And up on the roof there arose such a clatter...

...that I sprang from my desk to see what was the matter!
And what to my wondering eyes should appear...

This morning I noticed a lovely fog dancing across the surface of the lagoon and went out to take a picture. It wasn't all that photogenic, but the sunrise was, so I turned to photograph the sunrise just as a seagull flew into the image, and I got this perfect shot.

But this post is not about the perfect shot, but the one that got away.
Because while I was taking this picture, I heard a huge clatter, and turned to see two eagles who had apparently been battling -- or perhaps mating -- in mid-air and had gotten tangled up and plummeted onto the roof of that boathouse just across from us, by the entrance to the lagoon.

I wasn't quick enough to photograph them on the roof -- I turned just as they were sliding off into the water. One of them managed to extricate herself before she hit the water; I got this (very bad) shot of her sitting on the ladder of the boathouse watching the other eagle trying to extricate himself from the water (have you ever watched an eagle try to swim?). So I got another shot of the waterlogged eagle sitting somewhat bemused and bedraggled on the bank after crawling out.


End of story -- or so I thought -- until 2 hours later I heard another huge crash and banging, and thought perhaps the eagles were now battling it out on my roof. But Nemo started barking and wouldn't stop, so eventually I went out into the living room to see what was up. It still wasn't obvious, but he was staring fixedly at a point just beyond our boardwalk so I stood next to him to see what he was focused on and couldn't believe my eyes: the boathouse had just completely collapsed into the water!

I called Joanna, but she hadn't seen it happen (though she'd heard it), so we decided to call 911, as we didn't know who owned the boathouse. We worry that if it were to float loose from its moorings it could effectively seal off the channel. So the police came by to investigate, and I showed them the before and after pictures. Pretty funny -- I heard the dispatcher ask the policeman over his walkie-talkie if he had gotten the license numbers of the marauding eagles! My policeman assured him that if he caught the perpetrators he'd be sure to haul them in...

I tried tracking down the boathouse through Google maps with no luck, but found what might be the owner by going to Zillow, the real estate site and called the agent who is listing what I think may be the house that owns the boathouse (the listing does say it has a boathouse, though there's no photo). Such fun to be a detective! And so I've done my best to notify the owner. If anyone knows for sure who it is, they might want to call and find out what the plan is to take care of the problem...

Like the song says -- My Lord, what a morning!