Thursday, January 21, 2010

Hudson River Eagle Watching at Homeschool Nature Class



Homeschool Nature Class today was about migratory birds, especially eagles. We first looked for them on the point where our Nature Center stands and out on the ice nearby, but had no luck until we were about to leave for our second site, when an eagle flew by. From there, we headed to the Echo Canoe Launch behind Croton Harmon train station, where we saw three more eagles: 1 adult and 2 immatures. I got a very distant photo of the adult eagle.



We also saw swans.



We headed back to the nature center, and were inside chatting when a local bird watcher and photographer stopped in to tell us that there was an eagle hanging out up in a tree near the park's main parking lot. We quickly headed over to take a look. There was an immature eagle perched within feet of the parking lot, looking out over the Hudson River. Out on the ice in the middle of the river were two more eagles- an adult and an immature.







Back at the Nature Center, we saw other, less exotic birds, too:



So seven eagles total, though I missed the flyby, so I only saw six. How strange it feels to write that sentence, when not too long ago, New York came perilously close to losing these beautiful birds altogether.

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