Bald Eagle season 2014 update.

Adult tired of nest and taking a rest from the Juvenile trying to encourage the Juvenile to Branch.

Adult Returns to nest june 7th 2014 Ft. Hunt

Looking for adult to return to nest.

June 7th 2014 at the Ft. Hunt nest again. Looking at us.

Patuxent River Jug Bay nest site.

One of two Juveniles at the Patuxent River Jug Bay Eagles nest site.

Here are both of the Juveniles together in the same tree at different positions in the tree in the Branching stage of developement. at Patuxent River Jug Bay nest June 7th 2014.

Juvenile in the Morningside nest site peeking thru the leaves on the return hike from the Ft. Hunt nest the same day May 23, 2014.

May 31st 2014 at the Ft. Hunt Nest site juvenile in the sun wing excersizing.

still calling mate.

Ft. Hunt Adult and Juvenile in the nest together. Late May.

Late May sitting with the eagles at Ft. Hunt

I left the nest area to explore the trails and returned to find the adult left the nest and sat above the nest on a branch higher up.

Adult calling for mate at the back of the nest site.

Immature possibley from last year.

Adult Gaurding nest site at Morningside April

Juvenile at nest. I found a better view of the nest site thus better photos of the eagles.

Juvenile in the Ft. Hunt nest

Juvenile in the Morningside nest.

I am showing the Highlights of the 2014 Bald Eagle nesting season from the Morningside nest, Ft. Hunt nest, and Patuxent Jug Bay nest sites. It has been a successful season for the nest sites Ive watched and photographed this year. I hope you enjoy my pics.

This is the Morningside nest site early april 2014.

Adult standing watch over nest site.

New Ft. Hunt Nest site March 22nd 2014

The first look at the new Ft. Hunt Bald Eagles Nest site for me. I was very happy to see the eagles back again nesting after hearing about there old nest getting blown down last summer. They are back in force and doing well. It looks like they are sitting on eggs or have hatchlings, so things are good. I will have more photos from this nest site this spring when the weather is sunnier the whole day. But here are some late evening sunny photos of the mate and some earlier cloudy day photos.

Bald Eagle on the first of March 2014

Bald Eagles along the Mt. Vernon Trail in VA. Here is the Bald Eagles nest site at Morningside lane along the Mt. Vernon Trail. One of many Bald Eagle nests along the Potomac River. while I waited for the mate to take his or her place on the nest egg sitting a cardinal sat in a tree and sang for a long period. Finally the mate returned to the nest to replace its mate on egg watch. Late afternoon and early evening brought cloudy conditions and lots more waiting to get returning mate to replace the one previously on guard. I think it was an overall decent day even though I did not get my perfect eagle photo. I learned a few more things about the eagle pairs and as you can see Bald Eagles are doing fine in the VA, MD,DC region.

 The duet dance in the sky.

Eastern Screech Owl along the Dyke Marsh Trail

This was a surprise sighting because most of the day I was posting up at the Bald Eagles nest sight at Morningside waiting to get some great Bald Eagle photos. I was not very successful during the day so I decided to go down the Mt. Vernon trail back to the Bellhaven Marina and down the Dyke Marsh Trail. I ran into a birder who spotted the Screech Owl in a cavity hole of a tree. I tried to see where the owl was and couldnt find it so he continued to show me where it was but finally after he handed me his binoculars I spotted the little owl. Here are the photos taken February, 22/2014

Bald Eagle Nest Exploring and Immature along the Mt. Vernon Trail

no activity yet at this nest at Patuxent river park (jug bay)

new nest site along the Mt. Vernon Trail Eagle pair is active doing nest maintenance no nesting at this time.

Bald Eagles nest with a one of the nesting pair sitting on eggs. On the other side of the Patuxent River accross from the Park I was at. (Patuxent river park (jug bay)

finally after looking around for eagles at the Patuxent river Park in MD we went back to Va and the Mt Vernon Trail where I spotted this immature as me and Steve and his son were walking back up to the dyke Marsh trail where we finally saw this immature eagle sitting along the trail. The young 2 1/2 or 3 year old eagle did not sit for us long enough for Steve to get out his camera equiptment inorder to get his closeup shot. There will be many more opportunities the rest of this upcoming nesting season.

The immature bald eagle finally making his exit.

Dyke Marsh Trail and Mt. Vernon Trail

I went out to do some photography on January 20th 2014 Martin Luther King Jr. Day. It was a beautiful day that had me motivated to walk many miles to find my subjects. I first went down the Dyke Marsh trail to the end in search of the Eared Grebe and the construction of a new Bald Eagles nest. I hoped to see the pair of eagles near or at the nest but after I reached the end of the trail there were no sign of any birds at all. So I turned around and headed back to the start of the trail. I was lucky because by the half way point to the end of the trails beginning I saw a small group of birders gathered looking at something, so I went over and asked a lady what they were looking at but she had no clue. We decided to continue up the trail and look around and right next to the trail a Red shouldered Hawk was sitting on a limb low to the ground in a search for food. I started to take photographs and decided to stay and follow the Hawks hunt. I thought I was done with the Hawk after he crossed over to the other side of the trail and watching him fail in his hunt for food many times. I decided to leave the Dyke Marsh Trail and go over to the Mt. Vernon Trail and search for the eagles along that side of  Dyke Marsh which Ive had a lot of luck finding Bald Eagles along the trail. I started down the trail south towards Morningside Bald eagles nest site but just south of Belle Haven Marina I encountered the same Red Shouldered Hawk that I photographed on the Dyke Marsh trail. These images are even closer than the prior images that i took on the Dyke Marsh trail. I continued down the trail and was surprised to find two Bald Eagles deep in the woods near to the marsh and probably the pair that is building a new nest site. This ended a great day of photography for me and sign of good things to come in this years Bald Eagle nesting season.

Early January Bald Eagle Nest scouting.

Beautiful Cold Day January 4th 2014 with snow on the ground no eagles at the nest yet but two eagles cruised over and flew away. Ill be back in February sometime.

first sight of the nest for 2014.

the trail leading up to the nest site.

the trail leaving the eagle nest site.

Downy Woodpecker around me while I waited for the eagles to show up.

Birds looking for food on the trail