My Friend The Eagle

Never in my life have I seen so many eagles than on Campobello Island. And today I had another almost close encounter with my friend, the eagle. Due to his dark colour he is probably just in his second year, a youngster still, but full grown. Bald eagles are getting their white heads during their third year. Until then they can be mistaken for golden eagles – at first glance. I met my friend down at Herring Cove Beach. Actually I was just turning back to my car when I saw him approaching a tall spruce way out there atop of the rocks. He sat in the highest top. It was a beautiful day and he was searching for food. I could see that he was looking towards me where I stood on the sand bar besides the creek running out of Lake Glensevern. All of a sudden he jumped off his perch, spread his huge wings and came sailing straight towards me. Approx. 50 feet from me he swung away and started on a wide circle along the forest edge and back over the parking lot. While he came cruising again I had the NIKON up and the shutter was clicking and clicking and clicking. Then he circled and circled over and over again, maybe just 35-40ft. above the ground. While I was taking pictures of him I got mad about myself. WHY, just WHY did I leave the tele-lens  at home. I had only my standard 18 – 55mm mounted. Then I saw what I believe was the reason for him circling. From the shoreline rocks I noticed an otter emerge, clambering and jumping upwards until he reached the road and headed for the cover of the trees. Clearly, the eagle had seen the otter from his first vantage perch and decided to give it a try. It wasn’t me he had been interested in. After the otter was gone from view the eagle took a new seat in another spruce tree. No need for using energy when the food was gone. I crossed over to the parking lot and walked towards the tree where he was still sitting. He had a pretty good view across the area and his head was turning left and right. I stood there without any movement for at least 10 minutes looking up to him, but he wasn’t going to let me see another fly-by. Campobello is home to an abundance of bald eagles. We have enjoyed them many times with our visitors from several view points of our tours.