This is the resident eagle on an oceanside property in my area...he has a mate, and it's quite something to see them on the top most branch of a nearby tree, so close together that they look like one gigantic bird...a prehistoric one!
When we see them, high up in a tree, they are foreshortened, of course, and it's quite another thing to see them standing at ground level, feeding on something just off road...they are tall! Their talons mean business!
I have seen them skim over the water and pick up a fish, then fly off. I have seen two seagulls harrass one into finally giving up and leaving...it wasn't until it flew off that I realized the gulls were diving at it to protect an injured duck, paddling slowly to shore. Who says animals don't look out for each other? As soon as the eagle left, the two gulls soared away...what were they, guard gulls?
Once, driving with clients around 6 p.m., in the summer, over a mountain to the other side of the Island, an eagle flew directly at the car...I thought he was going to come right through the windshield, so of course I did the usual, screamed, jammed on the brakes/swerved. Turned out, though, that we had just surprised an eagle feast...I counted 11 of these majestic creatures, feeding on a deer carcass, just slightly off the rough road we were on...the clients thought I'd arranged the show for them. Not!
As a city girl, I've learned a lot living in this rural and still "wilderness" area...it's always a treat to see an eagle up close.
How may I help you to discover special Salt Spring Island & the Southern Gulf Islands? Call me!
