Having heard from Shirley and others that the Golden Eagle was
cooperative during the Thursday Eagle Count at Blackwater, Carolyn and I
drove down there this morning and were not disappointed.  The bird was
exactly where her note says it would be.  It was easy to view and very
cooperative.  At one point it dropped down and flew purposefully across the
road ahead of us and landed with a splash in the canal in the field to our
right.  The eagle's splash was only fractions of a second later than the
frantic take-off of the couple score of ducks that had been loafing on the
waters of the canal.  The eagle emerged to the canal bank without any prey,
and then soon lifted to the sky to soar beautifully and splendidly above us
before eventually flying off to the north.  Several Eagle fanciers who were
also serious photographers were thrilled with the chance for "in flight"
photos, and also were confident that the bird would soon return to the perch
in its "favorite" roosting tree.

	Though far less thrilling than the Golden Eagle flight, we also
noticed that some of the White Pelicans had returned to the Blackwater
River.  Six were resting out on the river where they could be readily seen
from the vicinity of pool 3c on the wildlife drive, in the company of
several dozen Tundra Swan.  

	Near the entrance to the wildlife drive, but along Key Wallace Drive
where some of the burning has been recently done there were four Great
Egrets.  These we found through the help of a tip from Levin Willey who was
doing a waterfowl census over there this morning.	

Les Roslund
Talbot County
Easton MD 21601

-----Original Message-----
From: S.J. Bailey [mailto:[log in to unmask]] 
Sent: Saturday, January 12, 2008 1:14 PM
To: Les Roslund
Subject: Blkwater nwf


Hello everyone,
 
On thursday January 10th,  I participated in the annual winter eagle count
at Blackwater.  We had 27 volunteers and 7 staff members that counted  145
eagles in the morning count and 130 in the evening roosting count.  There
were several goldens sighted, but only one in the count area at the right
time.  The morning count is 10:00 to 10:30 am  and the roost count is 4:00
to 5:30 pm.  The same areas are counted each year with sometimes the same
people.  It was a wonderful day, weather wise, and the downpour did not
start until 5:25 pm.
 
FYI....there is an adult golden eagle, that some think is a female because
of her size, that is quite often, perhaps daily, sitting in a tree, on the
left, at the end of the drive where is exits onto rte 335.  I saw it a three
different times on the thursday count.  Not far from it, also sitting in a
tree,  was an immature Bald Eagle that was very dark all over, quite
different than most people, or at least me, are used to and it was a great
comparison since they were there at the same time.  Other, more experienced
birders, agreed with me on it being an immature Bald Eagle.
 
Have fun birding!!!
 
Shirley
 
 

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