A good morning for birds

[redbird]

I was up early (because of the cat), showered, and heading out to the gym and a doctor's appointment. cattitude was walking with me, just to walk.

We saw a great blue heron and two egrets on the salt marsh, with a third egret perched in a tree. Also the usual coterie of ducks. I was most of the way through the park when I realized I had left some essential paperwork home, so we headed back, by a different path.

Then we spotted an eagle. A moment later, there were two eagles circling, then three. We stood and watched them for a nice long time, until one flew off to the south and the other two spiraled back north.

Some of you may consider this pedestrian, but I live in New York City and had never seen three bald eagles at the same time before.

The gym itself went okay: I upped weights on a couple of machines, didn't do well on the crunches, and had to stop with enough undone that I could go back tomorrow and have a fine workout without repeating any weight work from today.


Cardio, 26 minutes, top heart rate 153

Calf machine, 35 pounds, 3 sets of 12
Bench press, 60 pounds, 2 sets of 10; 55 pounds, 9
Seated leg curl, 90 pounds, 3 sets of 10
Triceps pulldown, 40 pounds, 3 sets of 15

Crunches, 2 sets of 20, then 12 (in the third set my form was off and I wasn't using the right muscles, so I stopped)
Back arches, 2 sets of 16

Stretches

Leg press, 180 pounds, 2 sets of 13

Comments

[holyoutlaw.livejournal.com]

Actually, the sightings sound wonderful. I bet very few people have seen three bald eagles at once. Thank you for sharing.

eagles

[pir-anha.livejournal.com]

actually, even though bald eagles are quite common out here, i delight in every one i see. they're just cool, no matter how many of them i have seen already. and i think it's awesome that you saw 3 of them in NYC!

[skylarker.livejournal.com]

Egrets and Eagles in New York! I'd never have thunk it. The only time I've seen Eagles in the wild was when I visited Juneau, Ak.

[redbird]

Egrets are almost routine, for those of us who live near enough to the shore (Hudson River in my case, but also Gateway National Seashore). The eagles are year 2 of a five-year project to reintroduce bald eagles to New York, by transplanting third eaglets from nests in the midwest. (Apparently it is rare for a pair of bald eagles to raise two fledglings successfully, and almost unheard-of for them to raise 3.)

[skylarker.livejournal.com]

When you said New York I was thinking of the city. Somehow I don't imagine anyone introducing eaglets to the big city. Reintroducing them to the state sounds like a good project, though. Are the third eaglets raised by humans until old enough to fend for themselves?

[redbird]

I did mean the city. I live in Manhattan.

The eaglets are being fed by humans, using a set-up modified from a falconry-style hacking box, so the birds won't become tame or associate humans with food.

This project is a follow-on to a successful reintroduction in downtown Washington, D.C.

[skylarker.livejournal.com]

I would think the birds would do better in the wild than in the big cities. Thinking only of respiratory issues and smog. Could this in fact be an insidious plot against the pigeons?

[treadpath.livejournal.com]

The only thing I find at all pedestrian about your sightings is that you were walking at the time. ;)

Cool sightings, sharp eyes!