(Photo courtesy of Audubon Field Guide)
The first time was just outside my work on my lunch break Friday. I walk the Mishawaka River Walk frequently when the weather was nice and Friday was a beautiful Spring day. I got down to the bridge to Kamm Island and started watching 4 Tree Swallows immediately fighting, tumbling over each other in an aerial battle that reminded me of dog fights in WWI. Exciting to watch them chase each other and nearly miss obstacles. As I was gazing up in the sky, I saw a larger bird up much higher. Raising my binoculars, I immediately deduced it was one of 4 things: Bald Eagle, Turkey Vulture, Red-tailed Hawk, or Osprey, by size and behavior (soaring at a high altitude) alone.
The broad wings of the bird suggested possibly a hawk - the largest and by far most common buteo in the area being the Red-tailed Hawk. Buteos are the type of hawk you'd see demonstrating this behavior of soaring way up high. They are so common that when I play the game "What kind of hawk is that?" [you'd be surprised how many times I play this game, especially while driving] I automatically assume it's a Red-tail until proven otherwise. Their red-tails (their distinguish field mark) aren't pronounced from below, but rather above. This bird did have a white tail similar to the Red-tail, but didn't have nearly the amount of white underneath to justify even a second guess as a Red-tail. [On a side note, it's always a thrill to dismiss a bird as "not a red-tail" in the game. Not that I don't love them, because I do, but it's seriously like 90% of the time a Red-tail!]
(Photo Courtesy of Audubon Field Guide)
Going down the list, I quickly threw out Osprey: they are mostly white underneath with a bit of black and this bird was the opposite: mostly black with a little bit of white. Furthermore, Ospreys often hold their wings kinked - in an "M" shape - not a flat plane like buteos and eagles. This is obvious in flight, even on a high flying bird. Although uncommon, they are not unheard of in the area, with several nests in Elkhart, Mishawaka, and South Bend. They are one of the birds that were devastated by the use of DDT 50 years ago, but have made a come back since it was outlawed. They are a fun bird to watch (they are pretty exclusive to eating fish, so if you watch them long enough you're bound to see them dip into the water and come up with a fish). I'd been happy to see one, but nope that's not what I was seeing.
(Photo courtesy allaboutbirds.org)
I narrowed my binoculars in on the head of the bird and quickly dismissed it as a Turkey Vulture. Turkey Vultures have little red heads that are literally naked and this bird didn't look like that. But I had to dismiss Turkey Vultures because they are very common pretty much every where in the area. They are also extremely large - like this bird was - much larger than any hawks. They are superb flyers, soaring without flapping for very long periods of time. They also have considerable white under their wing, although it's more of a grayish white and doesn't always stand out, just gives a two tone appearance. It's worth noting that Turkey Vultures often hold their wing in a shallow "V" form, in place of the "M" of Osprey, which is definitely not what what I was seeing. The head that I saw was white which was the biggest field mark there was.
(Photo courtesy of Audubon Field Guide)
Let's review - very large bird - broad wings and soaring above the river - not the common Red-tailed Hawk or Turkey Vulture or the uncommon Osprey - mostly black wings with some streaky white in them - and a white head.. that leaves me with only one choice: a bald eagle. This bird was not an adult though because the adults are pure dark brown/black with zero white underneath. In case you don't know, eagles take about 5 years to get their adult plumage - which (uncoincidentally) is when they are at the breeding age. It had the mostly white head and tail though, which indicated it wasn't a real young eagle though. A bit of research clued me into it's full identity: a 4th year Bald Eagle. This particular year is often referred to as the "dirty bird" because it looks mostly like an adult, but messy. They sometimes have a dark eye strip and a dark tail band and still have some white under their wings. This picture is pretty close to what I saw (honestly, I couldn't see the eye strip, but it was pretty high up).
(Photo courtesy of natureandwildlifepics.com)
I was ecstatic to the see the eagle - a great sign of how with the right protections a species can come back from being nearly exterminated. This bird might have been migrating still, but there are Bald Eagles nesting in the area. I personally know of 4 - St Patrick's Park, Potato Creek, near the Elkhart Dam, and near the Goshen Dam. There was also an attempt near IUSB recently, but I haven't heard if a pair is trying again this year or not. If there was a nest there, that is just downstream of the Mishawaka River Walk which means I'd probably see them frequently, especially after the eggs hatch.
Little did I know, I'd be seeing a second eagle only days later. The second time was this evening as I was driving home from my parent's house in Mishawaka. As I pulled up near Elkhart Memorial High School on CR 12 in Elkhart I saw a large bird in the sky. I had to stop at a light so I was really studying it , going through the same mental checklist as above. My mind decided Bald Eagle very quickly - this was a full adult and is unmistakable. It was also considerably lower and so I saw more of the bird. I quickly pulled over and got my binoculars out to confirm. Yepp, definitely another eagle! I grabbed my phone to take a photo, the only camera I had on me. This is what I got:
(Photo Courtesy of a crappy cell phone camera)
What, you can't see the eagle? LOL yeah it was my cell phone, so it wasn't able to grab a great shot, no matter how low it was in the sky. It's that tiny little dot in the middle of the photo. You'll have to trust me on this one. Also, with my binoculars, I could definitely make out a fish in the talons. My guess is he/she got a fish out of the old quarry that's located by the high school and was taking it somewhere to eat - or possibly to feed it to a baby or mate in the downtown Elkhart nest. Very cool to see!
Now, to get outside more this week and see if my luck continues! ;-)
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