Fishing for Juveniles (and Adults, Too)
Friday, September 19, 2008 at 10:40AM There are at least a couple of juvenile bald eagles—and grown up eagles, too—hanging around down by the river where I sometimes take my daily walks. Last week, while walking with a friend, we saw one juvenile sitting on the river edge very close to the walkway on the bank. He was, I think, hoping to catch himself a fish, but he left when a small crowd gathered to watch. Fishing, you know, is not a spectator sport.
And on my way home later, I saw two or three juveniles—I think there were three, but I was driving and had to pay attention to the road, too—sitting out in the middle of the river on a sandbar. If I’d had my camera, I’d have stopped to take a photo for you, but I hadn’t yet retrieved it from oldest son.
Do you know what a juvenile bald eagle looks like? Here’s a very short (16 seconds) YouTube video of one eating a salmon.
It takes five years for a bald eagle to get its full adult markings, so they reach full adult size before they get their adult feathering. (If I were a bird nerd, I’d call it plumage.) The one in the video looks to be largish and the ones I saw certainly were. Adult size for an eagle is pretty big, at least as far as bird go—around three feet tall for the girls and a few inches shorter for the boys. Wing span? Six or seven feet, and here the girls excel as well. Eagle men, I guess, prefer big women.
A few years ago, I told a story of how the eagle got her fish. (I never did get around to telling the wedding story I mentioned in that post, but sadly, the marriage has already gone kaput, so I hope you didn’t hold your breath waiting to hear that one.)
