#2848 "Singleton Bald Eagles"

#2848 "Singleton Bald Eagles"
20x16 inches oils on stretch canvas
Started Monday March 25st, 2024

It is a challenge to put a smile on the feathered face of a bald eagle. Eagles are excellent and caring parents and mate for life. The pair soar to high altitudes, lock talons and tumble in gymnastic cartwheels toward the earth. Only a really able and fit spouse will do. It is a wild world out there. 

Right to the brush with thin oils

This is another image taken by my friend, John Verburg, a naturalist and terrific photographer. John provides tremendous inspiration during the winter when the weather encourages me to stay within the Singleton Studio. The male eagle perched on the barren limb was gazing down at his mate. The image inspired me when I first saw it a now I have it in oils. 

Bald eagles are only found in North America. Eagles live for an average of 25 to 40 years and sometimes even significantly longer. 

Bald eagles have the largest bird nests. The spouses construct the nest together. They will renovate it each year if they like the nest and location. These home improvements help to forge their lifelong bond. Sometimes, they'll add up to 2 ft of addition in the spring. As a result, the nest can get really large until the tree can no longer support it. 

Visually, the bald eagles look identical with the same colouration, but as with most raptors, the female is larger in both size and weight. Females can weigh 25% more than their male mates. Sometimes this is clearly visible in a pair when you see both together at the nest, but otherwise, identifying the sex of an eagle is just a guess. Bald eagles are sexually mature after four or five years by which time they have white plumage throughout their brown wings, bellies, and even leg feathers. 

Eagles enjoy a wide-angle field of vision with perfect focus - authentic "eagle eye" vision. They also see ultraviolet light.

An eagle soars with their wings flat. If the wings of the bird riding the atmospheric thermals are shaped in a "V", it is almost certainly a vulture. 

Historically eagles were relatively common in southern Ontario, especially along the shore of Lake Erie. The lower Great Lake population was all but wiped out in the 1960s. Common enemies of Bald Eagles include humans, Great Horned Owls, other eagles and raptors, and raccoons and crows that will feed on Bald Eagle young and eggs. Sadly there were less than 10 breeding pairs in Ontario in 1970 and the Bald Eagle was declared a provincially Endangered Species in 1973.

Thankfully, the eagle has since recovered from the poisons and persecutions. The bald eagle has been removed from the list of endangered species in Ontario and today the population is estimated at 1400 pairs. In Ontario, they nest throughout the north, with the highest density in the northwest near Lake of the Woods. A pair of bald eagles returned to Singleton Lake at about the same time as we did in 2006. These birds are year-round residents and we see the family group every day. Sometimes there are six eagles together along the shoreline or soaring above the lake. 

Many eagles still migrate to the southern climates during the winter for easier access to food, especially fish - but not the Singleton eagles. These eagles prefer to stay at Singleton during the winter just like us. They spend a lot of time on the ice edge waiting to snatch fish scraps from the otters. Otters can be messy eaters and the eagles seem to fare well on those hors d'oeuvres and whatever else they can scavenge. 

Bald eagles often symbolize growth, rebirth, and transformation—seeing one after someone has passed could represent the soul's journey from the physical realm to the spiritual. These special birds and all of nature, in fact, deserve our respect and assistance to ensure that they survive for countless more centuries. 

For this and much more art, click on Pixels or go straight to the Collections. Here is the new Wet Paint 2024 Collection. 

Warmest regards and keep your paddle in the water,

Phil Chadwick