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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 update, 5 photos, 09-25-2018
As of this evening, the lake level is down to 232.15, hooray!
Still a long way to go to normal pool level of 216 feet.  All access to the lake except at the dam is still closed.
 
Sunrise in the lifting fog at the dam.
 
 
The foggy landscape cleared just enough for me to take this long shot of an adult eagle heading south over the lake.
 
 
Not long after the adult eagle flew past, a 2-year-old eagle caught my attention as it was heading northward up the lake.
 
 
Looking puzzled, the great blue heron lets us see how turbulent the Haw River has become as it escapes at the higher flow rate the Army Corps of Engineers gave it.
 
 
As I was packing up for the day, I was given a moment of laughter:  this crow zipped past, beak filled with 2 acorns.
 
 

By Jordan Lake Update post Hurricane Florence 09-18-2018
Jordan Lake Update 09/18/2018
 
While we wait for the waters all around us to go back home and Jordan Lake to reopen,
I thought I would spend some time posting Jordan Lake raptors and birds of all sorts 
and interesting odds and ends that caught my fancy 
but got put aside because of the bald eagle nest reporting.
 
This American crow, the day after Labor Day, flew over my head to a nearby tree.
He was proudly carrying about a third of a donut.
The limb was slippery and the crow tottered on his landing.
I bet you know where his prized donut went!
A crow below him, on the ground, quickly stole the bit of sweetness and headed around the bend.

By JL Neighborhood Visit 6 photos 02/07/2018
Its time to see what other birds, um, non-bald eagles are in the neighborhood.
 
Accipiters are fast hawks that chase other birds.
This is an immature Cooper’s hawk.
 
 
Just how many fish does this crow have in its beak?
 
 
Sometimes going away gives a spectacular view – this is a ring-billed gull.
 
 
The waters of the lake make a beautiful backdrop for this male eastern bluebird.
 
 
The American pipit is a winter visitor and a new bird for my Life List.
 
 
I almost always hear a killdeer before I see it and I better be looking quick for they zip past in a hurry.
 

By Red-tailed Hawk and Crabby Crow
The trees across the lake erupted in noise and birds.
A flock of crows exploded from the trees.
In the middle of the crow crowd was a red-tailed hawk.
As you can see, the crow was quite direct in expressing his feelings.
The rest of the crow flock followed along, screaming encouragement to their cousin.
I never saw any feathers fly and the whole assemblage disappeared over the top of the trees.