It was really cool on Tuesday to be able to capture these images of a young Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) looking out from the large eagle nest at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. The growing eaglet appeared to be quite alert and was sitting up quite high near the edge of the nest. I love how you can see the mottled plumage, dark eyes, and multi-colored beak of this eaglet in these photos.
The nest is high in the trees and there is now a lot of vegetation growing, so it was quite a challenge to get a clear angle of view. I am pretty happy with the results that I was able to achieve. The eaglet looks to be big enough to be flying, but I am not sure if that is the case. One of its parents was perched on some branches just above the nest, so I am pretty sure that it is not yet ready to go out on its own—eagles normally take about 12 weeks to fledge and then may hang around with their parents for another month or two.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
Very nice Mike! Always fun to see & photograph Eagles!
Thanks, Reed. I always feel especially blessed when I have a chance to see a bald eagle and doubly so when I am able to take some photos.
Good to see 👍. We are having a tough year here with Eagles, and just about everything else. Avian flu is moving around..
He reminds me of my 16 year old son trying to get out of bed in the morning.
Great pics of a real cutie.
Thanks. Eagles look so fierce so much of the time that it is a little tough for me to think of one as a “cutie,” but in a strange way it fits here. 🙂
[…] nest in which a young eagle was visible. Harried parent? Check out yesterday’s posting “Looking out of the nest” if you missed the photos of the inquisitive juvenile […]
Very cool, indeed! Nice captures and so interesting to see the details at this age.
There are some people that can tell the age of a bald eagle based on the coloration of the eyes, the feather pattern, and the color of the beak. It takes around five years for the bald eagles to acquire the bright white head feathers, so there are a number of distinct phases that an eagle goes through before then.
[…] this month I did a posting called Looking out of the nest that featured a young Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) sitting up in a large nest at Occoquan […]