Jordan Lake State Park

Category

By Somebody Rang the Dinner Bell

Jordan Lake.Somebody rang the dinner bell. Around the end of the cove came probably 200 double-crested cormorants. They made an absolute blur as they passed by me, turned back and settled in to fishing. It is a very rhythmic feeding sequence with the occasional cork popping – oh, I mean an occasional cormorant popping up with a fish.

double-crested cormorants feeding

By Concentration

Jordan Lake. Concentrating hard, eyes, feet and wings in synchrony, this 2-year-old bald eagle is determined to stick her landing and balance on the small diameter of the snag.

By Testing Flight Abilities

Jordan Lake. First Nest. Two of the bald eagle triplets were chasing each other in the air. One attempted a strike. I did my best to keep up with them but at this point I think they’re much better at flight (thank goodness) than I am at taking video of flight. Enjoy the two of them!

By Bald Eagle Sibling Rivalry

Jordan Lake. First Nest. Bald eagles are aggressive from the moment they are hatched. Upper bird is the smallest of the triplets and lower bird is the biggest. Eagles start to practice aggression in the air very soon after fledging. The smallest triplet has been flying for less than 4 days! It started this encounter…

two of the First Nest Triplets

By Waiting for a Fish…

Jordan Lake. First Nest. The triplets are together ~ 1000 ft from the nest. They are waiting in the flight path of the parent who might be bringing a fish to the nest. Once the fledglings see the parent heading for the nest it is a race between the siblings as to whom gets to the nest first and gets the fish. Sometimes, as we saw in the Bard video, collisions occur at the point of parent, fledgling and fish getting to the nest. Kate learned many years ago how to avoid these ambushes. Bard, this being his first batch of fledglings, is learning the hard way.