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Posted by David S. on 17:48:25 09/21/11
I picked up my brother, who resides at the Palace Gardens Assisted Living Facility in Homestead this morning, to take him to lunch. He told me an incredible story about his experience while feeding the birds at the facility's pool patio. Every morning, around 6:00 am, he's out feeding the birds (usually White-winged, and Eurasian-collared Doves and some English Sparrows). About 6:15 am yesterday at dawn, he had about 3-4 Eurasian-collared Doves at the foot of his wheelchair eating the seeds he threw down. Out of no-where, an immature Bald Eagle dropped down right in front of him, about 8' away, and pinned one of the doves to the ground! The dove struggled a bit until the eagle dispatched it with 2-3 bites to the neck area and then flew off with dove in tow! He said it all lasted about 20-30 seconds, giving him an excellent opportunity to observe the bird. He said it was a uniform brown with 2-3 white feathers on it's head. He checked his birdbook to see what birds of prey it might be, and his conclusion was an immature Bald Eagle. He said it was a huge bird, almost 2' tall! He's birding on the pool patio in a wheelchair and gets more excitement first thing in the morning than I get all day birding!!
I took him to lunch and then we went to the C-111 canal on Ingrham Hwy., just before Lucky Hammock. I wanted to catch a few canal fish so he could put in the small pond at the Palace Gardens. On the NW corner of the canal-Hwy intersection, there's a turn-off with a row of 5 trees along the road. In one of the trees there was a sleeping Barn Owl that we observed. I just happened to have the camera...
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