Cats and Trails and Garden Tales
Musings on cats, travel, gardens and life
Welcome October!
We were walking in a park near our home today
when a dozen *eagles came from nowhere and soared overhead, on a mission to somewhere.
The most I’ve seen in the sky at once – though I couldn’t capture them all on my phone – only ten minutes from my house.
But why?
And then we remembered: the salmon are running!
Oh Joy!
Welcome, October!
~ Susanne
*P.S. One of the comments pointed out these are likely migrating turkey vultures not bald eagles. Even after studying the silhouettes, it’s hard for me to tell the difference as we do have a large bald eagle population in the Seattle area, because of Puget Sound, and Lake Washington, which is nearby. And the salmon are also starting to run in the local rivers, which will draw more eagles to feed. (I hope to go down to the Cedar River in the next week and see them.)
After more consideration I agree these are likely migrating turkey vultures, based on smaller head size. Still pretty cool, as I don’t remember seeing them before! One thing about blogging is I learn something new every day!
Cats and Trails and Garden Tales 
A wonderful sight. No joy for the salmon of course!
It was such a pleasant surprise to see so many overhead! I’ll be going down for a look at the salmon soon, myself! 😊
Ah, the Salmon run! A great feast for those eagles indeed.
Best wishes, Pete.
Thanks, Pete. I’m looking forward to going down to see the salmon!
Sorry to disappoint, Susanne, that is a turkey vulture… see the small head and slight v-shape to the wings? Eagle wings are nearly straight across and the head prominent… Turkey vultures are migrating southward this time of year, we are seeing a lot of them here, too.
Actually, not disappointed at all! We have a large year-round population of bald eagles here in Washington and in the Seattle area, on nearby Lake Washington. We also have several local rivers, where the salmon are running this month; I’ll go down to see soon.
Hard to tell the difference, but now that you mention it, I do think the heads were smaller and they likely were migrating turkey vultures. Which is pretty cool, because I don’t think I’ve seen that before! Funny thing, if they had a better name, I think the turkey vulture would get more respect! 🙂
Turkey vultures are definitely unsung heroes in my book. They do a great job of cleaning up road and winter kill, very important work!
Oh wow, that must have been exciting! I note the comment from Eliza speculating that these were vultures rather than eagles, but whatever the species, to see so many overhead and be able to photograph them in flight is wonderful 🙂
Thanks, Sarah. It really was cool to see so many ‘large birds’ flying overhead! We have a lot of bald eagles in the Seattle area because of Lake Washington, Puget Sound and many rivers, now running with salmon. But upon reflection, I think they probably were migrating turkey vultures, which is pretty cool, as I don’t remember seeing that before!
Very cool!
Beautiful fall day and nature once again showing off!
It turned our walk into something more special to see so many large birds soaring overhead! Notice I said, ‘large birds,’ as Eliza commented that they were more likely turkey vultures. Both are cool!
That blue!
Hooray for blue skies!
How lovely, Susanne! It must be a thrill to see so many eagles at one time! The Kokanee salmon spawn soon in Lake Couer d’Alene, which will draw lots of eagles to that area. I’m just finishing my Sunday post which will include eagles!
Thanks, Terri! It was such a pleasant surprise to see so many large birds overhead! I thought they were eagles, but someone suggested they were migrating turkey vultures! Either way, it was quite a sight! And with all the salmon in the rivers this month, there will be lots of eagles around feasting! Can’t wait to see your pictures!
Very cool!