What a great day! I happened to look out the window this morning in time to see a adult bald eagle being mobbed by several crows. It landed after a while in a tree along the driveway. I watched it through the scope for a good ten minutes before it dropped down into the pasture, then up onto the fence, then down onto an opossum by the tree line. (I was terrified at first the prey was my barn cat!) After eating a while the eagle dragged the carcass with its beak away from the trees toward the driveway. I watched it for about 45 minutes in brilliant morning sunshine.

After the eagle got spooked by a car, the turkey vultures who were waiting nearby began working on the carcass only to be shooed away by a local male redtail. The male was then shooed away by the female who, with the carcass in her left talons, dragged it back into the treeline in a vigorous step-drag-step-drag motion.  After the female had her fill the male was allowed to eat again. All the while the TVs would close in slowly only to be shooed away by the redtails. Fascinating! 

Over the past 11 years I have seen eagles here ocassionally, usually around Thanksgiving, but this fall I have seen an eagle fly over our pastures four or five times, always a full adult. I'm wondering (and hoping) if it may be scouting territory along the Western Run. I will definitely scan the trees along Western Run for signs of previous eagle nests or building in Feb-Mar. Are any nests documented out this way?

Katharine Patterson
Butler, MD