Charlie Fineran’s Photo of the Week took him to the Paulinskill in Blairstown back in November, and again on New Year’s Day, where he spotted not one, not two, but THREE eagles! And so, a Happy New Year indeed!

When I parked my car by the Paulinskill River in Blairstown I was hoping for something special. If I had not heard the commotion I would not have started to look quickly and in earnest, catching three eagles together.  I would have soon enough come across the two eagles eventually scanning the tree line and then confirming they were eagles using my binoculars!

This particular spot is a place I use on every visit, stopping just beyond the cover of the brush just off the road, to observe what might be in the field or panorama without alerting or scaring same off!

Saturday, New Years Day, weather wise was a cloudy, damp, cool day, with on and off light rain.  In spite of the weather, I decided to start the New Year off “On a positive note” by taking one of my, “Out and about, looking for Stuff” auto trips.  Kind of plan the route as you go!  You never have to say,  “Are we there yet?!”  It is all about seeing ‘Stuff’, no matter where it is!

My game plan was to stay fairly local, so this trip was going to be backroads through Allamuchy, Frelinghuysen and work my way into Hope, then head over to Blairstown and check out the Paulinskill River, taking a real slow ride along Sipley Road and then continuing on Gwinnup Road.  My driver’s side window is down, radio is off, looking for objects on distant tree limbs, any movements in the panorama AND listening, to see if any noise can direct my attention to any activity I might not be seeing!  This ‘MO’ (Motive of Operandi) is going to serve me very well, as I turn at the corner from Sipley Road and head left up Gwinnup Road. 

My game plan was to turn the corner and then park as soon as I pass by the brush and the field opens up.  At this point you are looking over a farm field and at the end of the field is the Paulinskill and a tree line.  This was one of those situations, where you got that feeling, you are arriving into an on-going situation!  I am coming to a stop and all the while, hear a loud series of squeaky cackling and thin squeals!  Obviously, something is going on!

I have heard the eagle’s voice before at other eagle sightings. I am now scouring the distant tree line and come up with some objects in the trees!  Grabbing my binoculars, I confirm, there are three adult bald eagles! (Adult Bald Eagles have the classic white heads and tails)  Two eagles are right together, almost side by side, atop the same tree and the third is the next tree over, a little bit lower.  Sounds like the topic might be, “Three is a Crowd!” OK, now, I’m scrambling, of course as I want some photos of three eagles together, BUT, I also want to take some video, in the hopes of recording the eagle’s voices!! 

GOOD NEWS & NOT SO GOOD NEWS

Good news first!  Luckily, I took some photos first, and did get the three eagles together! The not so good news was before and during the time I switched the camera to video to make a recording of all the noise, the third eagle, in the lower branch, departed and all the commotion ended! I then, must have made about ten different videos of two eagles, calmly and QUIETLY, setting together atop their tree, hoping I could record their voices!  I did record a couple of squeaky cackles and thin squeals, but nothing like the commotion I originally came across!

OBSERVATION ABOUT THE BALD EAGLE’S VOICE:  For such a large and prowess hunter of the sky, their voices, if I may use an ole saying, “Just don’t seem to fit the bill!” Pun intended.  I have copied and pasted the following sentence from an earlier insidewarren.com article I wrote about the Bald Eagle – “VOICE:  Squeaky cackling and thin squeals, sort of a high-pitched giggle or a weak scream,  bottom line, these noises are so unimpressive, Hollywood sound editors often dub over bald eagle calls with far more impressive sounds, the piercing, earthy screams of a smaller bird, the red-tailed hawk.”

Bald Eagles are fish eaters, like Ospreys; when they pursue their prey they rarely enter the water as an Osprey does, but instead snatch the fish from the surface with their talons.  Where Osprey are common, the eagles obtain much of their food by stealing it from the smaller “fish hawk’!  I have observed and heard Bald Eagles during several of my visits, driving very slowly, alongside the Paulinskill on Sipley Road.  I would catch glimpses of them, leisurely gliding just above the river, waiting to see a fish near the surface, at which time they could just swoop down and grab the fish in their talons without entering the water!  I’m keeping my fingers crossed that maybe these eagles are looking this area over and might set up a nest! Imagine those photos!

Or maybe they are just visiting and enjoying beautiful Warren County.

Enjoy Your Open Space, Charlie Fineran

Director Open Space, Allamuchy Township Environmental Commission – Chairman

Allamuchy Historical Society – President