Your Neighbor: Sharon Burde

When Sharon Burde began observing and photographing a local eagles’ nest in 2002, she was struck by the beauty of the birds’ wings.

“I love their wings,” Burde said. “I love their wings when they’re open and you can see their feathers, or when they’re in flight. It’s always thrilling for me when I catch them in a picture.”

Burde’s new book, “One Family One Season,” tells the story of the eagle’s nest and the birds that return each year. Burde, an avid photographer, had thousands of images to choose from, but she decided to focus on these creatures for her photography book.

“I was looking for a subject, and when I categorized my images on my computer, I saw that the most images I had were of the eagles,” she said

Burde began to look through her images and piece together a story of their lives. Two adult bald eagles inhabit the nest, and, typically, two eaglets are born each year. The birds are not on protected land, but they do take many measures to protect themselves. Their nest is strong and deep, built on the highest tree in the area. While the babies grow, the adult eagles are on constant watch. The parents are most active at dawn and dusk; they spend the majority of their time watching the babies.

“They’re here for about six months out of the year,” Burde said. “It’s amazing how accurate it is … like appropriate snowbirds.”

Several years ago, there was a fight between two males to establish territory dominance, so Burde believes the current male might be a new bird, although the female appears to be the same. As she documents the eagles, Burde starts to deduct emotions and feelings from their actions.

“The emotions I talk about in the book come from a lot of observation and comparison — observation of their behavior and then comparison to the way we might feel about protecting and feeding our own families,” Burde said. “Our human tendency is to see the eagles as a family.”

Although she does not know whether she will publish a follow-up to her first book, Burde does see her relationship with the eagles continuing for a long time.

“And, now, even after the book, I can’t stop photographing them,” said Burde, smiling.

Contact Kelsey Grau at [email protected]