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Welcome to Brazos Bend State Park. That's me on
the trail at Fiorenza Park watching an Eagle 6/3/2023. I was just a
child when the number of Eagle nests in the U.S. was
only 417...in the lower 48 states. I never expected to see Bald Eagles
at all where I live and play, but here they are! I'm
sharing many of my pictures and videos of Eagles
here on my Eagle Pages.
04/06/2024 I saw an Eagle on top of their
high-tension tower perch when I left the Westpark Tollway, so I
parkedon the South side of Fiorenza park and
walked to the tower. There was a young Bald Eagle (maybe 2 years
old?)on the tower when I got there. The day was really windy where I
wasstanding, and the Eagle on the
tower seemed to be getting it, too.
The
the Eagle left the tower, so I tried to capture images as it flew
off. The second image below showsit flying North of me, in front of
the landscaped hill on that side of the
park. Then it circled back and landed on the small, flat island. I
wasstill East of the tower.
I
moved around so that I was just below the tower, so I could face
North and watch the young Eagleperched on branched there.
Suddenly, an adult Eagle flew in from the
West! It came in fast, but I was able to snap a few photos
asit flew right over my head and landed on top of the tower--right
above me!
I looked up at the Eagle, but the Sun
also in that direction. So I had to move to get the Sun behind me.I
tried getting a few pictures as I moved, but the tower blocked most
of
my view of the Eagle. I moved a bit further East, and
thenwatched the Eagle eat.
The
Eagle quicky consumed most of the fish. As usual, I tried to get
video during this encounter, thewind made it hard for me to
stabilize the camera. The video was very
shaky. The Eagle pulled the tail off the fish, and swallowed it.
Thethird image below shows it in mid-gulp, (with nictitating lid
covering its eye, too!).
Although the video was shaky, I could
still harvest frames from it. The first 4 images below show
itdropping the last chunk of fish. After it dropped the fish, it
"cleaned its beak"
byrubbing it on the tower. I filmed video of this, and if I can use
any images from that, I'll add them here. During all of this,
theyoung Eagle was still on the island. When they
didn'tmove for a while, I decided to leave and get out of the
wind. Only later did I realize that the Eaglemight have been
sharing its breakfast with me when it dropped the
fish! No...I don't really think so.
03/26/2024 When I took the off-ramp to get to
Fiorenza park, I saw an Eagle on top of the power line tower.
I parked on the South side of the park, and
started the 20-minute walk to get near the tower. When I
got to a place where I could see the top of the tower, the Eagle was
gone. I scanned the sky and found an Eagle
flying above me. As I was trying to take a few pictures, the
Eagle folded its wings and dived and and got a few blurry images
before I lost it. I
hurried to where I could look
across and see where I thought it had gone down, but I was much too
late. An Eagle was flying away in the distance, headed North. It
seemed to be carrying something.
I continued to the tower anyway, hoping it might come back. I was on
the last straight, with the tower in full view when I saw another
large bird flying towards me from the
South. It was a young Bald Eagle! I took pictures as it
flew in, but as it flew past I couldn't focus against the green
behind it. I saw it land on other side of the small island
directly in front of me--but I could barely see it between the
trunks of the small trees.).
I saw it land on other side of the small island directly in front of
me--but I could barely see it between the trunks of the small
trees. To see the other side of the island, I
hurried around the South bend. This took me right under the "Eagle
tower" and next to the busy Westpark Tollway--about 5 minutes' more
walking. When I could see the
West side of the island (by the way the South corner of the island
was covered with American White Pelicans, Pelecanus
erythrorhynchos). I looked through the binoculars.
I found the young Eagle! It was standing
on the flat open ground--right next to an adult Bald Eagle that was
eating something. After eating its fill (I suppose) the adult
walked to the water, and seemed to wash its face, and picked at a
few items in the water. The young Eagle walked over and picked at
some scraps left by the adult..
Compared
to
the stride of the adult, the young Eagle hopped and seemed to
be favoring one foot. I watched them until the juvenile, and then
the adult, flew off; or about
12 minutes from the time I could see them clearly.
Almost all the images are from photos this time. I caught the
juvenile's takeoff that way.
I shot video of the adult taking off.
You'll see that some pictures show where I was, relative to where
the Eagles were. Video edited from these events can be seen here.
It was a beautiful morning!
03/23/2024
At
Fiorenza Park North, I saw an Eagle on the tower (as shown in this
picture from 2023) but it was gone when I got to this point
on the trail.
I'd just missed it, but it might have gone hunting. Sometimes an
Eagle leaves, but returns to the tower with food, so I looked for
the Eagle. I found it! It was carrying
something, but was pretty far away. I took pictures
anyway. The Eagle flew across from Left to Right. it passed behind
the big hill, and I found it again on the other side.
Using Google maps, I estimate the Eagle was at least 500 yards away.
I finally shot some video as the Eagle moved off. I've cropped
the images and video to enlarge the
Eagle. While watching, I'd assumed the Eagle had caught a fish
(as I've seen them do here before).
But the video and photos showed I was wrong. The Eagle was carrying
a bird! The prey was much smaller than the Eagle, and
though it had dark plumage, I don't
think it was a Vulture. Perhaps it had caught a gallinule or
coot--though bright orange on the head might indicate it had caught
a Common Gallinule, Gallinula
galeata.
The third and fourth images above, and
the two images below, are frames from the video. Apparently the
camera thought the tree was more interesting, so focused on that,
instead, blurring the Eagle. The Eagle's flight is in this film edited from the short clip
that I captured.
01/21/2024 It was cold again
at BBSP. When I checked the temperature at the Forty Acre
Parking Lot, it was 39.2°F, almost the same as the previous
weekend. But the air on this
day was very damp. This damp air, when moving, can draw the heat
right out of me. It's always colder down near the Observation Tower,
mostly
because of the wind blowing off of Pilant Lake. The morning was
overcast, and the air was hazy--which is further indication of hold
cold it would feel.
Within a few minutes
I caught a glimpse of what looked like an Eagle over 40Acre Lake, so
I watched it circle West, then moved over Pilant Lake before
moving West. I'm pretty sure it was a
juvenile Bald Eagle! The two images below are just different
cropped versions of the same photograph.
5
minutes later, I remembered to examine the top of the tallest tree
on the far Northwest treeline. I've seen a Bald Eagle out there
several times over the past weeks. The
Eagle was out there this morning! The 3 images below show how far
away it was. Another temperature reading from that
area showed 39.3°F. But this time there was the
wind off of Pilant Lake.
On 01/14/2024 I went
to BBSP. I almost didn't because of forecasted rain and a cold
front. But, I decided to go anyway, spend a couple hours outside,
then work in the Nature Center. When I checked the temperature
at the Forty Acre Parking Lot, it was 40°F. It's always colder
down near the Observation Tower, mostly
because of the wind blowing off of Pilant Lake.
As I had reached the West end of 40 Acre
Lake I had a quick sighting of a Bald Eagle flying to the East,
going South over the 40acre lake. While I was watching the
Ibises
foraging, they all took off. So I looked around and above to see if
something had spooked them. I saw a Bald Eagle flying high above,
heading North over Pilant Lake. It
might have been too high to scare the Ibises, but the birds never
tell me what's going on. I went back to the West side of the
Tower, to have a better view across both
lakes (Pilant and 40Acre). It was already about 9:00, and I would
have to leave the area by 10 to make it back to the Nature Center in
time...and, I was getting cold, anyway.
About 10 minutes later I was talking with another Volunteer and a
park visitor (who also happened to be employed by TPWD in another
department/region) when I saw
another Eagle flying low over the 40Acre islands from the
West.
It circled right over us, and I
watched it for about 10 minutes until I lost it in the Sun. It was
wonderful to see the Eagle leisurely soaring in circles out of
sight. Although
the images seem the same, they are a few seconds apart. I was happy
to catch the Eagle in flight.
While we were excitedly discussing the Eagle, two park visitors
walked up. I've often seen them on the trails, though they are
usually on bicycles. Too cold for that
(and the trails were soft from the recent rain)! First thing they
asked was if we'd seen the Eagle. It turns out that they had seen
the Eagle perched in a tree on one of the
islands, and got to watch it take off and fly towards us.
Then, it was time for me to go in. Not a bad day for
about 3 hours on the trail!
If you'd like to know more about the park follow these links:
Brazos Bend State Park The main page.
Brazos
Bend
State Park Volunteer's Page The
volunteer's
main page.
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