Return Visitor?

Last year, around this time, we had an unusual visitor. Back then I’d seen him at least once before, but had not been in a position to take pictures. Then MLW and I happened across him while we were in the car together, and she was able to snap some pictures of him.

Now, a year later, give or take a couple of weeks, he’s back!

Full disclosure - I have no idea whether this eagle is the same one as before, nor do I know it’s gender identity. But the pictures here are taken approximately a mile and a half from the location we saw the eagle last year. That’s a mile and a half as the crow - or eagle - flies.

Being able to catch him on camera this time was just sort of dumb luck. I was in the car coming back towards home, but the road was empty and I wasn’t in a hurry to get anywhere. I first saw him standing in the field, and did get a couple of shots of that, but oddly enough, a brown and white bird doesn’t stand out well in contrast against a field full of dirt and snow...

As with last year, this was a brief encounter. As I mentioned, when I first saw him he was standing in the field. I was probably 50 yards away from him, but clearly that was too close - my presence agitated him and he decided to go.

Last year we didn’t see the eagle again much after the February sighting. It could be that it had moved on - that it was passing through our area on the way to somewhere else. Or it could be that I just didn’t get lucky again. Still, two years in a row, around the same time of the season, suggests that the first event wasn’t just a fluke. I’m hoping we start to see them more routinely.

These shots were all taken with an iPhone XS Max