Bald Eagle Clutching Kittiwake

At one point on the Seward boat trip I noticed a Bald Eagle flying by. I whipped the camera into position and snapped a bunch of photos, barely realizing that the Eagle had something clutched in its talons. Later on that night (or maybe even the next week), as I reviewed the photos I had taken, I realized that the "something" in the Eagle's talons was a bird. Or what was left of a bird. Hard to say.

After some staring, and head scratching, I came to the highly speculative conclusion that the victim used to be a juvenile Black-legged Kittiwake. There were certainly enough of those around for the Eagle to choose from. Unfortunately, I did not see how this particular Kittiwake came to be in the possession of the Eagle, so we will all have to use our imagination.

Bald Eagle

After my stay in Virginia Beach, I headed up the coast for a stay in the little town of Chincoteague, and the chance to bird Chincoteague NWR. The days were gray and overcast, so I did not really get many memorable photographs, but at least it did not rain. And yes, there were some birds to be seen as well. For example, a pair of Bald Eagles.

As I was driving through the NWR on the road towards Tom's Cove and the beach, I noticed a Bald Eagle standing in the little bit of water that remained in the marsh. To me, this was a fairly odd place to see a Bald Eagle (not odd to see one at Chincoteague in general, but odd to see one standing in water). I watched for a bit, took the blurry picture below (sigh), and then watched as the bird flew up into a nearby stand of pine trees. That is when I noticed the second eagle (and took the second photo). They make a nice couple.