Bluewater Beach Eagle

by Sylvie Wagner
(Goderich, Ontario, Canada)

This morning, Saturday March 12th at about 9:30 am, I looked out our living room window as a beautiful mature Bald Eagle soared toward and landed in the trees.

Our home is just south of Goderich in a small community of homes and cottages called Bluewater Beach.

The house is situated on the edge of a large ravine facing south and tall trees grow from the creek's edge and banks with farm fields just beyond the strip of forest on the far side.

Our windows are luxuriously large with the view revealing a glimpse of Lake Huron as one looks to the right and it was from that direction that this magnificent bird glided toward the tree tops and landed with freshly caught prey in its talons.

As he (or she since I don't know the species well) was tearing strips of flesh and feeding, a half dozen crows flew to nearby branches.

They quietly waited until bits of food fell and efficiently dropped to the ground to scoop them up.

The Eagle took no notice and quietly, efficiently dispatched his meal.

Due to the distance and the branches I was looking through with binoculars, I could not determine what the prey was, though it was large enough to be a rabbit or a squirrel which are of course plentiful in the area.

The vibrant white of the head of the bird contrasting with the yellow-orange of the beak and eyes was quite beautiful.

We had a day long storm yesterday which plastered the trees with heavy wet snow and the whole scene of picture perfect trees and beautiful wild birds was lovely.

Very soon, the Bald Eagle looked to the south across the field and elegantly launched himself into flight from the tree. With a few relaxed flaps of his magnificent wings, he was soon half way across the field and soon out of sight.

I have never seen a Bald Eagle in our area and we were so happy to have this honor.

Thank you so much for sending this report of your Eagle sighting, what a wonderful event to witness!