Neighborhood Baldy

A few days ago I had to run into town on some holiday errands and encountered this.

 

One of our resident bald eagles.  The bird casually allowed me to snap photos and even reposition the car on the road.  As I departed the bird did too.  I wonder if he/she deliberately allowed me the convenience of observation and study.  Naw.  That would be too much Disney-like anthropomorphism. 

 

Thirty years ago these weren’t as common as they are nowadays.

 

On the south side of County D a short distance from my front door…

Fine Dining

click on image for a closer look

On the way to class this morning I spotted one of our resident bald eagles accompanied by three juveniles dining on a road-killed whitetail in a neighbor’s field.

The third juvenile had just taken to the air; look for it in the center of the photo (trees in the background).  

Bald eagles develop their distinctive white head, neck, tail feathers and yellow beak and eyes around five years of age. 

Want to read previous posts on the subject of bald eagles?  Use the handy Label feature to the left or click on this link. 

Big Bird

While out walking the dog I spied this perched high in a dead ash tree.

Turkey?  A turkey roosting at almost mid day?

The dang bird let us approach until immediately below it and I was convinced it was a wild turkey.  Until it stretched its wings and flapped-off.  At which point it was obviously a turkey vulture.

Trail Camera Bonus

While we were vacationing in Eastern Europe and interesting development was occurring here.  Something that was unexpected.  One of the trail cameras was patiently documenting the kill/discovery of a whitetail deer by a pair of coyotes.  It was nothing short pf a remarkable coincidence.  An unchoreographed sequence of photographs captured over five days.  I couldn't have staged it better if I tried. 

 

After we returned home I went out to fetch the SD cards on the trail camera trap line and I came across the remains of the deer laying within the field of view of a trail camera. The camera is circled in the image.

 

Examining the skeletal remains and judging from the size of the bones and the skull this appeared to be a yearling doe (born in spring 2022). Likely cause of death was predation by coyote.

 

Do I know that for sure?   Nope. Nevertheless, the photographic evidence is beyond circumstantial. 

 

What I do not know is if the deceased was crippled by a collision with a vehicle, weakened by winter and lack of browse (unlikely in farmland country) or otherwise compromised only to succumb to the whim of Ma Nature.

 

Nature can be a cruel mother. Yet that's how things work. Everything on the landscape is someone else's dinner.

 

These images document what unfolded.

 

Everyone eats whitetails....

 

Of hundreds of digital images here are a select number that capture what unfolded.

 

The event unfolded like this with a pair of coyotes lounging-about in the snow.  Then, over the course of about 20 minutes, they alternately feed-upon and drag a deer carcass into view.  What are the odds of this happening spontaneously?

 

For following morning the first to arrive on the scene are the crows, followed by additional avian predators.

 

 

Bald eagles - both adult and juvenile 

 

And, of course the coyotes returned

There were nocturnal visitations

 

More daylight visitors

 

Crows in a standoff with a juvenile bald eagle

And nocturnal

This alternated on and off...

 

 

 

Including a visitor from the arctic circle who winters here - The rough-legged hawk 

 

 

Curious deer and turkeys paid a call

And on the fifth day the batteries died

 

Almost 20 years of trail camera monitoring and I've never had something like this unfold.  I'm not one to anthropomorphize things but it's almost like these coyotes were doing me a solid favor.

 

Roadkill

This is the final slug of trail camera photos taken over the road killed whitetail that I dragged to this location.

Here's a juvenile and adult bald eagle...

And a couple of adult bald eagles.  It is thought that these birds mate for life; although they may switch it up with an alternate if unsuccessful at breeding.  A couple of weeks ago Jill took a photo of a couple of adults (these?) along with a juvenile perched in a cottonwood tree on the bank of Silver Creek...

Another photo of a juvenile and adult.  We've been witness to regular bald eagle sightings in the last few years.  A big improvement over no sightings around here twenty years ago.  My conclusion is there may be a nest located in the Brussels-Kolberg area or perhaps along the coast near-by...

Here's a juvenile coming-in for a landing.  In the trail camera world an action photo such as this is can be called a Money Shot...

Adult...

Two juveniles sparring over the scraps...

Another Money Shot - a classic image of an adult eagle...

Wile E. Coyote and the resident raccoons most always come sneaking-around after dark...

Last photo to be shared.  You can see that the resident scavengers picked the whitetail clean.  Nothing but skin and bones remain.  This is a great lesson demonstrating the circle of life.  

I'm going to editorialize a wee bit.  If you have a road killed deer in a ditch close to where you live please slow down give the critters a break.  Just last week there was a local news item about an adult eagle that was struck and killed by a motorist as it was scavenging a road killed deer.  The person who killed the bird never reported it.  That sucks.

 

 

Roadkill

The road killed whitetail has been reduced to skin and bones.  And not getting much attention by the local critters.

Here's another handful of photos captured by the trail camera on the 15th and 16th of March.

 

This is a juvenile bald eagle.  Not to be confused  with a rough-legged hawk this bird is not only larger than its arctic cousin - a field mark to aid in ID is the large, curved, yellow bill

 

 

Crow taking flight

 

 

 

Adult bald eagle.  Juvenile eagles do not develop the distinctive white head until 4 to 5 years of age

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                Adult and juvenile facing-it-off and getting into a fracas

Classic bald eagle pose

Stay tuned for more photos to follow...

Roadkill

Here's another handful of trail camera photos chronicling who eats roadkill around here.

These were taken after dark (using no flash infrared B&W mode) and daylight.

Photos begin with March 9 and end March 12...

A couple of nocturnal raccoon visitors

The resident crows get into a food fight

 

A bald eagle approaches, lands and checks things out.  Judging from the size I suspect it is an adult female

 

And Wile E. Coyote pays a call looking looking for a midnight snack.  The carcass to frozen to the ground and cannot be shifted

So he scent marks it

Stay-tuned for more photos.....