One Never Knows What Blows in With the Breeze

It was one of those wonderful early spring evenings. The sun had not yet set and the warm afternoon was slipping into cooler air as the winds picked up and made the new growth on the tops of the trees whisper and bow like monks heading off to vespers. Earlier in the day I had opened the windows throughout the house to let in this new fresh air. 

As I grabbed the mail from the table I heard some crows arguing, and then, looking out the window, I thought I saw some large swooping shadows above the tree tops.  When I looked closer it appeared that the male osprey was catching the winds like a kite high over the river in the late golden sunlight, but I did not see any crows.

Within minutes I heard a nasty crow caw and then saw three crows in a combat dive.  At first glance I thought they were chasing the osprey I had just seen.  The crow cries and the osprey whistle were carried high over the air.  I grabbed my camera to see if I could document this battle when I saw the shadow of what looked like a larger osprey swoop in and land on one of the trees down by the river.  As I hurried down the hill the rasping noise became louder, and at first, I thought a large crow nearby was the one screaming just to the right of me at mid-tree level.  Then I realized it was the large bird itself that was cawing as if in anger or pain.  

It was a most unpleasant sound and went on for some time.  As I hurried closer to the dock I looked up to where the trees cleared and snapped this breath-taking shot below.  How cool was that?  He/she opened its beak and cried passionately out across the water several times.  This bald eagle eventually flew away across the river, and had not seemed to notice me,  highly unlikely, and certainly did not seem the worse for wear as it ignored the crow following close behind.