrier. But look what else was there. This was from quite a distance...I wasn't sure it was an eagle till I extended my lens.

He was really moving...in both the above photos...not just gliding but wings flapping like he had some place to go...

He went a ways and then turned back towards me and I thought oh, boy, he is coming back to me but only came so far and turned around and continued on. Look closely at the photo above...you might even want to enlarge it to see better. What is funny, I did not see the eagle on top of the power line pole till I downloaded the photos...total surprise here. And thrilled!

This fellow above and below is the first one I actually saw and was in the vacinity of the two adults....it is a juvenile bald eagle, at least I am pretty sure. When it first took off, its tail feathers looked like they were trying to start to turn white... And the photo above is the one I want you to right click on and then click open in new tab or new window...

I was actually willing to trespass to get closer to it, but it took flight before I could even stepped off the road....

The above was not near all I saw but it was the most thrilling...I think....yeah, it was. But saw lots more which I will show another day. Just had to focus on the eagles today.