Haw River

Category

By Jordan Lake Bald Eagle Fishing, 4 photos, 10/26/2018
It was cold.  It was windy.  The fog kept mixing with the rain.  
Sometimes I could see the Haw River below the Jordan Lake Dam. 
 Sometimes the mists swallowed it.
And then the weather conditions didn’t matter.
This beautiful 2-year-old bald eagle was hungry and he was looking for a fish.
You can see the rain all around him.
 
 
A fish caught his eye, he banked hard, reversed direction and flew into the mists just above the river.
Did he catch his fish?
 
 
The grey air was still partially obscuring a clear view of him, but I could see a fish dangling from one foot!
 
 
As the 2-year-old banked further, he lifted above the fog and mist and I could clearly see his catch.
He flew out of sight, back into all the grey weather.

By Jordan Lake Bald Eagle, 10/18/2018
Adult Bald Eagle
 
Being a bald eagle brings certain responsibilities.
Such as making certain that any other eagle of any age or gender 
understands that this is my perch, my tree, my section of the river and the lake.
And, you can tell he means every single nuance of his announcement.

By Jordan Lake Dam, Quarterly Bald Eagle Count, 6 photos 10/14/2018
EAGLES EVERYWHERE!
 
Today was our quarterly count of bald eagles at Jordan Lake.
I don’t yet know the total count from all around the lake.
There was a lot of excitement about how many were being counted.
 
The morning started with this 2 year old almost outshining the rising sun.
 
 
Then this 4 year-old showed up.
He still has some dark feathers in with the white on his face and his tail.
 
 
A pair of 4-year-old eagles came by chasing each other.
Perhaps sizing each other up as potential mates in the coming year.
The female is the top bird and as is usual with bald eagles, she is much the larger bird.
 

 
A grand adult male winged past, his attention on something on the horizon.
 
 
Another two-year-old put in an appearance.
 
 
And an exciting finish to the 1.5 hour count.
The trio are all adult bald eagles.
The upper left is a male.
The lower right: the upside-down eagle is a female saying no way to a much smaller male trying to get her attention.
Both males were probably hoping the female would pair with them, but she eventually sped away from both.

By Jordan Lake Dam Birds, 4 photos, 10/07/2018

Jordan Lake Dam Birds

I was sitting on top of the dam this morning thinking that I needed to post some birds for all of you.
I was bemoaning the fact that I didn’t have any decent bald eagles to show you …
and then these two bald eagles flew past.
The top bird is a 4 year old and the lower bird is a 5 year old.
They got to about midway between the Haw River and the New Hope River and they each went a different way.

This bright-eyed falcon is a merlin.
I was surprised to see one this early in the migratory season – I usually see a few about the first of November.

There were so many killdeer swooping and calling at the dam that I thought I was at the beach this morning.

Yep, those are acorns – a total of 4 of them (hard to see the 4th one) – all stuffed in the beak of a fish crow!

By Jordan Lake Dam Critters, 4 photos 10/07/2018
Jordan Dam Critters
 
The monarch butterflies are migrating and this morning at the dam I had more than a dozen flit past me, all heading south.
 
 
The veins are so well defined on the wings of this common buckeye butterfly.
 
 
And, so, when is a butterfly, not a butterfly?
For the answer: study these next two photos…
 
 
When the flying insect is a grasshopper.  How about the elegance in those wings!!