Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Or Triple Play....couldn't decided which title I like best.

We went to Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge as the weather was much better than we thought it was going to be today. We decided we need to see an Eagle at a reasonable distance to us, rather than far away. And we did! This is interesting as last visit Bill said he wanted to see an owl, and we did. So, we have to remember to put our order in on what we want to see when we arrive at Ridgefield next time. Bigfoot? Sure!

This one was up in a tree beside the road and this is the closest we have ever been to this beautiful big bird, the largest bird of prey (31" tall) at the Refuge and North America (I think...correct me if that's not right.) Then we saw one of the smallest (9" tall) birds of prey at the refuge, the American Kestrel, who was perched on a sign and we were able to get really close to this one before he flew off. What a cutie he is, too, although I'm sure he'd peck out my eyeballs if he was inclined. Then the Red-Tailed Hawk did a fly by and I snagged him, although it's not the best. Focusing and getting anything decent on a flying bird is just luck, for me.

It was actually fairly quiet at the Refuge, but we did see a lot of hawks, and we saw the eagles nest with the eagles there. I don't know if this one is one of the nesting eagles and flew over to join it's mate while we were watching the Kestrel, or if it's a different bird. In any event, on my Flickr page you can see the huge eagle nest, one of the eagles and barely the head of the second eagle, just above the edge of the nest. Also you can see more clearly the size of the little Kestrel as it sits a top the sign. A few other photos too...not too many.

All in all, a good trip to view the raptors today. Hope all is well in your encounters today. Catch ya later.