Last week we saw a juvenile bald eagle up in a tree near our lake. We’ve seen some bald eagles in the area lately, which is new for us in this area. I like seeing them every once in awhile, and I’ve been hoping to take some photos of them. This is the closest I’ve been to them.
It takes about 4 – 5 years before a juvenile has the colouring of the adult. What a difference! It’s hard to believe that it’s the same kind of bird. I took the photo of the adult bald eagle when we were in the Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre in Kamloops, BC., this past fall, 2014.
Something I found quite interesting was that they have three eyelids. The bottom eyelid is bigger than the top lid, so when they blink, the bottom comes up instead of the top eyelid coming down- very different from our eyes.
The third is an inner eyelid. It is called a nictitating membrane, which you can see in the next photo. The membrane goes across the eye from front to back and when it is doing this, it wipes dirt and dust from the cornea. The eagle can still see when this membrane is over the eye because it is translucent.
They are big! Their wingspan can be 7 feet across. When the bald eagle took off and flew over my head, I could see that it was quite large. Majestic! Another example of God’s creation!
