This morning on our 5 AM walk Francie and I kind of snuck around the corner of the grange just in case there was a fox, and I even had my camera ready. No foxes, but just on the other side of the grange on the nearest railing of the long bridge was the young eagle we've been seeing around here. I've never been so close to an eagle before. It was HUGE! It just turned its head and stared at us, fearless. I felt like prey.
a couple of days ago this youngster, still completely chocolate brown, was eating the remains of something white (gull? goose?) on the other side of the river at very low tide, right across from us. it tore into its meal for at least fifteen minutes, a really long time around here unless you're a heron, accompanied by a crow who hung around like its sidekick, trying to slip in closer for its own supper. they reminded me of batman and robin.
my problem with mother nature and the food chain is that i am rooting for everyone, except maybe mosquitoes and yellow jackets. the year we lived in houston i took the kids to the astrodome to see the rockets play the orlando magics. we were all disappointed that charles barkley was out with an injury that night. i know so little about the sport that i cheered wildly anytime someone made a basket regardless of which team they were on. i couldn't help it; i just got so excited for whoever scored and thought they deserved it. this was not the case however with my children, especially since we were surrounded by rockets' fans and orlando was winning by some ridiculous amount. i kept promising to behave but the dagger stares coming our way soon became too much for them and i found myself sitting alone for most of the game.
i don't know why foxy the duck has disappeared. ronny is still here and even though the books say mallards don't stay together after mating, they were a family of three for at least the past year. i hope she was fickle and left ronny for an even more dapper dabbler. although i miss her and worry that ronny is lonely, i would rather she be promiscuous than eaten. and once i know the eagle's gender it will be named for someone fearless, perhaps joan of arc or nelson mandela.
or batman.
