Bald Eagle in Vancouver

One of the sweet "bonus" factors of living in Vancouver is that there are bald eagles all over the freaking place. Who knew I'd have to leave the land of the free, home of the brave in order to spot my country's national bird?

In fact, along the drive south from Vancouver to the US border you can literally spot dozens and dozens of them - in the air, perched in trees, scouting out some sweet prey in the marshy areas. As Dave remarked, "You wouldn't want to be a little bird around here." I should think not. Or a small rodent either, I'd imagine.

But we don't even have to get in the car and drive towards the border to see the occasional bald eagle around our own Kitsilano neighborhood. We recently noticed a bald eagle's nest along the Seaside Bike Path near the Burrard Bridge and have started spotting the eagles themselves here and there. While we were stopped off to the side of the path one day, an eagle - who was being chased around by a few other smaller black birds who were trying to scare him off - flew right over us and came to rest in a nearby tree. He chilled there in the tree for a few minutes, stretching out his wings occasionally as the smaller birds continued to fuss at him. I was able to snap a handful of pictures before he flew off.

.  the nest .

When he took off, he again flew right above us and we could see him perfectly. I thought about trying to take a picture of it... but it was so spectacular that I didn't want to have to look at it through a camera lens.

America!

... in Canada!