immature bald eagle

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By Jordan Lake Dam birds, 4 photos 10/01/2018
Doing a little catching up with some birds from the last couple of days.
 
I have put the great blue heron first because I think he is asking just why is his lake full of trash.
He can understand in his way the tree trunks and limbs and vines but the trash just bewilders him.
If you zoom in you can all kinds of human debris in the water.  This is at the foot of the Jordan Lake Dam Tower.
 
 
The beautiful adult female bald eagle is searching among the debris for a fish to capture.
 
The 3-year-old eagle has caught a fish in amongst all the debris and trash.
I was startled that I caught so much of the reflection, at the distance I was shooting.
 
 
 
Oh, my a chimney swift!  There were about a dozen of the birds out chasing flying insects.
A life list first for me today.

By Jordan Lake Dam update, 5 photos 09/28/2018
I realized this evening that I have been concentrating on water, water, flooding water everywhere.
So, let’s catch up with some of the other events in the Jordan Lake Dam Neighborhood.
 
While trying to catch the fog lifting above the long leaf pine meadow, a flock of double-crested cormorants graced the rising sun.
 
 
A fledgling bald eagle, one of this year’s babies, seemed to challenge the sun and flew into the east.
 
 
Here is an adult bald eagle, very intent on something way across the main lake, near where the Haw River joins the Middle Creek.
 
 
If her stout beak had not protruded way past the clump of leaves where she perched, I would have missed the female belted kingfisher.
 
 
And then there are the small winged creatures, like this common buckeye butterfly, that try to sense if I am to be avoided or dismissed.

By Jordan Lake Dam, post Hurricane Florence, 1 slideshow 09-19-2018

Jordan Lake Dam this morning, post Hurricane Florence and in the midst of many rivers flooding. Where I could, I provided photos of before and after the storm and the ongoing river flooding. The dam is doing EXACTLY what it was built for: flood control. Without the Jordan Lake dam and reservoir, the flooding downstream would have been even more devastating. My thanks to the Army Corps of Engineers for helping to keep us safe and mitigating the wrath of the hurricane.

 

By JL Bald Eagle Nest report: Ranger nest 3 photos 06/22/2018
Ranger Nest
 
Ah, ha!  This morning the smaller Ranger bald eagle fledgling came flying in, angry and hungry.
 
 
After pausing in the nest and yelling his discontent, he made a short flight hop to a nearby pine tree.
 
 
The fledgling sat there, disgruntled, before soon flying back out in search of a parent.
At this point, the parents bring an occasional fish to the nest with the intent of keeping the fledgling alive but less dependent on them.
They are pushing the fledgling into going fishing on his own.