Eastern Kingbird on Bald Eagle
by Eric Abernethy
Title
Eastern Kingbird on Bald Eagle
Artist
Eric Abernethy
Medium
Photograph - Photography
Description
An Eastern Kingbird rides on the back of a first year bald eagle at Lake Lucas in Randolph County, North Carolina.
A gem for many fisherman is Lake Lucas in Randolph County, North Carolina. It is a small sized lake and can be kayaked fully in about five hours. So it is also a gem for people who love the natural world but not many folks take advantage of that. A good thing in many ways. I spent eight months documenting the one pair of eagles that live on the lake and this is one of two eagle chicks they hatched this that year. I witnessed the trials and tribulations of those young bald eagles as the learned to fly and learned to hunt and eventually, after fledging the nest in early June by mid September the chicks had moved on striking out on their own. It was a magical experience for me.
In the photo, it's mid morning and this is taking place during the first three weeks of learning to fly and the eagle chick had landed too close to an eastern kingbird nest in the pines. Kingbirds are very protective of their territory and nest and will not back down to any trespasser no matter the size difference. I witnessed this scenario many times with both the adults and the two chicks. These birds would literally land on the back of the eagle poking and pulling on the feathers of the eagle while in flight.
I am grateful for your visit to my natural world photography galleries here on Fine Art America and on my Pixels website. My work is available in print mounted or unmounted, framed print, acrylic print, metal print, wood print, canvas print, greeting cards, t-shirts, posters, bed spreads, tote bags and many other ways. Sizes range from the 5" x 7" greeting card to 72" wide many cases! All materials are archival and printed for lifetime use in a home or in an office or a hotel chain and even an educational setting.
Uploaded
December 29th, 2015
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Comments (11)
Constance Lowery
super wow! How did you ever get this great picture? L/F
Eric Abernethy replied:
Constance, this is the short version, I added a longer version in the description. In the photo, it's mid morning and this is taking place during the first three weeks of learning to fly and the eagle chick had landed too close to an eastern kingbird nest in the pines. Kingbirds are very protective of their territory and nest and will not back down to any trespasser no matter the size difference. I witnessed this scenario many times with both the adults and the two chicks. These birds would literally land on the back of the eagle poking and pulling on the feathers of the eagle while in flight.
Debra Martz
Amazing captaure! Congratulations on your well deserved Dawn's Delight recognition in Wild Birds of the World group!!
Dawn Currie
Congratulations on being named among ‘Dawn’s Delights’ this week. This image has that extra something special that makes it an extraordinary image. I love the nature story!
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