The sky was almost completely overcast last Thursday morning at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge and looked almost white in my photos, making some of my shots look like they were taken in a studio. Still, the uncluttered backdrop helps to draw the viewers attention to these cool images of a Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) as it took off from the very large eagle nest at the refuge. The final photo, taken with my iPhone a few days earlier, gives you an idea of the setting in which the nest is located—the photos make it look like I was a lot closer to the nest than I actually was.
I spotted eagles perched on or in three separate nests that day, a clear sign that nesting season is almost here. The fact that the eagles did not remain continuously in the nest suggests to me that they are not yet sitting on eggs. I will continue to monitor the nests and with a little luck I may be able to see some eaglets in the upcoming months.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
Wonderful eagle action photos, Mike, of this special raptor. Great news that you found three active eagle nests in one day. I liked seeing the setting too, in #3.
Thanks, Jet. I am getting better at remembering to take environmental shots. I tend to be so focused on zooming in or otherwise getting close to my subjects with my telephoto or macro lens that I often forget to show the environment. This has been an amazingly good winter for me for eagle photography. 🙂
Nice Eagle images Mike! Always a good day when you can photograph Eagles! Keep the Eagle images coming! I look forward to seeing your images!
Thanks, Reed. I’ll keep my eyes open and hope that my persistence pays off–it’s feast or famine when I go out with my camera and recently I have had a lot of feast days.
Wow! Fantastic action shots. Amazingly crisp capture too.
Thanks, Laura. It was a crazy moment to capture and I am actually a little surprised at the relative sharpness of the image, considering how far away I was when I took it.