I think this Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) may have been trying to snag a duck last Friday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. It repeatedly would swoop down over the water without success–the approach seemed quite different from the one that I would normally see when an eagle was fishing. In the bottom right of the first image, you can see some droplets of water that may have been caused by a duck diving under the water.
In the second photo, the eagle is not is as sharp focus as in the first shot, but you have a better look at the splash of the duck (?) diving to avoid the oncoming eagle. Perhaps it was just a fish, but I just don’t know enough about eagle behavior and the behavior of their potential prey to know for sure.
As you can probably tell, the lighting was less than optimal when I was taking these photos. The limited lighting made my camera’s focusing system struggle a bit and maintaining focus on the eagle in flight was a bit of a challenge. Still, I am pretty happy that I was able to capture some of the action, even if I am not 100 percent sure what was going on.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
Always nice to have an Eagle adventure 😀😀😀
I never get tired of photographing eagles and am blessed to live in an area where they are I see them quite frequently.
I love these action shots and the sense of narrative within them. I also really like the way the light picks up on the duck’s splash as I feel like my eye is drawn to that first and then up to the other area of sunlit water, the line that stretches behind the eagle, and that visually connects the two areas of action.
Thanks, Laura. The degree of difficulty in getting these shots is pretty high, so I am focused mostly on tracking the bird. It’s a real bonus when the compositional elements of the shot come together so well in the images I choose to share. (I can make minor adjustments by cropping the image or by increasing contrast and sharpness a bit, but I have to capture a decent starting image for that to work.
I love the flight angles in that first shot! No wonder you thought it might be after a duck. Such a great imagination!