Joyce Pepin of Hersey Point sent in some great pictures of eagles. Juvenile eagles were sitting off of Hersey Point on Goose Rock, Saturday September 3. The juvenile eagles and the adults seem to have spent time around Goose Rock a lot this summer but never 3 at the same time. They often spent time in a pine tree, eating their fish. It is a problem for Joyce because their dog likes to find the half-eaten, smelly fish on the ground and roll in it! The pictures start out with 3 juvenile eagles, 2 on Goose Rock, one on a rock nearby, checking out the wakeboarder! At a distance great enough so we didn’t scare the eagles, we kayaked out to get closer pictures.
In the process of getting the kayak into the water, one flew off ….. and then there were 2. This got interesting as we don’t know if they were playing or fighting.
That one came in for the one on the rock. Maybe he liked that rock? Then they split up.
So the 3 of them were playing around, switching places, fighting for that little rock. The one with the whitest head, who started on the little rock, is now on Goose.
The one on the rock decides it’s time to vacate.
Last man standing. Hope you enjoyed our pictures. We are LOVING watching these eagles.
The eagles seen here are juveniles and are just hanging out, looking for fish and learning enough skill at fishing so that they can raise chicks in the future. Bald eagles don’t breed until they are 5 years old or more so these guys, without the white heads, are non-breeders. They will exert dominance over other birds with generally the older ones being dominant. The one with some white on the head is older than the others so it probably is going to be the dominant one although there always seem to be squabbles. The breeding pair that nested on Stamp Act wouldn’t allow these “kids” to be around their nest so that is probably why they have been hanging out where they did, at Hersey Point and Goose Rock. What a great show, what great pictures.