More Eagles

The weather was great for a walk in the refuge at dawn, so I went to Occoquan Bay NWR. I headed straight for the shoreline and found the eagle nest in the woods. There was a mature eagle near the nest, but I couldn't tell if the nest was occupied. I presume that eagle's mate was down in the nest. The one eagle that I saw flew away, away from me of course. I walked on. I also had an immature eagle fly right over me, but it was still too dark for a decent photograph.

There's a spot at Deephole Point where I can look across the water at a distant osprey nest. I've often seen eagles on that nest when the ospreys are gone for the winter. No luck. But then within a few steps of taking the look through the lens at that nest, I looked up and saw a pair of mature eagles sitting in a tree in plain sight. I got some unremarkable shots of both of them together, then one flew away. I walked closer and got some better shots of the one who stayed behind.

Bald Eagle in the Sun's First Light

Eventually it flew away too. But I was able to watch it through the trees and I noticed it landed near its mate in an area that was close to a road. So I headed for that road. I rounded a curve and found them, but not on the same branch, so I didn't get shots of them together.

Bald Eagle

 Bald eagles have a nictitating membrane that they use to blink. When I first looked at this shot, I wondered what was up with the eye, until I realized that I caught it blinking. Zoom in for a closer look. The barely-discernible pupil is there, but it just doesn't look right, particularly when bird photographers always look for clear, sharp shots of the eyes.

Nictitating Membrane

Eventually both of them flew away again. As I walked back along the shore, I spotted several more eagles sitting in trees, too deep in the woods for clear or usable shots.

I eventually headed back toward the parking lot when I spotted another pair in a tree, near the wildlife loop road. As I walked closer, this immature eagle flew right in front of me. I was concentrating on the pair in the tree and almost didn't get the camera up in time for this one shot of it.

Immature Bald Eagle in Flight

I looked back at the pair in the tree, and slowly approached. Again they weren't on the same branch, so no clean pair shot was possible.

Bald Eagle Takes Off

One flew away, but the other one hung around for a while.

Bald Eagle in Flight

Not great shots, but I like the fact that I managed to capture some feather detail.

Bald Eagle Looks at Me

I have some clearer shots of this bird, but I like this one because, if you look at it full-size, its eye is perfectly framed by branches, as though he/she was peeking through the gap to see my eyes (or, actually, it would have been looking at my camera as I was shooting away).

After this one flew away, I was done for the morning. What a nice, cold, peaceful morning walk it was, mostly quiet (except for the hunters in their boat-blinds shooting at ducks), punctuated with at least a dozen eagle sightings.