Watching a young eagle begin to navigate the world is fascinating. Accidents will happen.
Perched on the sign indicating the 12th hole of a mini-golf course, the immature bald eagle looked ridiculous. It teetered back and forth with each gust of wind and flapped its huge wings to avoid falling to the ground.
This is not the picture one normally has of this majestic raptor but as with all species there is a youthful learning curve. Maturity doesn’t come easily and more often than not has some embarrassing moments.
The baby eagle, perhaps one could call it a toddler in the avian world, had not yet mastered all the intricacies of flying. Soaring was not one of its skills, nor was graceful landing. But it did put on a pretty good show.
Each morning it stood in the eagle’s nest high atop a majestic white pine and flapped it’s wings warming up for a unpredictable foray into the world of flight.
After perhaps establishing the direction of the wind, the eagle offspring would leap in the air and begin thrashing madly to get some lift. The early flights were all down-hill so to speak. For a few days each short spell airborne was concluded with a noisy crash-landing on the lower branches of a spruce tree. Sometimes the branch would bend almost double threatening to send the waffling eagle into a downward spiral to the ground below. Once the bird did fall off a branch and spent an hour or two on the ground below trying to figure out how to get back to its home some hundred feet in the air.
The Eagle Gets the Hang of Flying
As time passed the young eagle managed to stay airborne for longer periods of time. That is how the novice aviator got stranded on the mini golf course maybe half a mile from home. Because it couldn’t take off at will the bird let the mini-golfers get quite close. There was no danger of getting too close because the fierce beak and huge claws were clear warnings that none could ignore.
Nobody saw the eagle leave the perch on the golf course and return home but the next day it was spied on the post of the beach volleyball court. Then it was seen preening itself on a huge driftwood stump. Thereafter the fully-grown youngster was only to be seen on the top branches of the highest pines and soaring majestically in the air. While it still was wearing its youthful bland plumage, the white feathers on the head would appear later, it had achieved a good measure of majesty and almost equaled its parents in flying skills.
Bald Eagle Families: The best place to see them
Bald eagles nest in the same place year after year so to be sure to see the new family in the summer and watch the parents hunt and protect and feed their offspring, try to visit places with a record of resident families.
There are many spots for viewing eagles on Prince Edward Island Canada. Seal Cove Campground in Murray Harbor North is one of the best. There are always eagles there.
Alan McNairn - I am an inveterate traveler with a family. Thus I have to divide my time as a tourist between pursuing what I studied as a career in art ...
