Conowingo Dam

When I first read about the Conowingo Dam online, I learned that there's a resident colony of eagles there, and in Autumn the population increases as migrants pass through. The conventional wisdom is that the eagles peak at the end of November. Off to Conowingo I went on this cold, clear morning. I left home early and arrived just after 7AM, where I found at least 50 photographers already there and set up to shoot. There were fewer eagles in the trees, fewer flying, fewer on the towers, at least as compared with my last trip. I waited around, freezing in spite of my four layers of clothing. The wind made it uncomfortable, and the lack of action made it boring. There were a few typical incidents of flyovers, like this one.

Immature Bald Eagle

And there were a few hunting events. A bird would head out over the water; it would be joined by at least one other eagle; the bird would get a fish; the others would attack to steal the fish; whichever bird finished with the fish in its possession went to eat out of sight. I saw this happen three times, each time too far away to photograph. Finally, I got a fishing sequence to shoot.

About to Dive

Turning to Get a Fish

Heading Down

Extending the Talons

About to Strike

Got It!

If you look closely, you can even see the fish in that splash of water.

My hands were freezing because my gloves were too thin, so I went back to the car to get better gloves. When I walked back, I saw that I was out of position for what turned out to be the best fishing event of my visit, and while I got to see it happen quite close, the trees made the event impossible to shoot from where I was standing. So I missed it. I hung around a while longer, until clouds started rolling in, by which time I'd had enough of being cold and bored. So that's it for me at Conowingo until next November, when hopefully I'll be able to try again.

Even though I'm finding this location a challenge for getting usable shots, it's well worth visiting. Watching these large birds fish and fight with each other is thoroughly entertaining and I can find no place near my home where the opportunity to watch this spectacle is better.