If you read my last blog post, you read that I thought my season for photographing the local bald eagles was pretty much over.

Well…. That may not quite be the case.

Earlier this week, I decided to take a little hike through the woods at a local park.  I really wasn’t expecting to find anything to photograph, I grabbed my camera and my big telephoto lens.  You never know!

Sometimes it’s just nice to walk without any photo expectations and to just take in the surroundings.  I first came across a female Cardinal who decided to take a little bath in the creek.  She was fun to watch splashing around.

Had fun watching this female Cardinal take a bath in the creek

The next thing that I found were some wild purple Lupin flowers growing in the meadow.  I took a handful of photos with my iPhone 14.  The iPhone really does an amazing job with close up photos!

I continued around the perimeter of the meadow and came across a doe that was maybe 5 feet into the woods.  I backed up a bit and then sat down in the grass and let her go about her business.  I realized it wasn’t one deer but three including one button buck.  They crossed out of the woods into the meadow and gave me a few photo ops.   Eventually, they wandered out of sight and I continued my walk.

A 'Button Buck' keeping an eye on me to make sure I'm ok

A doe taking a walk through the tall grass in the meadow

I was ready to call it a day and headed back to the car.  As I was making my way back, I saw another photographer sitting on a bench and decided to go and say hello.  We chatted about photo stuff and he mentioned that he had hoped to see some eagles.

At this point, I literally looked up and past this guy and there were 2 sitting together in the tree.  Given the location and proximity to their nest, I initially thought that it was John & Sandy.

Was suprised to see this pair sitting up in the tree

The two eagles sat together for about 15 minutes enabling me to take a few portrait photos.  The male left first and did a couple laps over the lake before returning to the same branch.  I kept hoping it would try and grab a fish giving me an ‘action’ photo.  

While I had the camera trained on the male, the female must have also taken off.  When I finally took my eye away from the camera, she was gone.

I hung around for another 45 minutes, hoping the female would return or the male would take off giving me an action shot but it wasn’t to be.

It wasn’t until I got home and had an opportunity to take a look at my photos that I realized I had not seen this pair before.  The female has a little bit of brown mixed into the white on top of his head.  So it’s exciting to have a new pair of eagles in the neighborhood.

Beautiful female approx. 5 years old.  Notice the specs of brown in her white head

I’m going to try and stop back at the lake where I saw them in the next couple days and see if I can find them again.

I’m also hoping to get back to check on John & Sandy’s eaglets.  Keeping my fingers crossed but it’s quite possible that there nest will be completely obscured by leaves.

I've also added a lot of new photos to my store that you can purchase at my store. Click Here to Access my Store

As always, please leave me any questions or comments below.  I always love hearing from you.