Favoritos de gatorhawk

Comet NEOWISE as photographed from near Reddish Knob. The observation is for the bush in front; the second photo shows it a little better (for identification purposes). I'm not expecting a narrow ID on this one--but included it for fun not an ID. Hopefully someone can narrow it farther than class though. Someday I may be able to see it again and determine an ID.

As an attraction, the local fishermen take photographers out to the sea ice where they throw thawing fish to attract the eagle (Steller's and white-tailed). And, attract they do... the eagles were out in large numbers!

The Steller's Sea-Eagle is known from its white-capped wings; they're stunning!

According to a USFWS biologist, this female was born at the Akron Zoo in 2021 and then 2 weeks later she was fostered into the den of a wild Red Wolf at Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge, NC. Last winter she was captured and placed in an acclimation pen on the refuge with a captive-born male. In mid-April 2023 she had a litter of pups and the family group was released into the wild in late May.

I present to you: the largest dragonfly in the world, featuring my face for size comparison! :P Photos simply don't convey its sheer size and bulk but hopefully having something for comparison helps.

Anyway, story time! This guy was flying around erratically for at least an hour and a half since we arrived - I assume due to the missing wing half. I hadn't seen it myself but a couple of my friends had, and it somehow hit me in the side of the head and quickly flew off. :P
Anyway, while we were all chilling around the river, it decided to fly straight into the waterfall (in the background in pic 3) and was promptly swept downstream. What else could I do?? I jumped in and chased after it! 😂
As you can tell from the photos, my swim was successful, and I ended up with the most enormous dragonfly I have ever seen right before me. :P I can't even properly describe how enormously huge it was. And those amazing cerci! I gave it some time to dry off, but being humid tropical Queensland, it wasn't happening very quickly. It was more than happy to sit on my hand and so I wondered if it would prefer somewhere a bit higher and drier :P
So that is how it ended up on my face! As it dried and we were plagued by march flies, the obvious solution was to give him one to eat. He accepted it gratefully and somehow ate the entire thing in a single bite. Hopefully that goes a way into showing just how huge and formidable these guys are! Not content, he then sliced his huge mandibles into my nose -_- and had to be gently prized off. He slowly lapped up blood for a while after but luckily didn't do any more biting! If I squint in the mirror I can still see a faint line there now :P
He sat for about an hour before we had to leave and I left him on a shrub. I hope he was okay with half a wing missing, but there wasn't much else I could do. All in all one of the best experiences of my life! :D

First photo is by Haley Harding because I am incapable of taking selfies :P