Eagles - Nature Journal Entry

We have been seeing eagles more this week which has been exciting. On Valentine's Day, there were two eagles circling above us and towards the river in Osceola (Wisconsin). They would flap their wings periodically and then just glide in circles. I could watch eagles all day with their graceful movements.

On Saturday morning, Sophia and I were headed to Forest Lake and saw an eagle and crow on the side of the road eating a dead deer. I had to turn around.

Slowly drove on the side of the road and stayed a fair distance away. Nonetheless, it was still too close for the eagle, so it flew off with its feather-covered legs hanging down. They look like feathered pantaloons to me.

The eagle circled back across the highway and found a branch to perch on. It had a great view of the deer, so I knew that after we left it would fly back down and finish eating.

What surprised me was that the crow and eagle were able to peacefully co-exist while eating together. Neither was bothered by the other one which was interesting to see.

Yesterday afternoon, I went through my file about eagles and cut out photos that I had from magazines - like National Geographic.

Put these into my nature journal and wrote about seeing the eagles.

Also wrote some facts that I found interesting. For example:

- A bald eagle's nest may reach 10 feet across and 20 feet deep! I had no idea they were that big. That's literally almost the height of our home. That's huge!

-  Most raptors can't fly with a load more than 305 of their own body weight. So, about 3-4 pounds would be the max for an eagle.

- A female's wingspan in 6'7" - 7'6" and a male's wingspan is 6' - 7'1".

- The average weight of an eagle is about 10-14 pounds.

- More than 90% of birds stay with partners until they die. At that time, they look for another mate.

- By mid- to late-February, the eggs are laid.

- The beak color moves to a clean yellow bill by the fourth year. Sometimes it may take longer.