The Eagle

So I've been debating if I should start putting nice photos I take in my day to day, regular life, onto here. I've been torn because this blog has a theme of exploring places, and creepy things. However, I started this blog because I live cross country from my hometown, and I wanted a place to post my adventures for my family and friends. I feel like I've put myself in a box keeping one theme up. So I'm breaking it, and I'll just post what I want. The other reason is some of my pictures are pretty cool, and I know putting them on the internet gives people the chance to steal them. I went through so many scenarios in my head of how to avoid that. I could put a watermark, but then that could be cropped out. Then I could put it in the middle of the picture, but that would take away from the picture. I could take out the link so you can't click on it to make the photo bigger to save it yourself, but then you couldn't see the finer details of the photo. See, a lot of scenarios ran through my head. I came to the conclusion that if someone wants the photos so bad, they'll find a way to take it. So if I want to share these on my blog, I need to quit overthinking it all. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a photographer and only have a cannon point and shoot camera, but I do catch some interesting scenes, and a photographer trying to grow their portfolio could take them and edit them to look more clear and professional, then claim it's theirs. Since this is a tiny, unknown blog, no one would know. But it's time I stop being paranoid and overthinking everything. Just don't claim someone else's photos are yours when they're not - it's not cool. Go out and have your own adventures - it's way more fun that way!

Here's the eagle that lives close to me. When I take my dog on her walks to the beach, there's an eagle that has a nest up high on some power cable. I've seen the eagle around since I moved here, so all of these photos are from different days accumulated through the months. I actually haven't seen the eagle in a couple of months, and I thought it moved on for winter. Today though, I saw it sitting on its nest, so it must be back. I decided to share the best photos I've gotten of it.

Here's the first photo I'll share, just to introduce you to it. There's it's nest, it's pretty high up. 

This was when I was walking about halfway down the beach. It was perched on what looks like an old cable pole away from its normal nesting spot. I thought this was perfect though, since the flag is in the background.

Can you get more American than this?

Here's when I saw two of them. I'm no expert on eagles, but it seems like both mother and father are guarding the nest. I doubt it would be too males, or two females, since most animals are territorial. However I'm not sure. They seemed to be happy in each other's company though.

Another angle of them, except now one of them is looking at me. These guys seem extremely self-aware when I'm taking a picture.

I took this photo a few months ago so it's hard to remember for sure, however I'm pretty positive that this is the eagles baby. I remember seeing the little one taking off straight from the nest, and it almost looked like the parent was with it as it was learning to fly. Or maybe it was teaching it to hunt. I know it looks like a regular bird with it though, so take a look at the next photo. 

They both have a similar wingspan here. I know this photo is blurry, but I thought it showed a good depiction of them flying next to one another. It looks like parent and child to me.

So today I went to the beach, and I saw that the eagle is back. Now the black bird right next to it is a raven or a crow. For some reason, the black bird kept circling around the eagle. Maybe it was trying to eat the eagle's new egg, or maybe they're just unlikely friends, like the fox and the hound.

Another angle - it looks like it's trying to swoop in there and get something though. It did keep landing on the wires below it, then it would fly off and start circling it again. The eagle looked like it was standing on guard the whole time.

This photo above showed a good picture of the black bird and the eagle. I did some clarity to the photo, but didn't edit it too much. The lighting was already so good, and both we're in a nice, posing angle.

I really debated putting this last photo in since it's blurry, but I just love the way the black bird's wings are here. 

So this is the eagle that lives in my neighborhood. I've gotten some pretty nice documentation of its life, and every time I take its picture, it seems like it knows I'm taking its photo. Sometimes it will fly away annoyed when I take my camera out - but sometimes it will pose. If I take any new photos of it that are worth posting, I'll just edit this blog and put it here. I feel like we've gone through different seasons of this eagle's life. When the eagle isn't around, sometimes other birds will be sitting in its nest, like it's renting it out as a bird airbnb. That's funny too, because it's in the air. That's enough of my dad jokes. 

I will continue to upload some nice photos I've taken of the nature around me, that way I post more too anyways. I'm definitely not a professional photographer, but it's nice my family and friends are seeing the nature I experience seeing in my life.  If you know anything about eagle's, feel free to correct me on anything I guessed. I don't know anything about them, so I just guessed based on what I observed. I hope the eagle continues to do well, and is living a happy life up in its nest.