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Posted by majorjsh on 06:45:11 04/13/09
In Reply to: Re: Bald Eagle question posted by Ken Schneider
The reason I asked is because I saw one yesterday afternoon at 5:10 on the side of the fairway of the 10th hole of the west course of the Jacaranda golf club, loocated in Plantation. My Aunt and Uncle live on a home which is situated on a small adjacent to the course. I went out to the backyard to see if there was any action on or near the lake, and saw some black vultures near the water and an Anhinga in the water. Then, right there across the lake, at the opposite point closest to the house (the lake is somewhat kidney shaped, and the house is directly from the thinnest point of the kidney) I observed a Bald Eagle right on the side of the fairway, on the edge of the lake, about 150 feet away from me. I was basically stupefied as this was not was I was expecting to find. Of course I have no idea how long it had been standing there, but I watched it for about two minutes, as it was facing in my direction. It then flew away. It flew over the course to a location I could not track, but I remained outside for a second or two hoping it would return. After a quick wait, I went to the car to grab my binocs. On the way I asked my aunt who plays the course if she or my uncle had heard anything about an eagle on the course. She said she had heard nothing and looked at me as if I was nuts. Maybe she thought I was talking about scoring a 3 on a Par 5.
Anyway, I went back outside and waited. It returned after two or three minutes. It ended up perching in a tree about 150 feet from where I observed it originally standing, and was perched on the side of the tree immediately facing me, giving great looks and totally unconcealed from upper half up. It remained in the tree for a good 7 or 8 minutes, allowing my wife, my two aunts and I to pass the binocs around. It then flew over to another tree, but could not find a good perch spot and flew away. On its way out, it looked as if he was being pestered by a grackle.
Certainly not a bird I was expecting to see. I can only imagine the eagle was passing through. If it nested nearby, there would be more talk of it, no?
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