Last year, Matt and I went with my parents to the Land between the Lakes in western KY to attend the annual “Eagle Weekend“. We had so much fun, that we jumped on the chance to go back again this year. So we drove down to Kentucky Lake on Friday afternoon to meet up with my parents at the cabin we rented this year. A long drive from home, but one of the most worth it trips we could take. I love nature and all forms of animal life, and getting the chance to study these magnificent creatures in their natural environment is something that I will always enjoy.
Friday night began with the orientation meeting at the Kentucky Dam Village conference center. We headed over early enough to get decent seats for the evening’s presentation. After settling down in our seats, we were surprised to find out that my Uncle Russ and Aunt Laura were also there for the weekend! The orientation presentation is mainly aimed at those who hadn’t been to Eagle Weekend before, but it is always very interesting, and worth going to for the refresher course on recognizing eagles. They explained how to recognize the American Bald Eagle, as well as how to tell the approximate age of the eagles we would be spotting. After this presentation, we made sure we had the times and locations down for the following day’s activities, and headed back to the cabin, where Matt and I taught my parents how to play Phase 10.
Saturday morning dawned bright and early, and we got ready to head out to go on the boat tour on Kentucky Lake. We picked up my aunt and uncle and headed to the marina where the boat was docked, about half an hour away (the location had been changed due to the KY Dam Village Marina still being frozen over due to the VERY cold weather we had been experiencing in KY). But the weather was nice that day, and once we got out to where we could view the eagles, we could all go out on the deck without being totally frozen. With the help of some high-powered binoculars and my new Fuji-Film S1500 camera, we saw, and took pictures of, around 50 eagles, including the nesting pair in the picture below.
Saturday afternoon, we headed out to the heart of the Land between the Lakes, to the Elk and Bison Prairie. Here there are many bison and elk, all living in the wild, but fenced in so that we can drive along a road through the prairie and study them much closer that normally. We saw these amazing animals in all their glory. The bison were mainly resting, in a huge group very near each other, as seen in the picture below. The elk, however, were not quite as cooperative as far as seeing them or taking pictures. We only saw a small group of elk, laying in the woods together, and they were all males. We assumed that there had to be females as well, but we unfortunately didn’t get to see any.
And here is a picture of the elk we saw. As you can see, they were all laying down near each other, and using the trees for camouflage.
Saturday evening ended with a presentation from Raptor Rehab of Kentucky, which is a non-profit organization based in Louisville. They brought several birds for us to see up close, including a bald eagle, a peregrine falcon, a red-tailed hawk, a great horned owl, a turkey vulture, and my personal favorite, a saw-whet owl. Each of these animals had been injured in some way that prevented them from being able to survive in the wild, and therefore now will live out the remainder of their lives in captivity, at the Raptor Rehab facility. However, these birds are brought along on presentations that the group does, which helps raise awareness and funds to take care of these magnificent creatures. Below are some of my favorite pictures of the raptors from the presentation.
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Red-tailed Hawk
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Turkey Vulture |
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Peregrine Falcon |
Great Horned Owl |
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American Bald Eagle |
Saw-whet Owl |
Anyways, Battle of the Sexes was very fun. We also played a quick round of 
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