Mike's Astro Photos » Birds

American Bald Eagle’s Nest

Mike Hankey — Sat, 15 May 2010 18:52:49 +0000

I came across this Bald Eagle’s nest while hunting for meteorites in Lancaster, PA.

Eagle's Nest - Lancaster PA

As you can see there are two young eagles in the nest along with a momma (i think) keeping watch.

Eagle Family

Here’s a close up of one of the parents. I few days prior I saw two adults, but when I took this picture there was only one adult at home.

American Bald Eagle

While I was watching and photographing from about 150 yards away, one of the baby eagles started to fly (or at least tried to).

Young Eagle Flying (sort of)

I captured about 100 pictures of this young eagle jumping all over its nest, trying its hardest to make flight. Best it could do was about a foot off the crest of the nest. I sequenced the frames and made a short time lapse video of this eagle learning to fly.

I came back to the nest about a week later and no one was home, so I guess the young ones figured it out.

Flock Of Geese

Mike Hankey — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 05:13:49 +0000

Here’s a flock of geese that flew near my house on December 20th, 2009. They were headed on a north western trajectory. If I were them I’d be headed south, but then again I heard it was 30 degrees in Miami yesterday, so who knows.

Flock of Geese - December 20th, 2009

Happy July 4th – A10 with eagle

Mike Hankey — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 16:48:48 +0000

A10 with eagle on July 4th 2009

About 7-10 A10s flew over my house a couple times in the late morning on July 4th, 2009. I heard and saw them earlier but didn’t have my camera handy. I figured they would fly back over when they were done so I get everything ready and was able to get pictures of them when they were flying back to the base. While I was reviewing my photos I found this one, with what looks to be an eagle flying with the A10. Click the picture to enlarge and see the detail on the plane and bird. Since its July 4th I’m going to go with — this is an American Eagle just because I’m a true romantic. If there’s anybody out there that can prove or disprove this claim please comment on the post. We have lots of hawks and big birds where I live and I’ve seen American Eagles around our neighborhood before, so who knows. Happy July 4th!