Conowingo Dam

When I saw the forecast for today I decided to go to the Conowingo Dam. The eagle population there peaks in November and it was a beautiful warm day. I got there at about 8AM and found at least 50 photographers with serious gear, with only a few like me lacking the big glass and tripods with gimbal heads.

Conowingo Photographers

I wandered the parking lot, checking the woods for Eagles, and spotted at least 6 of them right away. They were frustratingly idle and obscured by sticks. And they were very chatty when approached by other birds.

Bald Eagles

This bird landed right behind me and frustratingly sat there for a long time as I waited for it to fly away. Sadly, no action from him and I moved on.

Bald Eagle

There were a few bird in flight events, and I did grab a few shots. One was tantalizingly close, too close to photograph, right in front of me, with an eagle who had a fish getting attacked by another eagle trying to steal the fish. However, most flight events were like this one, with only a brief chance to grab a shot as it flew by.

Bald Eagle

Between the flight and fishing events, I was able to get a few shots like this, as sometimes I got lucky and the birds would park in good light and (mostly) unobstructed by branches.

Bald Eagle

The pattern was long periods of calm, then a brief frenzy of activity with up to 4 eagles fishing at once. This might be the cleanest bird in flight shot from those events.

Bald Eagle

One of the challenges of shooting over the water is dealing with the annoying backgrounds presented by power lines and cable towers.

Bald Eagle

Bald Eagle

This juvenile put on a fishing show, which I did a poor job of capturing.

Juvenile Bald Eagle Fishing

Juvenile Bald Eagle Fishing

Normally I wouldn't put a photo such as this one in this blog because I blew it (it's too soft). But I like the composition so much, with the reflection, that I'll indulge in posting the poor image.

Juvenile Bald Eagle Fishing

I like this next one because of the sunlight shining through the tail feathers.

Bald Eagle in Flight

Finally I ran out of time; I had to get back home to fetch my son from school. So I took one last stroll down the parking lot to see if there was anything else to shoot before leaving. This bird landed right in front of me.


Bald Eagle with Fish

The fish was still wriggling. The eagle perched there for a while, and finally began eating.


Bald Eagle Eating Lunch

After a few bites, another eagle landed in the same tree and, after a brief session of shrieking at each other, this eagle flew away, and that was the end of my photography for the day.

It was a great day to be outside; there was a lot of eagle activity (even if I didn't capture much of it), and I had a wonderful time. Can't wait to go back.