What's outside of your picture window today?

Posted by John, Volunteer Mentor @johnbishop, Nov 25, 2020

As we get ready for the real winter to show up and COVID-19 still playing a major part in our lives I like to spend moments of my day de-stressing about what's going on in the world today. All I have to do is look out the window and observe some of natures beautiful creatures, how they interact and ponder how small it makes my troubles seem. Sometimes I may even get the opportunity to take a photo or two. How about you? Anything going on outside of your window(s) that you want to share?

For those members that have the ability to size your photos before you upload them to the discussion, may I suggest using the following sizes:
– 500 x 335 pixels (landscape)
– 210 x 210 pixels (square)

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Just Want to Talk Support Group.

Lori, Volunteer Mentor | @loribmt | Sep 7, 2021

@artist01 @ess77 @jakedduck1 @lioness and fellow nature lovers! A sight I’ve never personally witnessed before, an eagle swimming! She was about 50 feet from shore and using her powerful wings to propel herself forward. It was pretty obvious she was carrying a heavy load, too heavy for her to be able to fly off with it. So she swam to shore!! I have a full video but unable to upload here. But I have a few shots I can share.
She pulled the fish up onto the lawn, behind a kayak and started eating. But two fishing boats came past slowly to watch her. She got spooked but instead of flying off, pulled that huge fish another 100 feet further up the lawn nearer our house. My husband looked through binoculars and figures it was either a large northern or small Muskie about 24 inches! She devoured over half of it and flew off with the head about 45 minutes later!

artist01 | @artist01 | Sep 7, 2021

In reply to @loribmt "@artist01 @ess77 @jakedduck1 @lioness and fellow nature lovers! A sight I’ve never personally witnessed before, an..." + (show)

@loribmt. Lori, what an awesome sight to be able to witness! It warms my heart to know that courageous eagle was rewarded with her hard- earned feast after the tough time she had dragging her trophy through the lake and to the safety of the shore. Wonderful pictures, wonderful story!

Sue, Volunteer Mentor | @sueinmn | Sep 7, 2021

In reply to @loribmt "@artist01 @ess77 @jakedduck1 @lioness and fellow nature lovers! A sight I’ve never personally witnessed before, an..." + (show)

What an awesome thing to witness. I love our bald eagles, but have never witnessed one ground feeding before!

John, Volunteer Mentor | @johnbishop | Sep 7, 2021

In reply to @loribmt "@artist01 @ess77 @jakedduck1 @lioness and fellow nature lovers! A sight I’ve never personally witnessed before, an..." + (show)

Pretty awesome shots Lori! If you have a Gmail account you can upload the video to your Google Drive and then just use a share link. Here's what the Rochester Mayo Clinic looked like from the 5th floor of the Kahler Hotel in 1966 🙃 That's a really young version of some old guy in the mirror taking the video.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7qnzdhMLnxjcWJFTlE2Y1ozNjA/view?usp=sharing&resourcekey=0-myDEuXfr33tVC4K0UfHKsg

Lori, Volunteer Mentor | @loribmt | Sep 7, 2021

In reply to @johnbishop "Pretty awesome shots Lori! If you have a Gmail account you can upload the video to..." + (show)

Really cool video, John! So much has changed since 1966 but what a gem! And for the record…nice pocket protector!
We’re having almost non-existent internet this week. (Using cell data as a hotspot right now) Service person coming in 2 days…then I’ll try the upload to google drive.

Lori, Volunteer Mentor | @loribmt | Sep 7, 2021

In reply to @sueinmn "What an awesome thing to witness. I love our bald eagles, but have never witnessed one..." + (show)

We love our eagles too! So majestic, aren’t they? But wow, you can sure see why they’re the top of the food chain. We have a pretty large population of on our lake. This huge female has been here for over a decade that we know of. We’re always finding leftovers of lunch on our lawn. Kinda creepy but really fun when we can actually see them feeding. We’ve watched them snag fish out of the water and fly onto our lawn before.
But I’ve never seen one swimming to shore! At first I thought she was floundering in the water! But then I could see she was propelling herself forward. Such a huge, powerful bird! Her wingspan is almost as long the kayak. Females are about 1/3 larger than males.

Chris Trout, Volunteer Mentor | @artscaping | Sep 7, 2021

In reply to @loribmt "We love our eagles too! So majestic, aren’t they? But wow, you can sure see why..." + (show)

Especially in the winter, we love to watch them make big circles up and down the Mississippi looking for fish. Sometimes both of the couples are out together. Isn't nature just the cats meow?
Chris

ess77 - Elizabeth | @ess77 | Sep 7, 2021

In reply to @johnbishop "Pretty awesome shots Lori! If you have a Gmail account you can upload the video to..." + (show)

@johnbishop, @loribmt, @artist01, @lioness, @sueinmn and all.....
Well, John. What an interesting video. Please help me understand the figure on the wall????
Looks like a handsome young man in that video. Good shot. Bless you this day and all...elizabeth

ess77 - Elizabeth | @ess77 | Sep 7, 2021

In reply to @loribmt "@artist01 @ess77 @jakedduck1 @lioness and fellow nature lovers! A sight I’ve never personally witnessed before, an..." + (show)

@loribmt, @johnbishop, @sueinmn, @artist01, @jakedduck1, @lioness and all...
Wow! I'm in awe of Nature, of this magnificent eagle and of you for the photos. You captured something so special. Thanks for sharing this fascinating bird. It's amazing she can swim with her wings only...not using her legs, In fact, she's added so much weight with the fish in her claws, I can't imagine her wings are so strong to accomplish such a feat. Every centimeter of her body is designed perfectly for her survival if we stay out of the way.

I'm amazed at her strength, she's so solid. Look at the size of her legs and talons. She's a very happy, well-fed beautiful bird living in a perfect habitat. And, you get to see her life. Aren't you special!!!!!

I think I'd be with camera and out-looking that window all day every day...not to miss anything out there. I love your place. I'm living vicariously through you, your camera is my eyes. Thank you so much, my friend.

Off to feed my friends, put out the garbage, fix Rob's pills for the coming week, and off to Mayo for a massage and covid test, pre-op. This is #14 I think....I have to stop with the procedures, CT scans, MRI's, and whatever. Too many covid swabs....could they have given me this crazy infection in the first place!?! Nope, not going there...
Off to see today's offerings. Blessings, my friend.
Elizabeth

John, Volunteer Mentor | @johnbishop | Sep 7, 2021

In reply to @ess77 "@johnbishop, @loribmt, @artist01, @lioness, @sueinmn and all..... Well, John. What an interesting video. Please help me..." + (show)

Hi Elizabeth - The "Man and Freedom" sculpture used to hang outside of the Mayo Building and was moved inside of the atrium in the Gonda Building -- more info: https://www.mprnews.org/story/2016/10/24/photos-a-walk-through-mayo-clinics-healing-art. I took the video while I was in Rochester, Minnesota going to school to become an IBM Customer Engineer.