I’ve been seeing tons of bluebirds this spring. Here’s one in Briones Regional Park:
If you’ve been reading this blog for a while you may know of my ongoing eagle quest. Regular sightings of bald eagles was one of my favorite things about living in Virginia, but bald eagles have only very recently returned to the Bay Area and they just don’t exist here in the numbers they do in Virginia and I have yet to see one, despite the fact I’ve gone specifically looking for them several times. When I was in Briones the other day, though, I was NOT looking for bald eagles. I’ve seen golden eagles there but hadn’t heard anything about balds there. As I was hiking along I saw a raptor far, far in the distance and instinctively snapped a photo of it, then instantly forgot all about it because I knew the picture was exposed terribly and it was too far away to be clear. When I was later processing my photos at home, though, I zoomed in on the bird and tried to correct the exposure somewhat and I think it was actually a bald eagle! If it is, it’s likely immature as the head seems to be a combination of white and brown. Bald eagles receive their full adult plumage, at which time their head turns completely white (or “bald”), in their fifth year. So I think this might be a fourth-year bald eagle. It’s hard to distinguish any of this in the small version of the photo so if you aren’t interested I’ve linked it to a larger version. (Click the photo to see the enlarged version.)
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