Jordan Lake: I am always happy when I can share with you how a bird got its name. In this case, you can see the crests that give the double-crested cormorant its name. The feather crests are only visible during breeding season and the eyes turn a very brilliant blue. I must say I was tempted to comment about the cormorant having a bad hair day…

Jordan Lake: to quote Mike Lemery from his marvelous documentary Pursuit – Eagles of Conowingo Dam, “sometimes you wonder what goes through the mind of an eagle”. I wonder just what this bald eagle was seeing and thinking as she ignored me and Captain Doug as though we had been noted, accepted and then dismissed for we were not food nor enemy. We were but a fleeting moment in the mind of this eagle.

Jordan Lake Dam, Haw River: I was tracking the great blue heron, hoping it would cross in front of the trees with their fresh light green leaves and give me a nicely composed landscape photo. The heron obliged me and did just that. But, when I got home I found that another critter had managed to get photographed too! Have you found the squirrel yet?