what caliber for bald eagle?

[carterbeauford]

Kidding




Walked out to my truck after lunch and saw this, ran back inside and grabbed my camera, of course forgetting the right lens. If you want a better look at the pics, save them and zoom in. They were taken at about 450 yards with a 12X zoom. I thought it was cool because there are less than 100 of them in the state. Another reason to love PA.

[charby]

awesome.

I can't believe the amount of bald eagles I have seen in the past few years here in Iowa. I see them year round, in the middle of corn fields, near water, far from water, just amazing. Also I see a lot more numbers of the other raptors and vultures in the past few years also.

As a kid the the only time I would see eagles was when they were migrating up the Mississippi River.

[grampster]

Great pics.  We've got several pair in my county.  Two of them hunt my lake fairly regularly.  Fun to watch them when the ice is just coming on the lake and ducks are mobbed up.

I've got a smallish scrub oak next to my deck, about 12' in front of my living room slider.  Last spring the larger of the two eagles was perched on a limb just above eye level.  He turned and looked at Swmbo, then hopped off the branch into the shallows of the lake below and snagged a pike.  There was a yard or so of open water and then the ice began.  He jumped onto the ice with the pike.  The fish was quite large and he had a talon snagged in the fish.  He had to eat a bit of the fish first to get him untangled and able to fly away with his prey.  I wish I'd been home to see that.

[mtnbkr]

We have them around here in NoVa as well.  I've seen them flying over the local waterways and even over my neighborhood in Manassas.

Chris

[AJ Dual]

I've noticed that too. Hawks and eagles are everywhere, when as a kid in the 70's and 80's it was a rare treat to see one all summer on a drive in rural Wisconsin. Now I see Hawks in the trees in the inner burbs of Milwaukee.

What I notice is that I almost never see crows anymore. I'm thinking that West Nile has taken them out. They used to hang out on power lines in numbers like you'd expect to see pigeons.

[El Tejon]

Only 100 in PA?

Man, we are up to our hips in them over here.  There's a pair that hunt along the Wabash downtown near my office.  However, most of the time they just sit around and look cool.  "Birds of prey know they're cool."

Saw an eagle hit a seagull while driving over the State Street bridge one morning.  Did not know eagles liked seagull--go figure.

[USP45usp]

We're getting more and more of them over here.  Lot's of Osprey also.  I can sit and watch birds of prey for hours on end (find it boring to watch the common smaller birds).

Wayne

[The Sage of Seattle]

ran back inside and grabbed my camera

I think you just answered your own question:  35mm!

[carterbeauford]

Only 100 in PA?

Man, we are up to our hips in them over here.  There's a pair that hunt along the Wabash downtown near my office.  However, most of the time they just sit around and look cool.  "Birds of prey know they're cool."

Yup, according to the PA Game Commission, there are less than 100. Fly some of them down here, there are only two nests in my county.

ran back inside and grabbed my camera

I think you just answered your own question:  35mm!

Heh... I was using a Fuji S5000 digital. If I had been thinking and not running, I would have screwed on the 2x telephoto lens.

here's the picture cropped and blown up:

[crt360]

What I notice is that I almost never see crows anymore. I'm thinking that West Nile has taken them out. They used to hang out on power lines in numbers like you'd expect to see pigeons.

I think they all moved to Texas.  Often, in the evening, they cover almost every tree, power line, roof top, sign, and parking lot in some areas (and poop on the rest).  If you miss them, we'll be happy to give you all can catch or shoot and carry.

We don't have many bald eagles around, but lots of hawks, owls and other attack birds.

[Gun Runner]

If you've got an AR they are alot of fun!!