Sometimes when I head out in the kayak, photography isn’t the primary goal as I’m mostly exploring or scouting for future visits. Of course the camera comes with me because you never know what will happen. Case in point is my first trip to the upper portion of what is essentially the Rainbow Flowage on the Wisconsin river. I’ve been to the lower reaches and decided to launch the boat from where I stopped last time – a bridge and a public boat ramp. If you turn left upstream the Sugar Creek joins in and is also dammed so that it is a calm waterway with no development that I could see, although it is close to a state highway so I could hear cars and trucks all day. Plus the lake made from the creek and the river beyond the dam is sometimes loud with boat traffic. Not so much so that I won’t return and not enough to keep wildlife away. In addition to this guy, I saw a pair of loons, kingfishers, a few turtles and tons of ducks.
When I was on the lower parts of the reservoir a few years ago, I photographed a Bald eagle family and even got a shot of mom and baby in the nest. The place is dirty with eagles, basically. On this particular outing I saw about 1/2 a dozen of them and heard even more. I tried for a few photos of some up in trees, but with how high they were coupled with the amount of wind, nothing worked. It didn’t bother me too much since I really love exploring new areas in the kayak.
Then this happened –
Yup – right there on the bank next to me. And look at the light!! I couldn’t get the camera up fast enough. We were so close I was a bit worried that angry parents would have a go at me, but they weren’t in the immediate area so it was OK. At least for me, Junior here was agitated and stressed.
At this age, they’re not as strong as they will be as adults and neither have they mastered flying or landing in any way. They’re just like little kids learning to walk – all ambition and excitement, but not much skill or coordination. I imagine that this one more or less crash landed here and was not happy about it. Yelling pretty much constantly for mom and dad to assist, it had to figure things out alone. Here it is sizing up a nearby branch to see if it can make the short hop to it.
Success! But where are the ‘rents?!
And what is this big weird thing in the water tracking me that won’t go away?! Should I be worried?
What happened was this – I was hugging the shoreline on my way back to the car when I heard this eagle very close by. I could tell it was also down low instead of well up in a tree. When I came around a small point there it was right next to me on the bank barely above my head. So close that for the photos of it actually on the ground, I was not much past the 100mm mark on the telephoto. I did end up cropping and so could have zoomed in more, but I wasn’t sure how much movement or flapping I’d get and wanted to make sure I had room in the frame.
Lucky for me it stayed on the ground and on the branch for several minutes because the wind pushed me relentlessly away from it and I had to paddle back and reposition two or three times. If the wind had been more calm, I could have had the flapping and flight shots in the can. I guess I’ll count myself lucky to get what I did.
After working up to a bit of a tizzy, it decided to have a go at crossing the water in front of it, and behind me, to another tree. Oh what a wobbly flight and a terrible landing. But it didn’t fall and resumed yelling for mom and dad to come help. Nothing doing. No idea where they were, but I doubt they were out of earshot and only giving themselves a break from their needy child.
After a few more squawks, it had a bit of a preening session and fluffed up those feathers a little. Unfortunately this new perch was higher up and kind of messy and backlit, so didn’t make for the more excellent shots when it was facing the other way. I did my best and could get quite close, but again the wind was gusting at about 10mph and made it very difficult to do anything. Plus the big baby was pretty stressed and upset, so I paddled away and left it to wait out its parents who could undoubtedly come and check on the little tyke before long.
Wow. What a cool experience. Kayaking always brings surprises and joys even if the conditions aren’t perfect. Mostly I can adapt and do my best with whatever presents itself, coming away with photos as well as memories.
What luck to get to see Baby so close up! I wonder if the parents would really be able to do much as eagle nests are so high off the ground. Story and photos are funny and I enjoyed this very much. If you have never seen the Decorah, Iowa, eagle cam, you should check it out. It’s something I try to tune into every year – usually all day as a background for when I use the computer – during the season of egg laying and raising the brood.
Glad you liked it. I was so happy to have had this time with the youngster, wobbly as it was, but it will get the hang of those wings soon enough. The parents will continue to help it learn how to be an eagle through the winter. Next year when they nest again, junior will have to push off to find its own life.They mature to breeding age at about 4 years.