Taken 2009 October 9 in Upper Southwest Mabou from the Glencoe Road
1.6 km (1 mi) east of Long Johns Bridge
GPS 45°57.223'N 61°21.243'W
I drove across Long Johns Bridge and started up the Glencoe Road, which runs from there through Upper Southwest Mabou and Glencoe to its end in Glencoe Mills at the Whycocomagh Road; I was driving slowly, admiring the brilliant colours in the trees along the road and bemoaning how much nicer they would look were the sun out and shining on them. I came around the corner one sees above and spied the eagle at the side of the road; I did not stop beside him, but kept going up the road well past the eagle before I pulled over. The eagle was clearly hungry, but cautious as well, as he left his dinner and flew up in a nearby tree when I opened my car door to take his picture. I stood as motionless as possible and after a couple of minutes, he jumped back down to his dinner, still keeping an eagle-eye (excuse the pun) in my direction. I snapped two telephoto shots of him, one of which is shown above, before he decided he wanted no company at his dinner; he then picked up his dead prey (as best as I could make out a long-eared rabbit) and flew off with it down the road and around the corner. It is rare in my experience to see an eagle on the ground like this, so this photo is therefore even more precious. I can only hope my unexpected appearance on a road little travelled at this time of day did not cause him any indigestion!
The grasses along this part of Glencoe Road appear to have been pretty much untouched by the frosts that had occurred elsewhere in the area, perhaps because of its proximity to the Southwest Mabou River and relatively lower elevation. As a result, while a substantial amount of green is present in this photo, beautiful fall colours in the changing foliage are also present as well. The reds on the tree between the two utility poles at the far left of the photo had taken my eye as I approached the curve and I thought then about stopping and taking a photo of them; I didn’t because I saw the eagle first and am glad I didn’t stop there, as I’d have likely spooked the eagle. But, in my excitement after photographing the eagle, I forgot to walk back there and get a picture of the tree, so I don’t have a close-up view of what I remember as its brilliant colours.