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Bald Eagles (nesting pair)

Haliaeetus leucocephalus

Photo by Geodialist
Published on Project Noah
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38.75, -77.05

Field Notes

Description:

A nesting pair of Bald Eagles spotted along Mount Vernon Trail, George Washington Memorial Parkway. The preceding gallery shows both birds. Can anyone identify the male eagle? Female?

Habitat:

Forested area alongside the Potomac River, maintained by the U.S. National Park Service. Related Resource: http://www.nps.gov/gwmp/index.htm

Notes:

Copyright © 2012 Walter Sanford. All rights reserved. www.wsanford.com

Reference Links:

Bald Eagle, Bald Eagle, Identification, All About Birds - Cornell Lab of Ornithology

Species ID Suggestions

Comments (16)
Geodialist
The "halo" effect appears on some of the tree limbs, not the sky. I just uploaded a new photo (2 of 3) in which I used "Aperture" to adjust the halo. Notice that the tree limbs look much better, but the sky is teal-colored. VERY frustrating!
East End aka Lorelei
Hmm, the sky in photos 1 and 2 look the same on my macbook - a nice, rich blue as you described. Wish I could help. Another note about CCB (Reese Lukei is the biologist I'm familiar with on their blog) they are involved in the Richmond bald eagle nest as well as the more well known nest at Norfolk Botanical Gardens. I'm so jealous! We don't have any bald eagles in Southampton.
Geodialist
Thanks for the pointer to the CCB, "East end," and thanks to all for the compliments! I shoot JPG+RAW photos. There is an annoying "halo" effect in Photo 1 that occurs only in the RAW version. I used Apple "Aperture" to remove the halo but the sky turned a light shade of teal! I tried lots of other adjustments but was unable to restore the sky color to the same rich blue as Photo 2. I don't want to bog down PN with a technical discussion of photo post-processing techniques. That said, if anyone has any suggestions then please e-mail me at [email protected]. FWIW, I have copies of Lightroom 3 and Photoshop CS5 too, but I'm much more comfortable using Aperture.
East End aka Lorelei
Beautiful! Are you familiar with CCB - Center for Conservation Biology? They are involved in tracking eagles and other raptors with transmitters and are located in VA. If you find a nest, you can let them know as well.
KarenL
I need to go back & spend a few hours watching the nest & maybe I can get some better quality photos!
KarenL
I have the DMC-FZ40 which also has a 24x zoom but I find the image quality isn't fantastic on full zoom even using a tripod - probably because we were so far off I had to crop the images too! http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/8637712
KarenSaxton
I have an Olympus sp 590 uz which has a 676mm equiv plus an additional digital... for an example, I took these yesterday http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/9018382 A friend is purchasing the new Fiji which is rated to 720mm without the digital zoom. I'm thinking if Olympus doesn't come out with a new one by the time mine wears out, then I might look into the fuji
fractalgee
i have to pull out my old 500mm mirror lens that is actually quite nice indeed! on my DSLR that would make for a whopping 1m lens! though I rarely have the patience to lug that sort of gear and tripod needed around with me, so my small format 24-432mm samsung camera wins, which I picked up for 139 euros
ChristyHolland
That's great! I also looked at long lenses...way too much for my pocket! Renting is another option... If you can get a shot of both eagles together, you can take a guess on gender... ;-)
Geodialist
Well, it helps to have a camera with a 600mm lens! My new Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ150 performs remarkably well. My camera cost $420; a 600mm lens for a DSLR costs $12K! I've been informally monitoring the same nest for several weeks. At first the eagles really didn't like me hanging around anywhere near their nest -- they would circle around and around but never land on their nest. I may be crazy, but I think they're getting used to me being around because they land on the nest now. Probably has more to do with eggs in the nest than their "comfort" with my presence. I would LOVE to get a look inside their nest!
KarenL
Great shots! I'm very envious - we have a nesting pair locally but I've only been able to see the birds from a distance as they either stay out of sight in the nest or make themselves scarce whenever we hike up close! The nest itself is amazing though - really huge!
ChristyHolland
Beautiful shots! To interject in your conversation, I don't think there's a way to tell male or female except by size - the female is "usually" larger than the male. Or an internal examination...or seeing who lays the egg! Also, they both incubate the eggs, but from what I've seen, the female sits more often than the male. Good luck! Thanks for sharing!
Geodialist
Thanks, Peter! Can you recommend an ornithology expert who may be able to ID the male- and female eagle?
Geodialist
Thanks for the kind words, "kuan-der." I think it's awesome that these magnificent birds are thriving alongside a four-lane parkway in a major urban area!

Spotted for Missions

Mission
WILD Cities: Urban Biodiversity
Mission
Birds of the World
Mission
Raptors of North America

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Photographed
PublishedFebruary 21, 2012

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