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saw an Eagle (not the Philly kind) yesterday out on the river

it swooped down, grabbed a fish out of the water, and flew off!! Kind of neat seeing it in real time, not on film etc. You could see the bird watching, watching, and finally there it goes, right down, got the fish and flew away. Glad I wasnt the fish.
W here was this?
 
Not in the same league, but my daughter and I were leaving a game last season exiting lot 22 up Fox Hollow Rd. We could clearly see a snake crossing the road in front of us. Out of nowhere, a hawk swooped down, snatched it and flew off right in front of us.
 
Worked on the Allegheny at Tionesta for 30 years. Fortunate to see often! I average two miles on the bike trail that parallels Oil Creek from Titusville to Petroleum Center four times/week.. Enough mature growth between the trail and creek, anything in the air would be difficult to see until leaves are off. However, there is a power line near mile post 1 South that crosses it. Last August, just when I got there, husband and wife flying south above the creek. I don't have a lot of luck on it. One of my children, home from Boston last year, sees a bear. Sent me the video and I keep it on my phone to scare the flat landers! lol
 
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Worked on the Allegheny at Tionesta for 30 years. Fortunate to see often! I average two miles on the bike trail that parallels Oil Creek from Titusville to Petroleum Center four times/week.. Enough mature growth between the trail and creek, anything in the air would be difficult to see until leaves are off. However, there is a power line near mile post 1 South that crosses it. Last August, just when I got there, husband and wife flying south above the creek. I don't have a lot of luck on it. One of my children, home from Boston last year, sees a bear. Sent me the video and I keep it on my phone to scare the flat landers! lol
I routinely see them on the bike trail between Franklin and Oil City on the Allegheny. Saw a nice collection of common mergansers on the river this weekend down towards Emlenton - first I've seen of migratory waterfowl this fall.
 
it swooped down, grabbed a fish out of the water, and flew off!! Kind of neat seeing it in real time, not on film etc. You could see the bird watching, watching, and finally there it goes, right down, got the fish and flew away. Glad I wasnt the fish.
The PA Game commission's Bald Eagle reintroduction plan has definitely been a success. The Eagles were mostly nesting in the Pine Creek areas of North Central PA in our area about 20 years ago. Now they are just about everywhere there is good fishing opportunities, which includes several nests, in or near Williamsport along the Susquehanna River.

I was talking to a trout fisherman a few years back at the Marsh Hill Bridge over Lycoming Creek in Lycoming County. He told me a story about someone having a stringer, with several trout on it, next to the bridge and a Bald eagle came in and flew away with the stringer and the trout.
 
I routinely see them on the bike trail between Franklin and Oil City on the Allegheny. Saw a nice collection of common mergansers on the river this weekend down towards Emlenton - first I've seen of migratory waterfowl this fall.
There are couple of large flat rocks at the power line that are exposed when the creek is down. Often have ducks sunning on them! Been so dry, think its been several weeks since below the flow!
 
There are couple of large flat rocks at the power line that are exposed when the creek is down. Often have ducks sunning on them! Been so dry, think its been several weeks since below the flow!
River definitely seemed low this weekend from when I was last up there a month or two ago.

Earlier this year - April or May, so way past the typical northern migratory season - got lucky to see a juvenile common loon milling around in the channel close to the trail a mile or two south of Franklin. Even luckier to hear it call a couple times, loud and clear. I've seen them on a few lakes around western PA in November/December and February/March, but that was my first time seeing one on the much shallower river.
 
River definitely seemed low this weekend from when I was last up there a month or two ago.

Earlier this year - April or May, so way past the typical northern migratory season - got lucky to see a juvenile common loon milling around in the channel close to the trail a mile or two south of Franklin. Even luckier to hear it call a couple times, loud and clear. I've seen them on a few lakes around western PA in November/December and February/March, but that was my first time seeing one on the much shallower river.
We took our annual trip to Benezette Saturday. The Susquehanna and Sinnamahoning Creek between Renovo and Driftwood is practical dry. . At places it's just tricking between the rocks. You could walk across and not get your feet wet.
 
A couple of years ago while tubing the upper Delaware there was a group of bald eagles that took turns diving for fish within 50 feet of us tubers. Amazing, and they were very good at catching large fish and flying away without any trouble.
 
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Played golf several years ago at Riverwinds, a Ron Jaworski course across the Delaware from the Philly airport. On a par five I found a dead, 17" fish in the middle of the fairway. The river was a quarter mile away. One of my playing partners later pointed out the eagle's nest in a tree on the river near the 11th tee box. Strange to think of bald eagles that close to Philly International. Later that year I would see the eagle flying over the river and course.
 
In the State College area I have seen bald eagles up at the Foster Sayers dam along Route 150 as well as in the Lewistown Narrows.

It never gets old seeing them. Very easy to identify - white-black-white. Plus they are huge - twice the size of a turkey vulture.
 
Birds of prey are awesome.
Far_Side_Birds_of_Prey.jpg
 
it swooped down, grabbed a fish out of the water, and flew off!! Kind of neat seeing it in real time, not on film etc. You could see the bird watching, watching, and finally there it goes, right down, got the fish and flew away. Glad I wasnt the fish.
Unsolicited advice....keep the trouser trout in your pants.
Have to whizz, squat..duck & cover
 
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In Alaska, the eagles are like pigeons - they’re everywhere. As our ship was leaving Juneau, there were dozens sitting and waiting. As the ship stirred up the water as we left, the eagles swooped in an snatched the fish as they floated to the top of the water. Lazy but effective.
I remember seeing this video last year...
 
Grew up on the Susquehanna River in Lancaster county skiing, fishing, duck hunting and spending time on the island cabin. Eagle sightings were very rare until about 15 to 20 years ago. Gradually, their numbers have increased substantially over the years to the point we now see them daily when smallie fishing. Many times they are just sitting on branches or rock formations waiting for a fish. Not uncommon to see both mature and immature birds. Often see osprey and eagle mixing it up in air battles. One thing the eagles do like are seagulls. They catch and eat them like candy, often times while sitting on top of our duck blind leaving one grissley mess. They've lost their fear of man and now nest on the islands, sometimes immediately above some of the island cabins. Really cool to see them. Never gets old. Surprisingly, beavers are now quite common and we've even seen a couple of river otters the last couple of years. I expect the otters are a result of them being reintroduced by the Penna. Fish and Game Association.
 
I am so blessed I see them on an almost daily basis. In the early spring, they sit on the ice chunks and eat fish that got frozen into the ice. Often they have blood all over them. I've seen them catch squirrels and pigeons too. The pigeon was nasty: it had a band and I am told it was a lost carrier. It was walking around my back yard when I caught a glimpse of the eagle nail the back of its neck with his talon as it finished its dive. Poof, feathers everywhere and a limp neck pigeon plus a very smug looking eagle.

This time of year, the birds are flocking on the lake. I actually just saw a blue heron eyeing a drone that was flying around (I've got a neighbor that does drone videos as a side hustle).

The best ever was three of them flying over in a formation (two males and a female) last January.

Always an awesome sight.
 
I was the foreman at the Tio hatchery and the Great Blue(s) did heavy damage. Eventually roofed all the raceways with netting on the sides. Netting was just a miserable inconvenience and snow and ice pretty much destroyed it, so just left them up, and the problem returned. Dealt with it another way!
 
I have seen very few bald eagles in my lifetime. However. I saw a juvenile last week in Bedford County, one in Fulton County along the turnpike Saturday and one in Harrisburg a few hours later.
 
Eagles have returned to southern Maine in the last few years. They have been moving south for some time now and as they do, the black back gulls are disappearing. Most of us consider that a good thing since the gulls were relentless predators of ducklings.
 
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At least the guy who shot at one harassing a picnic a few months back and stupidly told the board wasn’t there to panic and shoot at it.
 
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There are quite a few of them near the Lehigh in the Allentown area.
Wow, I have never seen one. I live about 100 yards from the Lehigh, though I am up a steep hill and it's obscured by trees. I will have to keep a closer eye out. Now, if they would just help to thin the deer herd.
 
it swooped down, grabbed a fish out of the water, and flew off!! Kind of neat seeing it in real time, not on film etc. You could see the bird watching, watching, and finally there it goes, right down, got the fish and flew away. Glad I wasnt the fish.

Had a similar experience years ago in Atlantis in the Bahama's. There's an area between the beach and the towers where there is a lagoon. It was roped off so you could not swim there nor would you want to. In that lagoon was a 12-13 foot hammerhead shark just swimming by itself. You see on tv and in movies where the dorsal fin is just gliding along the water for effect, when you're standing there and you see it live and in person, the hair on the back of your neck stands straight up.
 
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Wow, I have never seen one. I live about 100 yards from the Lehigh, though I am up a steep hill and it's obscured by trees. I will have to keep a closer eye out. Now, if they would just help to thin the deer herd.

I don't know where you live but I know of at lease 5 nesting pairs around the Valley. I kayak the Lehigh mostly below Walnutport. Almost every time I'm on the river I see at least one and most of the time several. I don't want to be too specific but there is a nesting pair down river from there.
 
I don't know where you live but I know of at lease 5 nesting pairs around the Valley. I kayak the Lehigh mostly below Walnutport. Almost every time I'm on the river I see at least one and most of the time several. I don't want to be too specific but there is a nesting pair down river from there.
Thanks. I am farther down river in Palmer Township. If you know where the chain dam is, I am directly up the hill from that. If you kayak, you probably avoid the chain dam, though. Too dangerous.
 
Definitly a more common site. I've seen them along Spring Creek,at Danville and Tylersville just to name a few. They actually have electric signs in Maine, warning motorists about eagles feeding on dead deer on I - 95.
 
Definitly a more common site. I've seen them along Spring Creek,at Danville and Tylersville just to name a few. They actually have electric signs in Maine, warning motorists about eagles feeding on dead deer on I - 95.

There's a nesting pair at Fisherman's Paradise and another nesting pair at the other end of Spring Creek Canyon (Benner Springs). Neat to see and hear!
 
In Alaska, the eagles are like pigeons - they’re everywhere. As our ship was leaving Juneau, there were dozens sitting and waiting. As the ship stirred up the water as we left, the eagles swooped in an snatched the fish as they floated to the top of the water. Lazy but effective.

True. Saw a bunch picking over a dumpster in Alaska. Not a dignified look for such majestic birds.
 
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