Bald Eagle On The Prowl

by Phil Chadwick

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Dimensions

18.000 x 14.000 x 0.875 inches

Title

Bald Eagle On The Prowl

Artist

Phil Chadwick

Medium

Painting - Oil On Canvas

Description

A majestic bald eagle is depicted in mid-flight against a backdrop of variegated blue and purple strokes. Its wings are spread wide, capturing the essence of motion with remarkable attention to detail on the feathers.

This is another image taken by my friend, John Verburg, a naturalist and terrific photographer. My goal was to capture the eye of the magnificent raptor and the broad wings of this majestic bird. We see them every day above Singleton Lake. The eye is small on the canvas but it had to be perfect as it tells the story.

The eagles have decided to make the Singleton Lake Campground their home base again in 2024. There are white pine nesting sites available within the Singleton Sanctuary as well. A few years ago I watched the eagles start to build a nest at the very top of one of those tall pines. Apparently, they enjoy the hustle and bustle of the campground over the quiet of the sanctuary. We watch the eagles fly over carrying nesting material from the Singleton Sanctuary.

Eagles enjoy a wide-angle field of vision with perfect focus - authentic "eagle eye" vision. They also see ultraviolet light. Notice that an eagle soars with their wings flat. If the wings of the bird riding the atmospheric thermals are shaped in a "V", it is almost certainly a vulture.

Historically eagles were relatively common in southern Ontario, especially along the shore of Lake Erie. The lower Great Lake population was all but wiped out in the 1960s. Common enemies of Bald Eagles include humans, Great Horned Owls, other eagles and raptors, and raccoons and crows that will feed on Bald Eagle young and eggs. Sadly there were less than 10 breeding pairs in Ontario in 1970 and the Bald Eagle was declared a provincially Endangered Species in 1973.

Thankfully, the eagle has since recovered from the poisons and persecutions. The bald eagle has been removed from the list of endangered species in Ontario and the population is now estimated at 1400 pairs. In Ontario, they nest throughout the north, with the highest density in the northwest near Lake of the Woods. A pair of bald eagles returned to Singleton Lake at about the same time as we did in 2006. These birds are year-round residents and we see the family group every day. Sometimes there are six eagles together along the shoreline or soaring above the lake.

Bald eagles are only found in North America. Eagles live for an average of 25 to 40 years and sometimes even significantly longer. These eagles know us well. This adult eagle is not smiling either. Also, see #2848 "Singleton Bald Eagles".

As I painted on a very rainy day, "Falling of the Rain" by Billy Joel came through on my playlist. It's an old song from a favourite 1971 album "Cold Spring Harbor". The lyrics told my story:

Once upon a time in the land of misty satin dreams
There stood a house and a man who painted nature scenes
He painted trees and fields and animals and streams and he stayed
And he didn't hear the fallin' of the rain

the lyrics go on to the classic line

So now the boy becomes the man who sits and paints all day
But the girl with the braids in her hair has gone away
And it seems that time has brought things to an end; nothing's changed
Cause you can't stop the fallin' rain.
My career was not to stop the rain but to accurately forecast it in time and space... but that is another story...

Uploaded

May 11th, 2024

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