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Posted By:
Hal Brown
Date Posted:
Nov 26, 2006
Description:
On the way back to the airport, something caught my eye. A bird, was my first thought, but then I saw that it was twisting and falling, and I thought, Birds don't spin. And then I saw that it was two birds together. They fell spinning into my view at about 1000 feet AGL and continued down to about 200 feet, where they separated, and then with their wings spread I could see the white patches. Eagles! And I thought of Walt Whitman's poem:
The Dalliance of the Eagles
Skirting the river road, (my forenoon walk, my rest,)
Skyward in air a sudden muffled sound, the dalliance of the eagles,
The rushing amorous contact high in space together,
The clinching interlocking claws, a living, fierce, gyrating wheel,
Four beating wings, two beaks, a swirling mass tight grappling,
In tumbling turning clustering loops, straight downward falling,
Till o’er the river pois’d, the twain yet one, a moment’s lull,
A motionless still balance in the air, then parting, talons loosing,
Upward again on slow-firm pinions slanting, their separate diverse flight,
She hers, he his, pursuing.
Whitman thought they were mating, but it was probably two males fighting. No matter. It was quite a thrill to see it happening. There was no time to reach for the camera--but they looked very much like this drawing. (http://www.condellceramics.com/condellaccents/images/Fightin
g%20Eagles.gif)
Date Taken:
Nov 26, 2006
Place Taken:
James River, VA
Owner:
Don Maxwell
File Name:
Fighting_Eagles.jpg - Photo HTML
Full size - <img src="/show.php?splash=SZVOP0000h">
Medium - <img src="/show.php?splash=SZVOP0000m">
Thumbnail - <img src="/show.php?splash=SZVOP0000s">
Category:
23, Max Pix
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Click on photo to view the original size. |
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Read what others had to say:
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Dan Nickens - Nov 27,2006
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Good spot, Don. I'll bet there aren't many bird watchers that have seen that scene.
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Don Maxwell - Nov 27,2006
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It happened quickly, Dan. They were falling fast, making about one turn a second, with their wings about half spread--or at least that's how I remember it. I called out something on the intercom when I realized it was two birds locked together, but by that time they were below the nose of the airplane on my side, so Carol missed seeing them. It was one of those startling, ineffable experiences that you have only by luck.
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Kenneth Leonard - Nov 27,2006
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Don, we took my in-laws on a tour boat excursion a couple of years ago just North of Tampa and we went to an Eagle nesting area and watched this for over an hour. It was as you described it and I never got tired of watching them tumble. I don't care if they were fighting, I think they were having fun with thier game of 'chicken'.
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Don Maxwell - Nov 27,2006
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You were lucky, Ken! I see eagles on the wing almost every time I fly along the lower James--nowadays--and sometimes one will let me try to share a thermal. But I'd never seen that maneuver before.
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Frank A. Carr - Nov 29,2006
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Several observations Don,<br />a. Very good post, even without the usual sharp digital pix<br />b. Mating in free fall down to 200 AGL doesn't sound like fun to me<br />c. I think that some of Dan is rubbing off onto some of Don<br />
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