August 4, 2012

young raptors

Our former gardener was keen on wildlife, and because she worked regularly in the many gardens, she was familiar with the habits of the Arb’s birds and animals, and protected them. Ivy enjoyed sharing her observations of wildlife with people. One afternoon we heard tiny plaintive cries in the sky above the rose gardens. I could not figure out what they might be, and I sought her out. She was fairly certain the raptors we saw were juvenile eagles.
"The cry is usually fairly distinctive, but the light undersides threw me off a bit,” Ivy said.  “However, juvenile eagles don't develop their iconic black and white tuxedos until they are two- to three-year old adults. The height at which they were soaring and the wing angles were also indicative of eagles. Not a positive ID, but a likely one.”

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