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By Attack!

Jordan Lake Dam, Haw River: It was an outright attack. The upper bald eagle, a 3-year-old, attacked the lower eagle, a 4-year-old.  In all the years I have watched bald eagles, I have never seen more than a feather or two pulled loose during an attack, whether the disagreement was over a fish that one of the birds was carrying or during an attempt to raid an eagle nest.  This morning I watched several eagles chasing other eagles, trying to get the eagle with the fish to drop it so the chaser could catch the fish and have a meal it had not caught.  In this sequence, the lower bird did not have a fish, it had simply left its perch and headed towards the river.  I have no idea why the 3-year-old got so angry except to say that all three-year-old bald eagles are brats and at all times seem more on edge than at other stages of life.  The 4-year-old flew off, and I saw it later, back trying to fish and flying well.  Whew! What a cloud of feathers.

By Doc Ellen’s Natural Minute 12/29/2020

Jordan Lake Dam, Haw River. Doc Ellen‘s Natural Minute. The lake level was at 219.42 feet this morning. It was also rather crispy cold this morning. As the wind started to come up after sunrise it got a mite bit nippy. But that did not bother the two eagles that were sitting in the tree above the sunrise this morning. Bald Eagles really enjoy cold windy weather. Hope you enjoy the pair of eagles. Take care, be safe, be well. Stay warm.

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 Fish Fight

Jordan Lake Dam, Haw River.  Winter Solstice.  The riprap was busy!

1) the 3-year-old male bald eagle on the left had caught the fish and the 1-year-old female bald eagle barreled in on the smaller eagle and he dropped the fish.

2) the 1-year-old was very lazy and banked off to the right.

3) the 3-year-old male did a 180º turn and grabbed the fish a second time and then dashed for the treeline before some other eagle could try to steal his meal.