NFR: Bald Eagles

[BIG DADDY BLUE RANGER]

OK so I'm prolly a little slow to notice this,, but as I drove up to Clear Lake the other day I saw 4 bald eagles sittin atop the trees overlooking the creek along HWY16. I've never seen em b4 in CA outside of captivity and thougt it was purdy cool.. I even stopped to whip out my bino's for a minute... My buddy tells me he's seen em up at Oroville and New Melones recently too.... did a google and I guess they're making a strong comeback.... like I said I'm slow to notice, but thought it was a cool sight

[DanIsaac]

Yep, there's a couple 3 or 4 at Berryessa, Del Valle, and San Luis as well, and of course Shasta. Pretty cool to be out and watch em' come down and take one right off the surface.

[BassManDan]

Bullards Bar Reservoir has a good population of bald eagles.

They certainly seem to be more common than they were 15 years ago, or maybe I'm just more attentive.

[5bass4cking]

I have also seen them @ East Park and New Melones.

[Wolfeman]

Saw one on the Delta a few years back.
See one at Pardee almost every trip.
- Wolfeman

[Andy Lippert]

About 8 years ago I noticed my first Bald Eagle at Del Valle, and now there are a whole bunch of them, and they can frequently be seen/heard flying around up there. Pretty darn cool deal. I wouldn't say that they're thriving, but I definitely see them much more often than I used to in Northern California.

Andy

[Team Pollard]

See one at McClure alot, has nest up cottonwood. We were By big island a couple of years ago, when I was retrieveing my rods from the locker I hear a loud swwwwwooooossshhhh noise and thought it was a missle, when I looked up it was a bald eagle comeing down and it snatched a trout, cool to see.

[Barry Watson]

Been watching them at Lake Amador for several years now. They have raised some young up there and its fun to watch the parents teach the youngsters ( which are spotted, not black and white) how to survive. At times they get so close you can see their yellow talons and eyes. I wonder if they are going to decide to try to grab my Baitsmith Swim Bait. LOL

[BFerris]

I have also seen those up at Amador....Ive seen them grab some nice size trout, bass, snakes....the Ospreys up there are the ones that love to grab swimbaits....watch out for those guys!!!

[barse41]

iv seen em at allover. i seen them mating(or fighting) at mcclure, and one taking multiple dives at a greeb's chicks on pedro

[clearlakeoutdoors]

There has been a bald eagle hanging around henderson pt for a while now.The pair at Del Valle was trapped in Alaska and released in the Monterey area and settled down at Del Valle and have been sucessfully breeding for years.
Dave Brabec
Clearlake Outdoors

[CN]

I have several pictures of them I've taken through the years down at San Antonio lake. I have a few that there were half dozen all in one tree. I also have some of Golden Eagles (just as impressive) taken down there.

It is one of the main Winter areas they come to. They even have a huge paddle boat they use during the winter for Eagle tour's.

If you ever want to see large numbers that is the place to go but only in the winter.

[Guyle]

I hear they spead quaggas.

[FishDiver]

I used to see them all the time at Camanche over a decade ago.

[anonybass13]

i've seen bald eagles at don pedro, amador, pine flat, millerton, kaweah, success, for years. i've seen a golden eagle punk 2 bald eagles for a bass at pine flat lake. it's cool to watch them swoop down for a fish or even a coot.

[Bill K]

I would not like a great influx of people, but up here in my area we have bald eagles year round. They live, nest, hunt and fish on
more than one of our lakes.
You can usually see one or two on each trip out, if you know where to look.
One of our great birds and hunter/scavengers and fun to see and watch. Bill K

[froteur]

my son and i saw one at san apblo reservoir two years ago. first one in the wild for either one of us. he/she landed on a tree near the shore so we toodled over there and watched it for several minutes. super cool!!!!

[201Pro]

I saw one up river in Nacimiento a few years ago. Was an awesome sight to see them perched on top of a tree, then suddenly glide down to the river and slowly drop their claws and snatch a fish while in full flight and kept going!! Was probably 5 years ago in April or May. But I still remember it to this day like it was yesterday!

[BUCKBASS]

Yes we even have them down south at Perris and Silverwood that I know of.

[jimmy87]

I see them at all the mother lode lakes. Don Pedro has many. I have seen as many as 10 in one day up there.

At camanche I watched one take an adult canadian goose.
It was kind of odd because I would have thought the eagle would fly away with its catch.
instead it drug it up a hillside into the brush.
I think the goose was just too heavy.

I watched them swoop down at geese at Mc Clure as well.

few years back at New Melones I ran into a gal that worked for some agency like the DFG. I forget exacly who.
anyways she was there going around in a boat. Her and her partner were shooting off blanks to scar the eagles out of the trees. They were taking a count.
she said they had counted more than 30 that day.

[N.A.R]

Didn't I see 2 at Diamond Valley Friday?

[492slayer]

I saw two at Oroville yesterday. I've seen many up there for some time. I've also seen them over at Clear Lake.

[Smee Again]

I see them quite frequently at Folsom, and have seen them at Shasta, CL, Don Pedro and New Melones (Golden Eagles too!) as well. Beautiful, majestic birds!

SA

[Maackbass]

one place the surprised the heck outta me was seeing one out at Calero in the southbay area

[Jim V.]

We saw one Fri (1/1) at DVL fly down and land on the beach on the island straight out from the launch ramp while we were fishing nearby.

[Cal Bassin]

I recently had a few trips out to DVL in December, and saw three beautiful birds of prey! First was a huge Golden Eagle, with a wing span which must have been like 8'. Then a big clean Bald Eagle comes from around the corner! What happened next was the coolest ever, and I wish I had a video camera ready, but no such luck! The Bald Eagles turns as an Osprey comes around the bend with a nice size stocker trout in it's talons. The Bald Eagle heads straight at the Osprey, and starts the attack, the Osprey does a few rolls, and looses the trout in mid air, as the Baldy swoops down and grabs it mid air. You can see the trout in the Ospreys talon's in the picture! I did not get a shot of the Baldy! It was surreal!

[Greg_Cornish]

I found this eagle online and wrote to the photographer and gained permission to paint it. I didn't like his background so I placed it over a photo my wife took in the Clearlake Area. This is the composite photo study

[John Barron]

I ususally go home for Christmas and this year was no different I was up at Lake Naciemento near Paso Robles (central califronia). While I was there I saw a Golden Eagle sitting on a branch over a point. The next day was a Bald Eagle on the same branch we were ready with a camera day two and got a couple of great pictures.
jb

[sro114]

We have a lot where I live, but a couple of years ago my buddy and I were out in the boat. An osprey swoops in very close to the boat and grabs a trout. We were both thinking that was pretty cool when out of nowhere a bald eagle comes in and they start going at it in mid air. It was amazing how agile they both were. The osprey dropped the trout and it landed about twenty feet from us. They then began to circle the trout and made false runs at each other several times. They were both making a heck of racket at this point also. Finally the osprey came back in and grabbed the trout. He blazed out of there and the bald eagle gave up and glided away. It was one of those things you only see if you are out and about.

[cib11b]

I have seen them at every lake I fish, The first being Collins lake. Back by the powerlines. That one Eagle has since turned into a family of I think 3 now. They are making a comeback and I love watching them catch fish even when I can't!

[Steve]

I recently had a few trips out to DVL in December, and saw three beautiful birds of prey! First was a huge Golden Eagle, with a wing span which must have been like 8'. Then a big clean Bald Eagle comes from around the corner! What happened next was the coolest ever, and I wish I had a video camera ready, but no such luck! The Bald Eagles turns as an Osprey comes around the bend with a nice size stocker trout in it's talons. The Bald Eagle heads straight at the Osprey, and starts the attack, the Osprey does a few rolls, and looses the trout in mid air, as the Baldy swoops down and grabs it mid air. You can see the trout in the Ospreys talon's in the picture! I did not get a shot of the Baldy! It was surreal!

Your first two pictures are that of immature bald eagles. Bald eagles take 4-5 years to obtain the mature plummage, i.e. white head and white tail. The plummage for each of the 3-4 immature years of bald eagle differ from each other so you can usually tell how old they are. I would say your first pic is that of a 3 year old, possibly a 2 year old.