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!
Jordan Lake: First Nest update. Bald eagles mate for life. Every breeding cycle they renew their commitment to each other by sky dancing and food offerings. Petruchio brings his mate Kate a bird as his commitment offering as they get very near to mating.
Jordan Lake: Momma Kate and Dad Petruchio, the bald eagle parents at First Nest, were busy this morning doing upkeep and repair work on their nest. Kate is due to lay eggs in about 2 weeks.
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…
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!
Jordan Lake Dam, Haw River, Bald Eagle Gathering. Bald eagles will steal, or try to, a fish from other bald eagles. The eagle in the lead is a mature bald eagle and he is carrying a small, white fish that is dangling in his talons just below his tail feathers. The chaser is a 2-year-old bald eagle and it surely wants the fish. The perched fledgling eagle ogles the other two birds for the moment, but eventually it also entered the chase … too far down river for my camera to make an attempt at a shot.
doc ellen's journey 