Eagles on TV!

Bald Eagles congregate in winter (photo from PBS Nature)Sometimes I have the coolest job!

Last week Jill Lykins in our TV programming department asked if I’d review the upcoming PBS Nature show called American Eagle that will air this Sunday, November 16 at 8:00pm.

Of course I said “Yes.”  Who wouldn’t want to watch a show about bald eagles?

I received the preview disk yesterday and watched it last night.  To me, it was even better than “White Falcon, White Wolf.”

Instead of taking a hands off look at wildlife (White Falcon never had people on screen), this show follows two guys who are hooked on bald eagles.  We get to see what they see – and they see a lot!

Bob Anderson of the Raptor Resource Project and cinematographer Neil Rettig film eagles at their winter staging grounds in the Upper Mississippi Valley and in Alaska.  They talk about their memories of the time when eagles were scarce and how fascinated they are by these birds.  Both of them film eagle families at the nest.

I especially liked the nest scenes – it was like watching the peregrine webcams.  There’s great footage of eagles locking talons during courtship flights, parents incubating eggs and feeding chicks, fledglings learning to fly, eagles catching fish right out of the water, eagles playing tag with prey.  I thoroughly enjoyed it.

If you’ve been following bald eagles on my blog, you won’t want to miss this show on Sunday, November 16, 2008 at 8:00pm on PBS.  In Pittsburgh, that’s WQED.

(photo from PBS Nature.  Click on the photo to preview the show.)

3 thoughts on “Eagles on TV!

  1. I will certainly try to see this program, I was so mad at myself for missing the “White Falcon, White Wolf” episode. I have been away from my computer for a few days so I missed the birthday entry as well as the Snow Birds. Congratulations on your one year celebration. I live in West View and work in Allison Park so I check you out from home and work. You have answered some questions for me and I do enjoy the birds. This morning on the way to work I almost got my Thanksgiving turkey on Duncan Avenue but he turned when I honked and went back off the road. He did not have any cronies saying “car, car, car”.

  2. Can’t wait to see this show on eagles. The photo alone makes it look so interesting & beautiful. This past summer, while on a cruise to Alaska, I was to have gone on a float trip through eagle country, but the trip was canceled. So I missed out on seeing scenes like your photo. The Nature show will have to be my substitute.

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