Haw River

Category

By I Did It!

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!

By Caught It!

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!

By Did I Really Catch the Fish?

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…

By Launch!

Jordan Lake: About a week ago, Captain Doug and I spent several minutes in his boat, floating quietly on the lake, watching this female bald eagle enjoying a meal of a fish she had caught. We both waited patiently for the moment when she would finish the fish, clean her beak, stretch, shake out and launch into another tour of her kingdom. Oh, how I do like catching the energy of a launch!