Indomitable. On 9/11, today and forever. God bless the USA.

A fun couple of images from back in February. Nearly two dozen bald eagles had descended on a suburban pond not far from my house, taking advantage of the thawing ice and plentiful fishing.

This happens in this spot every few years and only lasts for a couple of days. Needless to say, it is a ton of fun and yields bunches of photos.

Here, an adult eagle joins two others, one of which was making quite a racket about the new roost member.

With the change of seasons, I am looking forward to seeing many more of my favorite photo subjects in the coming months. Have a great weekend, everyone!

Is it spring yet? This time of year my favorite photo subjects are not very numerous and I start going through withdrawals. It seems like it has been months since I had a quality photo session with any eagles so I find myself flipping through images from earlier this year.

This particular one, taken at the first of April, is one of a mated pair of bald eagles with a nest not far from where I live. On this day, their little one would have hatched but remained out of sight. The parents were busy with nest maintenance and taking care of the eaglet. Here, one of them departs the nest and heads out on a fishing trip.

Taken in Homer, Alaska a couple weeks ago and a cool one for Freedom Friday.

While we have no shortage of bald eagles here in Colorado (at least in the winter), I was looking forward to seeing them in a different environment and in greater numbers in Alaska. Interestingly enough, that didn’t quite pan out.

While we did see them everywhere we went, they were one or two at a time – nothing like what I envisioned. I suspect that is due to the late summer time-frame but don’t know for sure.

This particular one is one of a mated pair that had a nest on the very end of the infamous Homer Spit. When the tide was out, they would leave their fledgling at home and hit the beach looking for whatever the receding waters left behind. This one happened to find a fish and was jealously guarding it from the gulls.

A fine image for #FreedomFriday.

Taken back at the end of April, this is my local nest’s mated pair of our national emblem. They were both very busy making runs for food and nesting material to keep their little one comfortable.

With the eaglet now having fledged, I haven’t seen them in a while but am anxiously looking forward to their return next spring.

You would think turning around on a perch would be a simple thing for a bald eagle and indeed, normally it is. This one however seemed to be having a bit of a hard time with it when I was observing it this past Valentine’s Day.

The overcast skies weren’t particularly ideal but they did provide some nice, even lighting allowing a good deal of detail to be shown of this majestic – if a bit clumsy – creature.

Holy moly. Check out the talons on this guy! Those could definitely do some damage, eh?

This handsome bald eagle was returning to his home at the end of April and put on a nice little display as he prepared for touch down. Seems like a good image for Freedom Friday.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Having delivered a meal for its mate, a male bald eagle departs the nest.

Taken back on April 5, the pair was keeping close watch on their eaglet, then no more than a couple weeks old and well hidden in the nest.

As I mentioned earlier this week, that little one has grown and now taken flight so I won’t be seeing it or the parents much now. Thankfully I have a ton of pics to console me until the next nesting season. 😀

Well, a bit of a bittersweet time this morning at my favorite bald eagle nest.

I arrived at dawn to see the juvenile had hopped its way about 20 feet from the nest but still in the nest tree. I couldn’t get a good view but I waited, hoping the parents would arrive. After about a half hour, the young one got very active, flapped its wings and went down the backside of the nest tree.

I knew where it was headed – Dad and Mom’s favorite perch across the river. Sure enough, there it was, hanging out and enjoying a beautiful, Colorado morning.

While I am excited for it to have fledged and taken this major step, I can’t help but be a bit sad. It will linger in the nest area through the summer but it won’t be constrained to the nest tree and that will make seeing it and photographing it difficult.

I am consoled though by the fact that this is yet another example of the awesome recovery the bald eagle has taken from the brink of extinction and I am privileged to have been able to witness it.

An adult bald eagle making a lot of noise last weekend along the South Platte River. The young one didn’t seem too sure what to make of it, choosing to ignore the parent’s chattering. Hmm. That kinda sounds like human kids, eh? 😉