The Golden Eagle of Kalvträsk

Another day has now been spent in the Golden Eagle hide here in Kalvträsk. And today I had be privilege to have another photographer by my side, Daniel from Umeå. It is always nice to have company when you are sitting in a hide for 12 hours.

The morning brought cloud and a good activity among the smaller birds and I will start to work with those pictures as soon as I get home. The feeling is that I’ll have good photos of Great Spotted Woodpecker, Eurasian Jay and Great Tit, but the Marsh Tit is the hard nut to crack because they are so quick the few times they show up each day.

The Golden Eagle did appear on site today and this time it was the resident couple. The photo from yesterday is of the male from this couple. The first one to appear was the female and she landed in their favorite tree, but it didn´t take to long before she flew further into the wood. Still she was clearly visible, but she was a better model when she was at the first tree. She sat there for some time before the male came and went. I managed to take a series of photos when he took off.

This is a decent photo, but it’s a little too much reflection from the snow in the background for my taste. Still it’s a nice photo.

The male was gone for a couple of minutes before he appeared once more and this time landed in the same tree as the female. Then a wait began as both Golden Eagles sat there grooming and waiting. They seemed alerted about the surroundings and we suspect that there is another Eagle nearby. The suspect is an old White-tailed Eagle that has been seen in the area the last week. The wait ended when the female flew away with the male following just behind.

The clock kept ticking and soon the light began to fade. Now we felt that it might be better if no Eagle appeared at the bait so that they’ll be hungry tomorrow morning.

Did the Eagles listen to us?

Of course not!

Lucky for me, because otherwise I wouldn’t have taken this picture! It is the male that came back late to feed for 30 minutes before bed time. I like this one and this is truly a picture that I am glad that I took and I really hope you will enjoy it too.

Now I am off to bed to wake up early for the last of the first part of my Eagle mission. I hope to get photos of some sort of interaction between the Golden Eagle couple, or them and the White-tailed Eagle, but maybe that is too much to ask for.

Arriving in Kalvträsk
Expedition Golden Eagle day 1
Expedition Golden Eagle day 3
The Golden Eagle workshop

To the Photo Album:

The Golden Eagle of Kalvträsk 2012