Right.
So you know that our neighbors are perfect, our community is nestled in the woods on a lake and everything surrounding us used to be part of Camp Glenkirk. If you know me and understand how much I love the movie Moonrise Kingdom you'll understand how insanely perfect this place really is for me and how pretty soon I'm going to be going full on LARP in a coonskin hat and a yellow suitcase. Community aside, our home is perfect (or getting there) Meatwad is a happier bunny with so much more room to hop around in (today he learned how to go upstairs and now he thinks he's the ruler of all the land) and in general we are getting used to having way more space than the condo gave us. But have I told you yet about the family of bald eagles that live just across the lake?
Today started out as another grey, February day just like the past several ones we've had. A bit chilly and very humid from the rain we got last night. I decided to continue my recent tradition of actually getting out of the house and getting a little bit of exercise and figured I'd bring the ol' Nikon along in case I spotted anything interesting. I hiked along the trails behind the pool, to the eagle overlook, down to the water (where it was very chilly) and back up to the house. I finally spotted the eagles nest way across the water on the other side of the swampy area of the lake. I couldn't get a very good picture from where I was so I headed back and came across a little family of white tail deer watching me from the trees. I returned home and changed pants, since at one point I thought it was a good idea to sit on a soggy, decomposing log and thus covered my backside in green muck. I then trudged back out into nature with my telephoto lens to see if I could capture any of the majestic beauty of the bald eagle.
I was worried that I would get too close and bother these amazing creatures but as it turns out, the closest point from the trails in our neighborhood is still a good 300/350 yards across the lake from the nest. I'm horrible at depth perception and distance so you'll have to forgive my shotty interpretation of how far away I really was. But I sat there on a cold, wet rock for what seemed like an hour before I spotted a large bird flying towards the nest. It wasn't until I came back home and reviewed the photos that I realized the other eagle was inside the nest the whole time! It appeared she was doing a little home improvement, moving sticks to and fro and I know I would dread someone hanging around my house while I was doing spring cleaning so I snapped a few photos before heading back. Here are the ones that made the cut, enjoy!
Pretty amazing, huh? To have one of these beautiful, majestic, endangered species right in my backyard. I think I'll have to invest in even better lens so I can get some great close ups. These are all terrible quality since I was zoomed in so much, so don't hate on me too much!
