So the next weekend I raced to the beach, it was before 7:00 when I got there. Good thing too because hungry baby was making himself VERY heard, as papa flew to their feeding ground over the water then came back. Baby perched in the tree below papa, calling insistantly, and - for the first time - papa answered. It was almost as if he was saying, "Get your own food kid! You're old enough now!" Then papa flew off again, leaving baby behind to his own frustration. Baby continued to call, flying from tree to tree close to the beach while I blew off a roll of film. A few other people around were also in awe of the spectacle, but most didn't even notice.
Then baby, having screwed up his courage, flew over the beach, circled above the head of one fellow three times - calling the whole time - and landed back in a tree. I had been chatting with another fellow, and, as we gaped in complete wonder, the first guy got up from his log and started to walk towards his car. He saw us and said, "Good morning" a bit puzzled at our expressions. "Did you just see that??" I asked. He hadn't, he was writing a speech he would be giving at UBC later that day.
This is the precise reason I am so intent on getting as many pictures as I can and sharing it with people. Because most often they don't see the most wonderful things right in front of their faces. I hope to open eyes so, that even if you don't live in a town where eagles fly around with wild abandon, that you will look around and see whatever nature you DO have. ----->
At this point things started to get VERY exciting. August was almost over; Brian had informed me that the parents had stopped feeding baby! He told me - and described in great detail - how baby was making all kinds of racket, then watched as papa swooped into the Park Board enclosure and came up with a seagull. Baby immediately flew over but papa ignore him, flying low over the soccer field then feeding without sharing. Baby tried again, and again papa flew away with his supper, not giving baby any. It was quite a story, eagles swooping and flying so low to the ground, feathers flying everywhere as the seagull was devoured! I was jealous and quite displeased that I had to be at work and missed the whole thing.
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Then, the most remarkable thing happened. Excited by baby's foray into hunting for himself I was snapping pics all over (most are not worthy of sharing). He flew again directly over the beach, trying to capture whatever was right there -seagulls, crows- obviously with no luck at all. He stirred up the usually benign scavenger birds into quite a frenzy. I was parked on the sand ready to shoot whatever might occur, when he managed to almost grasp this poor seagull! Look at the seagull's beak, crying for his life. If you have a good monitor you can just see a white gull feather in baby's claw. I don't know how the moon snuck in there, I don't even remember seeing it. In fact I tried to time this shot so the houses were in the background.
I almost had a heart attack, actually, when I got my prints back because this shot turned out completely not how I had anticipated. So much beyond expectation, in fact.