Our day started a lot like our first day looking for eagles. We saw a lot of geese. And I have nothing against geese as long as they aren’t being bullies, but I got restless. I asked Tiffany if we should try another spot. She advised patience. Now I don’t know if you have much experience with a Sully, but here are some adjectives that don’t describe them: subtle, tactful, docile, obedient, compliant, and/or patient. Still, I trust Tiffany, so agreed.
A few minutes and a quick photo shoot with a white goose later, a large and graceful bird soared down from the bluffs and landed in a tree directly across from us. Tiffany grabbed her binoculars to look—an eagle! It blended in so well with the tree that if we had not seen it land we wouldn’t know it was there. It stayed in that tree for maybe half an hour or 45 minutes. I took pictures with my iPhone and a Moment SuperTele 250mm lens, which at the distance of maybe ¼ mile, got me this tree:
When I zoomed in on that image I got a not great quality, but still very exciting picture of the eagle:
When it flew off, heading in the direction of Folsom Lake, we decided to follow. Not able to fly, we returned to our car and drove to the furthest end of Black Miner Bar State Park. We hiked down to the water’s edge, but had no eagle sightings.
We took another drive to the residential area with a trail that leads to the eagles nest. Again, no eagles, but we got a good look at their nest.
A woman walking the trail told us she thought the nest had been abandoned. Did that mean we should search for the new nest? Yes. Yes, it did . . .
. . . To be continued