Bald Eagle

I spent a wonderful day today with a friend who had asked if I'd like to go to the Coaldale Birds of Prey Centre, near Lethbridge, southern Alberta. It was just over a two-hour drive there and the temperature down south was 37C (roughly 106F)!

This Centre is "Canada’s largest birds of prey facility. Situated on a 70-acre wetland area site, the centre is a celebration of nature featuring the hawks, falcons, eagles and owls of Alberta. Throughout the site and along the pathways, a number of birds of prey are sitting on their perches only feet away from visitors. These birds are all in various stages of training and receive lots of exercise in the daily flying programs. At the centre, they have one of North America's largest captive breeding populations for the endangered Burrowing Owl."

This beautiful Bald Eagle was quite a few feet away from us, but I zoomed in as much as I could. What majestic birds they are! I had dreamed of being able to take reasonably close photos of one of these birds for a long time and today was THE day! We often see Bald Eagles flying wild in Calgary, but I had never seen one this close before. If you view it in large size, you can see the feather details much better.