As most of you probably know, I love my bald eagles and spend a good
amount of time watching, following, and photographing them. It is great
to see the population numbers increasing in the area. I have done
several eagle tours already this winter/spring and wanted to give an
update. I visit the Dutch Gap area quite a bit and monitor them there
and well as the ones I see on my daily commute to/from work over the
Benjamin Harrison bridge. There are at least two pair near the bridge
and are visible quite a bit. I usually see them sitting on the little
island on the Hopewell side and also on the trees along the banks of
Charles City. There are at least three birds that visit Dutch Gap and a
pair are nested near Henricus Park point.
I have already done three tours with Capt. Mike on the Discover the
James tour this season. One of those was an educational tour with Dr
Bryan Watts of William and Mary. I took my son on that one and he loved
it. It was a great tour with general information on eagles as well as
specifics about visible nests in the area. The other two tours have
been one morning tour and one an afternoon tour. The morning tour was
so cold...but such a great photo trip. Mike has a great knowledge of
the eagles in the area and makes the trip educational as well as just a
cool experience. The third trip was just this past Saturday and was a
group of photographers from my photo group. We had an amazing trip and
all came away happy with the pictures and awed by the experience.
I wanted to share what we witnessed on this trip. It was something none
of us had ever seen and I thought you might like to hear about it.
We encountered a pair of eagles far down river and watched as they flew
across the river and landed in a large tree too close to an osprey
nest. The ospreys both got off the nest tree and started diving at the
eagles. The eagles finally flew off the tree. The male eagle flew off
down the river, but the female eagle swooped around after the osprey and
then went over and landed in the osprey nest as if to make a point. She
called loudly several times while sitting on the osprey nest. The
ospreys continued diving and fussing and she finally flew off. I think
she made her point! It was quite the thing to see.
If you are interested, all the pics are on my site. I have a folder
specific to Mike's tours.
http://fynefoto.phanfare.com/5979835
I always welcome comments and questions and if you are ever in the area
and want me to show you around, let me know.
Barbara Houston
New Kent, VA
