Flight practice

This has to be the best time to be a bald eagle. Biologists devote their lives to monitoring their nests. Eagles that are injured or killed make national news. EagleCams have millions of devoted viewers.

There is no doubt, eagles are making a tremendous recovery.

I tried to talk my brother-in-law, an avid birder in Virginia, into coming out to Washington for the Skagit Eagle Festival, where dozens of bald eagles gather in winter for a salmon feed.

He told me he could see the same thing at home. There are so many bald eagles on the Potomac River, they are like pigeons, he tells me.

We spotted three bald eagles engaged in flight practice, flying in formation, soaring on thermals, occasional jousting in mock battle. At least two were juveniles and an adult was later joined by another adult. 

 

For my favorite raptor images, visit my Talons Gallery.