Eagle Extravaganza at Conowingo: 1/25/09
Posted by admin | Under Recent Field Trips Thursday Jan 1, 2009
Conowingo Dam in Maryland is legendary for the concentrations of Bald Eagles that gather there in the winter. With all of the easy-to-catch fish chopped up by the dam turbines, this is practically a buffet for eagles!
Upon arriving, our group of 31 youth birders, parents, and family members enjoyed the sight of a pair of Bald Eagles perched right above the parking lot! The pair sat together for a long while, and even mated briefly! Hank Seiler, a new birder, took this photo of the pair together.
We saw at least 15 different Bald Eagles in the area: some perched on rocks in the river, some in trees, and some on the power towers. Maggie Davis of Baltimore used her digital camera to take a nice photo through a spotting scope of a young Bald Eagle. That’s called digi-scoping!
Of course, lots of other birds are attracted to this area in the winter. Lots of gulls, like this Ring-billed Gull photographed by Nick Mielnickiewicz, eat the fish and food scraps found in the water. We saw ducks like Northern Pintail, Black Duck, and Mallard in the water. Along the edge of the island, we counted over 75 Great Blue-herons in a row! The fishing is good here!
We had a great time watching the birds at Conowingo, and learned a lot more about our nation’s symbol– the Bald Eagle!