a golden eagle?

Yes, we think we saw a Golden eagle on the Braden River today! 

This blip is truly a collaborative effort between my husband Steve and myself. Steve spotted this unusual visitor a few days ago. I asked Steve to tell me more about the Golden Eagle and this is what he said:

"Wikipedia states that there are no Golden Eagles in the eastern or southeastern United States, but birders have been reporting sightings from Maine to Florida for the last several years. Two years ago, Jeff Palmer, the videographer who filmed and starred in the PBS special "My Life as a Turkey" (http://tinyurl.com/ld88tsr) was visiting the Lucas Boatworks Tiki Hut and stunned me by saying he had been taking birders to see a Golden Eagle nest about 8 miles from us. He explained at the time that their foraging range probably included our area so we've been keeping an eye out for them since then. Three days ago Dave Lucas called me at home to say he was watching one from his dock and its sheer size made the identification easy. The Black Vultures are around here in large numbers for the season and two days ago I saw two large birds on shore (I was traveling in the boat to Lucas Boatworks). As I got closer they took off and it was a Black Vulture and a Golden Eagle. The Golden Eagle was right next to the vulture so I could judge their relative sizes with accuracy and the eagle was simply huge. No doubt about it at all - Golden Eagle. Since then we've seen a pair of them multiple times every day. One is considerably larger than the other. I haven't seen the larger one up close but the smaller one has white markings and is probably a juvenile."

Yesterday when we went out by boat we could see an eagle flying between the trees. I asked Steve to take me closer  in the boat so I could try and get a photo with my longest lens (40-150 mm). Today Steve brought my old camera, a Sony with a maximun focal length of 800mm and 30x optical zoom. Maybe we'll see an even closer photo. 

It is pretty exciting as far as I am concerned! About a year an 1/2 ago we saw a bald Eagle from our dock, and I got a few photos with he long reach of that Sony. The Golden Eagles are not common here, but I think our location on the river must be a draw for them. 

I am now officially caught up if you don't count today. We are having dinner guests tonight but I will be back to visit your journals shortly. xo enjoy your day . . .