Fishing & Fighting

"The eagles are coming!"  That's what I think every time I go to battle with hobbits every winter.  In January you are sure to see bald eagles congregating below the dams - the more ice the better!  Getting decent pictures of them is the hard part.

In this first photo, a juvenile (notice his white tail feathers have not come in yet) had just snatched up a fish.  Before he could make off with it, an adult swooped in to steal it, in an aerial version of Steal the Bacon.

After a couple of feints at the juvie's prize, the younger bird was rattled enough, or tired enough, to drop his dinner.

The older eagle swooped in to catch it as it fell - but missed!  High drama on the river!  The fish fell back into the river, and no one got to eat it.

In this other shot, a mature baldie fished out this prize, clutched in his talons.  It would be enough to see him through the freezing night that was coming on fast.