The Eagle

27 July, Miilba (Deep Creek, Valla)

So I’m photographing a skeleton, gleaming
on the verge of shadow, a Flathead once
when sight catches flight, a whimbrel scooting
low over the footbridge, comical with earnest
beats and bent bill, lands in a wave of wings
beside a dozen Pied Stilts half way to the mouth
of the river. Wyn shouts, I look back . . .
a White-bellied Sea Eagle is flying towards me
as low as the whimbrel, carrying a skeleton
being chased by black crows. It brakes, lands
on the sand near me, running for a moment
then takes off again, wheels round and heads
back up river, I have never been that close to one
the size so visceral, I forget the camera – then
reel off a few haphazard shots, until gone.