Conowingo Dam (Again)

I had an errand that took me into Maryland early yesterday, and that put me past the worst of the Beltway traffic, so I kept going to the dam. The forecast was for partly cloudy skies, which is what I had when I started driving. After I passed Baltimore, it became overcast. Having gone that far, I kept going, hoping the clouds would clear. No luck. When I arrived, it was overcast with mist and everything was grey. To my surprise, the parking lot was full. I'd guess there are about 250 slots for cars, and I think I got the last open slot.

Photographers and the Full Lot

Last time I settled for too many static shots of birds in trees. I was determined this time to concentrate on getting bird in flight shots, which meant I had to pick a spot and stay there and wait for the action that would, hopefully, happen in front of me.

Almost Mature Bald Eagle

The overcast light was wreaking havoc with my tired old camera, which is terrible at high ISO. And there must have been a hundred black buzzards actively flying in the trees, crashing into the branches, and generally creating an endless sound of feathers flapping. But I persevered. This immature eagle swooped by and showed its mottled underside.

Immature Bald Eagle

There was an eagle fight over a fish that I was photographing, except I lost them in the viewfinder and most of the fight happened after I stopped shooting. I missed a chance at photographing a locked talon end-over-end tumble. I had never managed to capture a fishing event, and this was my first attempt.

Bald Eagle Fishing

Again, the light was challenging and it was just too far away to get a good shot. Sometimes an eagle will take a quick glance to see what it caught. In this case, the eagle got the fish and took a peek at its catch.

Checking its Catch

It proceeded to fly right over me, with its fish. This might be my favorite shot of the day. The background sucks, but I like the light coming through the tail feathers, the scales on the fish, and even though I know birds can't make facial expressions, it looks like he/she is determined to get to a quiet tree to chow down.

Bald Eagle with Lunch

I was soon able to capture another fishing event, this time a bit closer.

About to Strike

And the next one in the series...

Gotcha

Here's a fishing event where the eagle dropped the fish.

Missed

Finally the clouds gave way to sunlight and I was able to get this sequence where the eagle departed the trees behind me, flew over me, spotted its target, dove, and got a fish.

About to Dive

Diving

Slowing Down for the Snatch

Got It

And I'll end it with one more where I missed the grab but got this shot as he/she flew just over the water with the catch. If only I'd gotten the entire reflection in the shot...

Eagle with Fish

 

I had a blast, even though the weather was frustratingly cloudy. The first person to see a bird would call out "incoming", or "on the left", or some other warning. Then the cameras would start to fire, and it sounded like a press conference with dozens of cameras shooting a few frames per second. At one point, between fishing events, I counted. There were 50+ tripods in sight, with nearly that many farther from the dam at the other spot where photographers like to set up. All the while, the fishermen were hauling in enormous gizzard shad.