Jordan Lake: Momma Osprey Got Angry!
I was tracking dad osprey who had caught a large fish.
Over the shoulders of me and my friend came a swiftly moving very large shadow.
An adult bald eagle was dashing toward dad osprey (unseen here) and wanted his fish.
Momma osprey said no way was the fish that was destined for her fledglings going to go home with the bald eagle.
Dad dashed to the nest while Momma and the eagle pulled some high speed face-offs.
As soon as the eagle was far enough away, Momma Osprey screamed her victory and headed for the nest.

Jordan Lake Neighborhood Raptors
The morning started off with the moon setting in a beautiful Carolina blue sky.
Then the eagles came by and then the ospreys.
First was Lady Lake, panting hard in the heat and humidity.
Then a bright-eyed 2-year-old harassed the osprey nest and arrogantly floated past me.
Dad osprey was showing his fledglings how to fish.
 I wonder what the fledglings thought of the tiny fish dad captured!

The first half of the slideshow is about one of the H&G Nest bald eagle fledglings making a successful fishing strike.
The 2nd half shows the 2 year-old bald eagle who decided to visit Doc this morning.  She was about 50 feet from me.
This is the 2 year-old in the video posted earlier today.
My little iPhone tries hard when making videos, but it can’t bring to you the stills that my Canon camera does.

Flight Detail
As an equine veterinarian, I sometimes did still photography to help diagnose lameness problems.
But, Doc, why didn’t you use video since the problem was one of movement, you ask.
The bald eagle shown here, the wing beat captured in 2 cycles, is the reason for the stills …
I can see the stretch of the body and the pull of the wings on this healthy eagle.
In a video I would have to stop the movie, hoping to catch the moment of a problem.
With the stills I could more easily see the changes in a horse’s gait.
Or, if this eagle were in flight trouble, I could better see where in the cycle the problem occurred.

First Bald Eagle Sighting
A walker came to the dam this morning with her two dogs.
She asked what I and my friend were trying to photograph.
I replied that I would photograph any thing that caught my eye, including bald eagles.
She smiled and said she would like to see a bald eagle because she had never seen one.
As we talked, I glanced up, and yes, the eagle below came flying over us.
I swung my camera toward the eagle and told the lady to look.
There was a long silence as the realization of what she had seen took hold.
The dear lady agreed with me when I said we had all just been blessed.