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!
Haw River
TagRivets
Jordan Lake: In flight, the white marks at the end of each flight feather of a fledgling osprey look like dots (I call them “rivets” as at a distance they look metallic to me). This female fledgling gave me a very close fly-by. You can easily see that the white is actually an edging of the color at the feather tips. These “dots” wear off over the next 12-18 months and so by the time this osprey would return to Jordan Lake in about 2 years, she will have lost her rivets.
Osprey Fledgling Landing Practice
Jordan Lake: the autumn migration of the ospreys is nearing a close. Most of the adult ospreys have already left for South America. This fledgling male osprey had been fishing with great enthusiasm near one of the ramps yesterday when he took a break and let me marvel at his neat precise landing. The latest I have seen ospreys at Jordan Lake is early November. Plan a trip to the boat ramp nearest to you or to the Jordan Lake Dam and watch as the youngsters work to gain muscle and perfect flying and fishing skills for their upcoming trip to South America.
Update Go Fund Me
If you are able, would you consider contributing to my Go Fund Me fund https://gofund.me/6643c913? I want so to be able to continue to share the lake with all of you and the new photography equipment would allow me to do just that. Would you also consider sharing this post? Thank you all for your support of all kinds and your delightful comments on my Jordan Lake posts. By the way, did you know that you can contribute via Go Fund Me without your name being posted publicly? Just check the box for privacy. I will be notified of your generosity so that I can say thank you.
Delightful 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.
