Eagle Eyes, originally uploaded by DMarcumPhotography.
We were on the Kennedy Ledges trail by 9:30 (a bit later then I usually like to arrive but it's ok). It was a quiet day as far as birds go, but the sunny Winter day was so beautiful, I had other things to keep me completely entertained. Rob and I are also refining our tree ID skills, so we were able to concentrate more on that. Most of the trees over by the ledges include; Beech, White Oak, Red Oak, Tulip/Poplar, Cherry, Yellow Birch, and plenty of Hemlock, with some Black Oak, Red Maple, Bitternut Hickory, Ash (not sure which), Black Locust, and Sycamores.
Another thing keeping us busy on the hike were a bunch of great tracks everywhere in the crunchy snow. We saw deer, squirrel, white-footed mouse, fox, and coyote! We also found a dead white-footed mouse and later a dead mole - probably froze to death or starved : ( The mole was very cool to see it was pretty big, about the size of my hand! I will have to check my mammal guide for the exact species, I'm not to keen on breaking down small mammals yet...
After a nice long venture through and along beautiful rock formations, glistening hemlocks, and magically colored snow, we were making our way back to the trailhead. I was already satisfied even though we literally saw two birds but we did listen to a Titmouse singing for a while who decided to come right up and sing to us : )
This photo does not do the colorful glistening snow any justice...
Coyote Tracks
The ledges area had one last parting gift for us though as we were almost back. I spotted a Pileated Woodpecker sitting dead still and quiet on a big Tuliptree...it was just shining in the sun, I seriously thought it was fake for a second. As I motioned for Rob to come check it out, I attached my monster camera lens and eventually got a few pretty nice photos! I always love showing someone a Pileated Woodpecker for there first time because they are such a magnificent species!
Back to the car, I wanted to go drive by where the Peregrines nest (where I've been seeing them for the past few months) to see if I could spot one of them. Neither was to be found, so we turned around and headed South on Riverview road to make our way through the park. Next is when we were deivered a big time gift...
While driving along the river, I spotted an eagle soaring over and frantically pointed it out to Rob (I always get real excited, plus people usually don't believe me when I tell them that that's an eagle). I pulled off to the side of the road to watch. Just then a Red-tailed Hawk swooped at the Eagle! They both parted directions..the eagle was flying right toward me! Luckily my camera was still setup from taking the shots of the Pileated, so I grabbed it and got ready for my chance!! Amazingly, the eagle flew right at us, then landed on a Sycamore tree RIGHT NEXT TO THE ROAD!!!!! Check out these pictures that I got!!! I have been getting some lucky breaks lately!!! Such a surreal experience, that doesn't usually happen!!
I drew a small crowd of two other cars by this time. To make things even more exciting, the mate to the first bird (which I am calling the female) came by with a young juvenile! As Rob and I watched them both circle for a moment nearby, we were in awe. The female decided to come in and land 20ft. from her mate and let out some of those gull-sounding eagle screams that are hard to describe! I got some pictures of her screaming, but unfortunately there was a power line right through her that I couldn't see until I took my face away from the camera : ( Whatever, all in all I still came out with some great shots so I can't be too upset ; )
Some guy decided to pull up next to me and talk about it and then the eagles flew off...thanks guy. Haha, it's ok I'm glad he got to see and appreciate it.
Like I said, Thursdays are always amazing. We decided to celebrate with a couple fatty tacos from Moe's afterwords and made it to Forestry class. My awesome professor Dan Ross sure enjoyed the photos! I can't wait to see what is in store for tomorrow, I'm heading to Mogadore Reservoir at sunrise : )
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