As many of you know, I have been keeping an eye on a pair of Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) nests at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, waiting for the eagles to begin sitting on the nests. I featured one of the nests, an enormous one high in a tree, several times during January, but have not yet posted any shots of the smaller nest this year until now.
The most direct roads leading to this smaller nest are blocked off at this time of the year, because the nesting tree is located near the intersection of several major trails, including one on which cars are normally permitted to drive. However, I am able to take a circuitous route to reach one of the barriers that provides a distant view of the nest from which I can take some photos.
Several weeks ago I was delighted to photograph both members of an eagle couple perched together on a limb of the tree with the small nest that has been used in each of the past three years (and maybe even longer than that). As you can see in the first photo, one of the eagles is quite a bit larger than the other—generally the female is the larger one.
When I first started watching the nest that day, only the smaller eagle to the left was perched on the limb. As I pulled back on my zoom lens to be able to show the nest in the lower righthand corner of the photo, the second eagle flew in to perch next to her mate, and I captured that moment in the second photo.
The two eagles stayed together for a short while side-by-side, when suddenly the larger eagle took off. The final shot shows the eagle extending her wings and taking off from the perch, leaving the smaller eagle to keep watch over the nesting site.
I have been back several times to the site since this encounter, but have not seen the eagles there again. I am optimistic that they will soon be sitting on some eggs. In this smaller nest, the eagle is partially visible when she is sitting on eggs, whereas the other nest is so big and deep that a nesting eagle is hidden from view.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
These are great captures, Mike. Isn’t if fun to have them around again? I see them out here on the farm often, though I’ve never found a nest. Thank you for sharing.
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Thanks, Mitzy. Eagles are amazing and it is exciting to spot them. The good thing about eagle nests is that they tend to use them over and over again each year. Both nests at this refuge have been used for years and are relatively easy to spot, especially during the winter, when the leaves are off of the trees.
Always fun to see Eagle shots, makes your day when you take them 😃😃. Eagles have not been kind to me lately. Mostly frowning over the shoulder glances. 😂
Thanks, Ted. It definitely makes my day to see bald eagles. I am familiar with the frowning glances–I get them fairly regularly, but try not to take it personally. 🙂
Looks like a sycamore tree.
You’d think ornithologists could do better than stick us with Haliaeetus’s four vowels in a row.
Sharp eyes, Steve–I believe that the nesting tree is in fact a sycamore tree. As for the consecutive vowels, I have no idea how to pronounce them, though they may not be as hard as figuring out how to pronounce the consecutive consonants found in some Slavic-based words. 🙂
Even if Slavic consonant clusters are sometimes hard for foreigners to pronounce, at least there’s no doubt about how each cluster is supposed to be pronounced.
This made my day, Mike!
The phenomenal third photo is even more astounding when fully enlarged which allows one to fully view the magnificent wing span of this Bald Eagle. Thank-you, Mr. Mike!
Thanks, Ellen. That wingspan was really impressive. It is amazing how quickly an eagle can spread its wings and take off–the force that is generates is incedible.
Nice Mike! Always fun to see your Eagle images!