Outdoor Ontario

Birding Reports => Toronto Reports => Topic started by: sakimano on April 30, 2012, 01:34:25 PM

Title: 2 Mature Bald Eagles - Burlington/Hamilton - Cootes RBG
Post by: sakimano on April 30, 2012, 01:34:25 PM

Saw a couple of mature bald eagles at Cootes Paradise near the Marsh Boardwalk.  This is part of Royal Botanical Gardens in Burlington near Hamilton.  May actually be officially in Hamilton for that matter.

The 2 birds appear to be a nesting pair, as there is a MASSIVE nest in a pine tree not far from where we saw them.   We didn't see them approach the nest though.   Over the 2 hours we were there, we saw the eagles get up to all kinds of mischief including hauling a fish out of the water, laying a beating on a gull, and they flew over our heads a couple of times.  

We spent our time in the observation platform at the marsh boardwalk.   You can sort of see the nest from there, but it's more clearly visible half way down the boardwalk in the bullrushes.  

I got a bunch of pics, but haven't been able to photo edit them yet as my computer with Lightroom and PS is down for repairs.   THis is pretty much raw.    You can see that this is likely a 4th or 5th year bird as there are a couple of traces of dark feathers still present.

This is from around the middle of April...

http://i375.photobucket.com/albums/oo19 ... _07212.jpg (http://i375.photobucket.com/albums/oo193/sakimano/_MG_07212.jpg)
(http://i375.photobucket.com/albums/oo193/sakimano/_MG_07212.jpg)


and here is maybe the same pair a year or so ago...



Here's a couple of Northern Flickers who were making a good amount of noise in a tree near our car when we were leaving.  

http://i375.photobucket.com/albums/oo19 ... _07552.jpg (http://i375.photobucket.com/albums/oo193/sakimano/_MG_07552.jpg)
(http://i375.photobucket.com/albums/oo193/sakimano/_MG_07552.jpg)



We also saw a bunch of Turkey Vultures, heard a red bellied woodpecker, saw a couple of banded Tundra swans, as well as a bunch of other common birds for the area.   And 5 good sized deer who were on the path we were walking on.  Our dog liked them

Just a word of caution, from the RBG parking area, the marsh boardwalk is probably 1.0-2.0 kms away (can't remember exactly) so be prepared for a 20-30 minute walk and a couple of hills.  not bad, and well groomed trails....but not ideal for high heels or rollerskates :D

Title: Re: 2 Mature Bald Eagles - Burlington/Hamilton - Cootes RBG
Post by: Andreas Jonsson on April 30, 2012, 01:44:20 PM

Please limit image sizes to 800 pixels out of respect for people with smaller screens and slower downlinks. Thanks for the report!