Jordan Lake Dam, Haw River: This fledgling bald eagle has got the grab-the-fish-and-run sequence down pat. Note that she is carrying the large fish with only her right foot and still manages to do a great landing deep inside the tree branches. However, like bald eagles are prone to do, she yelled about her accomplishment … luckily for her none of the other eagles decided to accept her challenge!
Jordan Lake Dam, Haw River: I love the plumage patterns and colors on the 3-year-old bald eagles. This eagle had been watching the river flowing inside the riprap for some time. A flash of a fish caught her eye and almost instantly she had caught her dinner. What a beautiful display of her fishing abilities!
Jordan Lake Dam, Haw River: I had just settled in on the riprap of the dam, just past the fishing pier, at 26 minutes after sunrise. An explosive motion caught my eye. This 4-year-old male bald eagle exploded out of the deep shadows of the trees across the river from me. He hit the water so fast that I missed his flare, caught his capture of the fish, wondered if he could hold onto the large fish with just one foot. The eagle wondered that too and glanced down to check…
Jordan Lake Dam, Haw River, Bald Eagle Gathering. Bald eagles will steal, or try to, a fish from other bald eagles. The eagle in the lead is a mature bald eagle and he is carrying a small, white fish that is dangling in his talons just below his tail feathers. The chaser is a 2-year-old bald eagle and it surely wants the fish. The perched fledgling eagle ogles the other two birds for the moment, but eventually it also entered the chase … too far down river for my camera to make an attempt at a shot.
Jordan Lake Dam, Haw River: This morning the weather was cold, crisp and windy … bald eagles love those conditions. These two immature bald eagles came speeding up the river, headed towards the dam. They sparred as they went past me and were still trying to prove which one was the better fighter when they disappeared over the dam towards the main lake. The top eagle is a 2-year-old and the bottom eagle is a 3-year-old.
Oh, I was grumpy, yes I was at sunrise this morning. The fog was heavy over the river and all up in the trees. Grump, indeed, as any birds were well-hidden. I kept looking down the river where I just could see an adult bald eagle, silent in the mist. The sun eased up the sky and suddenly there was light caught in the trees. “That would be a pretty landscape shot,” I thought, “and maybe the eagle will be visible in the photograph”. Snap. I took the shot and forgot about it until just now. Oh, my. Light suffused and showing plainly that there were 3 bald eagles in the tree. My grump got dispelled as I planned to share with all of you. Take care, be safe. Stay well.
doc ellen's journey 