America: Symbolism vs Realism

[TZ-Someplace]

The bald eagle, majestic symbol of US of America. Soaring through a blue sky over a wide expanse of untouched forest and mountains while George S. Patton stands in front of a huge flag and John Denver sings in the back ground...

Reality: Central Ohio, gloomy morning, driving home from Walmart today I see, standing in soybean stubble next to an unremarkable suburban neighborhood, eating road kill, my very first wild bald eagle.

[estación seca]

Yay! There's an enormous nesting colony just a few miles northeast of Phoenix along a river/dam/reservoir. It's amazing how big they are, and their nests. You don't get that sense from photographs.

[Ray]

This time of year, we see at least one pair around here.

Last year, during a “boxing day” oyster roast, one landed on a neighbor’s dock, about 30’ away. Sat there for about 15 minutes, soared around a bit, dove and grabbed a fish, then flew away.

Saw one last week while doing some yard work.

[SouthPark]

Bald Eagle versus Osprey

(Credit) - LINK

[Dorchid]

There are tons on the Platte River at my dad’s place in central NE. We have tons in CO as well. Once fishing at Cameron pass (continental divide), we saw a juvenile catch a trout and then 2 adults harass it until it dropped the fish and one of them snatched it out of the air. Very cool. Tons of osprey in the same area over the summer…they literally hover on a breeze about 50 yards up and then tuck and dive to the lake surface for trout. America is still beautiful if you know where to look or are fortunate enough to live where the beauty remains.

[TZ-Someplace]

Milkweed and monarch butterflies are disappearing here/everywhere, and by coincidence that same roadside had a little milkweed patch which I collected from during a long walk 2ys ago for the county milkweed planting people.

[Ray]

We get a lot of ospreys around here, as well.

There’s a rule-of-thumb about them here - breeding typically happens around Valentine’s Day, the eggs hatch around Mothers Day, and the young leave the nest around Independence Day.

[Dusty Ol' Man]

We have both here in the Gulf South. I get to see the ospreys fishing regularly. And the occasional bald eagle comes around as well. Though I've never heard of an eagle, bald or otherwise, eating roadkill. They are hunters, not scavengers.

[WaterWitchin]

We have bald eagles here along the Kansas River and quite a few at the local big lakes. Yes, they are HUGE as compared to what one usually thinks about. There's an old factory in next town over that is next to river, with big windows facing it. They turned it into coffee shops, etc., but the fun part is there are a lot of eagles that nest right along there. Great viewing spot.

We have cormorants at our local big lake. A lot of folks don't like them, but I think they're cool as heck.

[DirtyCoconuts]

this thread crack me up bc it is SO true

i went to Alaska with the family a while back and the bald eagles there are basically giant seagulls!!!


they hang out on docks and they act like totally NOT the symbol of greatness LOL

they are so beautiful and watching them fly and fish is the coolest thing in the world