Where are the eagles?
 

A good friend and his wife recently moved to the Villages. He is a photographer and discovered the eagles that reside around Nancy Lopez. He has some good shots and frequently responds to areas where eagles have been spotted. He has some high power zoom lenses. He has been surprised and excited about the fact that there is significant eagle activity in the Villages.

I know there's a preserve off Buena Vista. Does anyone know any areas where eagles can be spotted and photographed via telephoto lenses with some degree of regularity?

One swooped down to pick up some road kill on O'Dell by the Duval Pool right in front of me as I was driving. I stopped the car just to admire the eagle as this was the first time I have ever seen one in the wild.

About a week later I was talking with a gentleman on 466a about the gator in the pond across the street and an eagle flew right over our heads. It flew south of 466a into the new construction area. Another great sight.

I was also told that the eagles that were once in the preserve have not come back after the hurricane a few years back. Not sure if that is true or not.

We see eagles often when golfing on Walnut Grove and Briarwood. I think the top of the hill on the cart path north of Springdale pool would be a good place to spot them. Sometimes you'll see two or three sitting on the top of the power line towers. Good luck.

Are you sure these are eagles and not the Kestrel hawks that hang around the golf courses? I see the hawks at Lopez and today they were at Amberwood.

That may be true. Shortly after we moved here, we saw an eagle flying east to west along Odell between Morse and Canal. After the tornado, I remember they rescued one of the eagles that had been injured, nursed it back to health and released it back to the preserve. But I've not seen an eagle there or around there since the tornado.

There are definitely eagles up here over the Lopez area their tail fan is very close behind their wings. There are a lot more turkey vultures which are easy to identify as the bottom of their wings are black and white (light grey really) and they tend to feed on road kill whereas eagles tend to catch their food fresh. You'll also see wood storks which have white wings with black tips and also have longer necks. I think I also saw an osprey this morning which had caught a fish on the lake behind Lopez. I don't think I have seen a kestrel although I have been looking - I believe it is considerably smaller than the eagles and vultures.

Also - around 1pm there was a glider heading south just under the cloud bases - I'm guessing he was heading back to Lake Seminole Gliderport just south of Groveland.

Saw Bald Eagle (young) on the power line towers near Springdale Trail last Tues. I believe the mature Bald Eagle is easy to spot by white head & white tail. They mostly feed on fish. Saw several last year near Dora Canal and east along Harris lake. Also saw first Marsh Hawk (noted white rump) this year in the preserve behind our house on Carrera Dr.

Saw an eagle flying around Lake Miona while fishing a few days in the last couple of weeks but it looked like it was kind of hit or miss I just happen to be there for long periods of time.

I now have my binoculars in my cart so I can get a better look at these birds.

There used to be a few pages in either the Newcomers guide or the Villages telephone book that covered the wildlife in TV. I looked in both and did not see anything so I guess that information is gone. Too bad. It was informative and interesting.

BowlLeesYachtClub is right, The Kestrel is a small hawk. The ones I see must be the Red shouldered hawks. I found that on a Google search of hawks in Central Florida. http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/566941255sKpKdM

Anyway, I have seen a large number of these birds (hawks or eagles) in the Springdale area in the past few days. I guess with the warmer weather they are looking for prey.

Thanks for the help. The pictures my friend took show clearly the birds he photographed were eagles.