Bald Eagle Gallery

Juvenile bald eagle calling to warn other eagles away from the nutria carcass it is eating

Back Off!

A young bald eagle calls out to warn away the other half dozen eagles that were milling about. The eagles were taking their turns eating from a dead nutria out on the ice. They were already eating the carcass when I arrived, so I don't know exactly how the nutria died, but I suspect the eagles found it already dead. Nutria were active all over the refuge that day, including out on the ice where they would have been easy pickings, but the eagles never harrassed them.

Juvenile bald eagle calling out to other nearby eagles

The Quiet Ones

The bald eagle's cry is rather surprising. Given its majestic look, its large size, its imposing beak and talons, I expected its call to be the mightiest of the birds of prey. However, when they lean their heads back to call out, what emerges is a soft, timid cry. Filmmakers may use a bald eagle when they need something that looks powerful, but will often use the red-tailed hawk's piercing cry when they need something that sounds powerful.

This picture is one of the rare times I was glad it was raining while I was out taking pictures. The ice gave a diffuse reflection, and I knew a little bit of rain would smooth out the surface, allowing both the icy look and a stronger reflection. I had to work quickly though, as the rain would soon melt the ice entirely and the eagles would disappear with it.

Use Only In Case of Emergency

In the fall of 2006, I added Canon's 2X teleconverter to my set of tools. I knew it wasn't something I'd use everyday, but wanted it for those times when you really just need the extra reach. The only lens I have that it works with is my 500mm lens. With the 1.6x multiplication factor of my cameras, the 500mm and 2X provide a field of view equivalent to a 1600mm lens on a full-frame 35mm camera. Even small amounts of camera shake will blur the shot.

On top of that, atmospheric effects can further degrade the image. Plus, with an effective aperture of f/8, I lose the ability to autofocus. The end result is that it's much more difficult to use a 2X converter than a 1.4X converter.

Difficult, but not impossible. This adult bald eagle was captured with the lens resting on a beanbag on my car window. The sky was mostly cloudy — regular clouds and not the storm clouds that are my favorite skies — but still a beautiful bird.

No Eagles But One

It was an early spring morning when I drove around the auto tour at Ridgefield and noticed there weren't any bald eagles that morning, figuring they had migrated out as the weather warmed. Towards the end of the loop, however, I noticed this second year eagle watching the comings and goings of little birds below.

If you compare the plumage of the second year to the first year (the picture below) and a full adult (the picture above), you can see that year two eagles still lack the white head that gives the eagles their name, but have a diffuse spreading of white on the back that isn't present in their first year. It's as if the white starts to spread as the eagle grows older until it eventually coalesces in the head and tail after four years.

The adult eagles at Ridgefield are rather territorial so its rare to see more than a couple of adults, but they are much more tolerant of the juveniles. They tolerate the younger birds since even though the youngsters are competitors for food, there's plenty of food at the refuge — it's competition for mates that gets the adults worked up, and the younger birds aren't much competition in that arena.

Stephen Jr. Is That You?

Fans of Stephen Colbert will know that in 2006 he adopted a bald eagle as a part of the San Francisco Zoo's bald eagle breeding program. The eponymously named eagle, Stephen Jr., was hatched in April of 2006 and eventually migrated to Canada, but later returned to the United States and came down to southwestern Washington.

This juvenile eagle at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge was likely not Stephen Jr. given the lack of an identifying wing tag, but it is about the same age. It takes bald eagles four years to get their distinctive white caps — in their first year, they are nearly all brown like the juvenile shown here. Several young eagles have been hanging out quite visibly at the refuge lately, one a week or so ago had just captured an American coot and devoured it in a tree right above me.

This eagle was perched on a branch of a tall tree, spreading its wings out in the gentle breeze. It almost seemed like it was pretending it was flying, and I wondered how long it would take it to remember that it really could fly. I've seen eagles spread out like this to dry their wings, so perhaps it had taken a dip in the water.

You can track the movement of Stephen Jr. by visiting The Institute for Wildlife Studies and selecting the date of interest. Stephen Jr.'s official designation is Eagle A-46 and you can find more truthiness about him here.

Eagle or Osprey?

I've seen ospreys hover in place above the water, watching the fish below, but had never seen an eagle do it until I came across this adult at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge. It never dove for the water and instead flew off over a raft of coots and teal, although surprisingly enough the ducks remained relatively unperturbed.