Photos by Donna

The day after the blizzard, I was amassed with photo ops of the birds who had survived in our cove and were now happily feeding on a beautiful, bright day.  Not too much beats a day like that from your balcony!

Today it was a different story.  It was mostly cloudy, and our cove was frozen over as well as Marshy Creek.  Only a few Ring-billed Gulls were sitting on the ice.  The Kent Narrows channel was still flowing.  No other birds were in sight except with binoculars.

By early afternoon, the sun popped out here and there for a bit.  The gulls were still there.  I think they were wondering where’d the party go and when would it return.  Anyway, with the lighting and ice, they made for some nice ops.

Later, I saw a few ducks dropping down in our cove.  It was the Gadwells again!  This was exciting, I had never seen such a large flock of Gadwells anywhere before so their return from yesterday is pretty awesome.  I missed capturing their landing and sliding as they skidded across the ice.  I wondered if they knew it was going to be ice.

They made their way to the gulls who were still hanging out.

I’m sure in the above photo the Gadwells were asking the gulls, “Where’s the party?”

The ice began to melt and move in patches with the tides by late afternoon; and small rafts began to appear in them, mostly Ruddy Ducks.

Oh, and the Tundra Swans returned and were deep up in Marshy Creek where they spent the afternoon snoozing on the ice.  Except for the boss who kept watch.

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Now let’s get to what this post was to be about and enjoy another American Bald Eagle fly-by!

The day after the blizzard the pair of CBEC Eagles that live across Marshy Creek were out and about most of the day within my viewing range, along with all the other hungry birds.

Late afternoon, one of the pair finally left their tree.  This time he appeared to be coming directly my way….

(This is where a bird photographer’s adrenaline begins to pump….)

I told myself to ‘keep breathing’ while I took several photos similar to this first one as he continued his path to me.

That dot in the background is a male Ruddy Duck in case you wanted to know!  🙂

As he made his way, he started looking down at all the Ruddy Ducks in the water.  I thought, oh no……

Well, for some reason, he decided it wasn’t worth the effort and kept on flying right on past me.  I reminded myself to start breathing again….

Unfortunately, he flew right into the sunlight, so I had to lighten the next photos.

Obviously, he was on a mission of other sorts instead of dinner.

What a beauty!  I never, ever tire of seeing one more Eagle and taking on the challenge of capturing such a majestic bird.

Tomorrow’s post is to be more on this pair of CBEC Eagles.  Love is in the air!  ❤