Long before
people discovered plants such as…
lilies and
raspberries,
…and confined
them to the their gardens like I did with these…
they grew free and wonderful in the wild.
One of my
ambitions on this trip was to capture photos such as these of the wild ones in their
natural habitat.
So I spent some time walking about with two Nikon necklaces plus a Canon point-and-shoot in
my back pocket. I took a bit of ribbing
for this.
Nevertheless,
when I was on the foredeck of the David B
preparing to take a quick video of Christine lowering of the anchor,
I was ready when
we saw an eagle on shore.
He’d caught a
big dogfish shark and was getting ready to have it for dinner.
He seemed a little
uneasy about his situation and kept looking up in the trees.
Soon he hauled
his catch to a nearby stump.
That wasn’t good
enough so after taking a few bites he carried the shark, which must have
weighed half as much as he did, off to someplace up in the nearby cliffs.
After stashing
his meal he quickly came winging back.
Then we saw his
reason for acting edgy. A vulture came
out of the trees to steal the fish. The
two big birds went to battle in the air before our eyes.
I was able to
get in a few photographs of the action.
It was much more dramatic than the berries and flowers.
The eagle soon sent the vulture packing and
went back to finish his feast.
I never did get
a video of Christine lowering the anchor.
Later that
evening I did take some video of George the Dentist reeling in a dogfish of his
own. When he got it aboard he pinned it
down and carefully removed the hook from the small shark’s mouth with his tools
and released it. I’ve seen dogfish
caught before, but this was the first time I’d seen one get such gentle
treatment and such skilled hook removal.
I had a little fun with the making of the video. Hope George forgives me.
Love the video, Leenie! And what cool captures of the eagle and the vulture. Must have been an amazing sight. I try to plant as many native plants as I can and no surprise they love the garden and want to claim the whole thing as theirs. :)
ReplyDeleteGreat pictorial story of the Eagle!
ReplyDeleteI would have dropped my camera and missed it all.
Thank you for sharing so wild nature in your country. w(*ﾟoﾟ*)w !
ReplyDeleteI could enjoy your interesting video with funny music.
Funny video!
ReplyDeleteI found some wild raspberries the other day, it was quite a pleasure.
Your eagle sequence was amazing. They're such interesting birds to watch, I think they often get into conflict with other large birds about things they have caught.
You can go back again and again; we love going with you. The big birds are an incredible sight. Big fish, too, I suppose. Funny video.
ReplyDeleteFantastic shots of the eagle...and a lovely video. Fish heads...I'll be singing it all day.
ReplyDeleteWow! Who can say they've seen that...and eagle and a vulture fighting over a meal. I'm glad the eagle won...and glad you captured it for us!
ReplyDeleteWackadoodle song to go along with the catch/release of the little dogfish!! :)
ReplyDeleteAmazing photos of the raptors! Glad the eagle gets to keep his catch. Of course the Turkey vulture never stood a chance. You "necklaces" definitely paid off.