Hello 2024!
WOW!!! What a way to greet 2024 - incredible morning!! I parked at the Conway Grammar School and walked up Roaring Brook Road. My first goal was to get a landscape of the Boyden Farm at dawn…. As soon as I set up I heard a Great Horned Owl hooting! And then another, and then another!! Three distinct owls kept hooting to each other for the next 25 minutes! I never saw any of them but I honestly felt like I could have walked right over to one of them - the hoots were so clearly coming from a small clump of trees on the other side of the farm field - incredible! And then this beautiful dawn unfolded!
I then packed it up and kept on walking up Roaring Brook - bird song was finally everywhere - it was such a treat! The birds were generally out a little further than ideal - so I just kept walking and totally enjoying a spectacular morning - no wind at all and just under freezing temps - ideal for this time of the year. And then the sun really popped out and I took this next shot.
I walked quite a ways and just didn’t get any bird shots that I was happy with so I decided to walk slowly back to the car and to head home.
I still cannot believe what happened next! As I was on my way home (I was on Lee Rd at this point) I saw two enormous birds bent over in a limb at just about the top of a tree right next to the road! I thought… those can’t be eagles can they??? I drove past them in order to have the sun at my back and pulled over and parked on a dead end road that just happens to be right there (that is the kind of luck that is generally reserved for my outings with Lorraine! lol) I quietly got out of the car hoping that no one would drive by and flush the birds… I grabbed my camera and looked up into the tree and sure enough - two spectacular eagles in amazing sunlight! Are you kidding me? As quickly as I could (without looking in their direction) I crossed Lee Road and then turned slowly and quickly set up my tripod - wow!! What a dream!
I hope that you enjoy!
Within seconds they were doing some kind of a call and I heard a hawk up above.
And then the first one left heading in the direction of the hawk
Diving right into where the sky was the bluest! Again, wow!
And then the second one was getting ready to take off!
And then they were both out of my sight!
Absolutely incredible to see them that up close in a tree that was so much shorter than any tree I have ever seen eagles in before - wow! I will never forget this morning…
This will likely be my last post for quite some time - we are getting ready to head to New Zealand for a month! I am not doing any downloading while we are away - just enjoying and snapping away as much as possible. I hope to have lots and lots to share with you when we are back once I get semi-organized with all of my shots. Also, Lorraine is taking some of her art supplies so hopefully she will have time to paint while we are there.
We both wish everyone good health and peace in 2024!