Aquila Rising

After eight days of family reunion happiness, I tried to think of a final family event that could capture the spirit of this week and of our family. My father and his family immigrated to the USA from a small town near Aquila, Italy. In Italian and Latin, Aquila means eagle and it is the national symbol of the US. . Hence, American Bald Eagles have always been a special thing in our family and we have been infatuated with them as long as I can remember. So I loaded up the entire family on the boat to see where eagles soar. And soar they did.

The selected image was that of the Papa Eagle with a large Northern Pike in his talons. He surprised me when he pulled up into a tree next to the shoreline while the boat was under 50 percent power at least a quarter mile from his nest and his eaglets. I struggled to get the camera in place while he re-gripped the fish and before he took flight again. I caught only a few images prior to the second leg of his flight.

I have been following this nesting pair for about a dozen years and this is the closest I have ever been to them. Normally I shoot with a 500mm lens but today, thankfully since I had no time to change my lens, I got by with the 200mm. I must give credit to my wife who took the helm of the 30-foot boat and, in heavy winds, mastered it like champ so that I could catch this blip.

The day got better as we saw one of his "children" take its first flight after having a large meal of Sushi ala Pike. If you have time, please scan through (by pressing to the right of the images) THESE four images in my blipfolio and, if you have time, please see the original post in large. The images of the young Eaglets in the Blipfolio were caught with the D800 (I had more time in my bag).

Thanks for the amazing kindness today. Tomorrow I resume the "originally scheduled" programming called LIFE.