immature eagle

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By Jordan Lake Dam, Quarterly Bald Eagle Count, 6 photos 10/14/2018
EAGLES EVERYWHERE!
 
Today was our quarterly count of bald eagles at Jordan Lake.
I don’t yet know the total count from all around the lake.
There was a lot of excitement about how many were being counted.
 
The morning started with this 2 year old almost outshining the rising sun.
 
 
Then this 4 year-old showed up.
He still has some dark feathers in with the white on his face and his tail.
 
 
A pair of 4-year-old eagles came by chasing each other.
Perhaps sizing each other up as potential mates in the coming year.
The female is the top bird and as is usual with bald eagles, she is much the larger bird.
 

 
A grand adult male winged past, his attention on something on the horizon.
 
 
Another two-year-old put in an appearance.
 
 
And an exciting finish to the 1.5 hour count.
The trio are all adult bald eagles.
The upper left is a male.
The lower right: the upside-down eagle is a female saying no way to a much smaller male trying to get her attention.
Both males were probably hoping the female would pair with them, but she eventually sped away from both.

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 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.