World Bird Wednesday X

Sibling Rivalry

To double click is to see the detail.

The temperature dropped to a wicked eight degrees below zero last night. Most of the water is frozen thick and solid on the lakes and rivers except for a little open area on the Eagle's pond that is crowded with the wintering ducks, geese, and swans who compete for the fish there. High above in the bland gray overcast two of the young Bald Eagles that visit here daily engage in a high stakes game of aerial dogfighting. My untrained eye tells me one of the birds, colored in mottled white and brown tones, is an immature Bald Eagle somewhere between one and three years old and the other is reaching maturity as its head and tail are whitening into its adult plumage meaning it is three or four years old. Usually the game begins with one bird relaxing in a tree near the pond when the other comes cruising through the restricted air space. The resting bird takes to the sky to meet the intruder. Upward they circle jockeying for position until an advantage is gained and one bird closes on the other ripping at the unfortunates tail feathers. Consistently the older of the two wins these jousts and the both of them then retire alighting in the crowns of nearby trees to cool off. It reminds me exactly of how my well meaning older brother used to kick my butt in an effort to toughen me up for life in our no nonsense Detroit neighborhood. This is tough love at its essence.                   

     This weekend I was lucky enough to position myself between the sun and these warrior eagles and get a great light for individual close-ups. This winter is my first as a serious devote of bird photography and these marvels have stoked my enthusiasm day after day.


              
        
         


             Now its time for World Bird Wednesday X

This is the home of World Bird Wednesday. A place for bird photographers from around the world to gather and share their photographs and experiences as they pursue Natures most diverse and beautiful treasurers, the birds. The Blogosphere connects like minded people from around our planet like no other technology can do. World Bird Wednesday will be open for posting at 12 noon Tuesday EST North America through noon on Thursday.

You are invited to link your blog with other bird photographers in a weekly celebration of these most diverse and intriguing of Earth's residents, the BIRDS



                                                         

#1. Simply copy the above picture onto your W.B.W. blog entry. It contains a link for your readers to share in WBW. Or you can copy this link on to your blog page to share W.B.W. http://pineriverreview.blogspot.com/

#2. Come to The Pine River Review on Tuesday Noon EST through Thursday Noon and submit your blog entry with Linky.

#3. Check back in during the course of the next day and explore these excellent photoblogs!

The thumbnails below are links to our contributors blogs where you can view their beautiful posts. The idea of a meme is that you will visit each others blogs and perhaps leave a comment to encourage your compadres!

                   Please in your linky description give a clue to your location be it the U.K. or Bolivia.

                  

                       And hey, it's okay to link one of your older posts that you worked so hard on.

                                      Come on it's your turn!