by Ray Wright
Each winter, my wife and I have enjoyed finding and photographing northern bald eagles that shelter for the season in Rockland. It is normaly easy to find eagles in North Rockland this time of year, but not this year. Several days before New Years, we searched and found nothing.
On New Years, we decided to look again. We began at the West Haverstraw waterfront and found one group of two and a single eagle. Another eagle watcher told us there was a nice one near Gilligan’s Fish restaurant at Grassy Point. Unfortunately, he left before we got there.
We followed the river until we had to go to Route 9W. At Route 9W, we went north and turned down West Shore Road. At the north end of West Shore Road, we parked and saw an eagle in the tress on the northside of Route 9W.
We then drove to Jones Point and saw two more eagles.
Next, we traveled South on Route 9W and as we approached West Shore Road, we saw 3 eagles on the west side of 9W so we parked.
I left the car to get closer to eagles and individually, the eagles flew over 9W traveling west into the mountains behind 9W.
Getting these pictures was difficult because it was overcast. Most eagles were at a distance, and at the end of the trip it was getting dark. We were happy to find the eagles this early and look forward to many more eagle sightings.
Ray Wright was the official photographer for Wright Brothers Real Estate, an agency that his father and uncle founded and that he ran for 40 years. Ray’s photos are available for sale at Bee Alive, 19 North Broadway, Nyack, NY. Photo credit: Ray Wright
