Jordan Lake: small fish are slippery as this two year old bald eagle was finding out. She caught a fish in the normal way … with her talons. Once up in the air with the fish, the eagle realized that she just might drop it. Watch as the youngster figures out how to take the fish from her feet … in mid—air … only to realize she wanted to put it back between her feet. The young eagle never lost any altitude during all of the maneuvering… that was awesome!
eagles of Jordan Lake
TagDelightful Close Encounter
Jordan Lake: it had been a frustrating morning for my friend Bill and I. Fog and more fog everywhere. As the morning air started to clear up, a few birds started to appear and then out of the corner of my eye I saw this four-year-old bald eagle fly in around the corner, land on a limb about 100 feet from us, and it started to eat its catfish. Neither Bill nor I breathed. We leaned as far around as we could without moving from our places and began photographing this beautiful bald eagle. According to the timestamp on my camera, the eagle stayed with us for right at two minutes. Then, off it went taking its fish and Bill and I breathed again.
Fledglings Testing Each Other
Jordan Lake Dam: This morning was our quarterly bald eagle count at Jordan Lake. I and three others were counting from the top of the Jordan Lake Dam. We had actually finished the count – which runs from 7:00 to 8:30 AM but we were still watching the skies when this pair of fledgling bald eagles came tumbling out from around the corner. They were way out to mid lake. The two of them bounced in and out and around the corner several times. There was an almost cold wind and piled up gray clouds this morning. Bald Eagles really enjoy cold bouncy air and these two were certainly testing the wind and each other.
Compare these Two Eaglets…
Jordan Lake. Both of these birds are 2-year-old bald eagles. They are both females. Did the chest/belly of the first eaglet seem to have a LOT of white feathers while the second youngster was mostly dark brown? Ah, the 1st bird is what we call a “white belly” and these are not seen as often as the darker colored birds. One other detail: note the color of the feet. The white belly eaglet has feet that are pale, almost beige (almost all white bellies have pale feet) while the second eaglet has the more usual yellow feet. Adults tend to have brilliant deep yellow/orange feet. Variety!!!
Fledgling Tilt…
Jordan Lake: Bald Eagles are impressive … even when leaping away … and you get a different point of view. This fledgling glanced down, tilted and did a powerful launch from his perch.
Oddly Marked Bald Eagle
Jordan Lake: It looks like this bald eagle tried to put on a formal button down vest this morning and got it on backwards. She is closer to five than four years of age. It appears, in both photos and several others I have from this morning, that those are consistent permanent white dots on those feathers. It is an interesting plumage pattern!
