THE EAGLE

Hey - that's not an eagle.  That's a muscovy duck.

Check out that hair.
I have made an awful mistake in identification of this duck.  It isn't a mutt duck.  These are muscovy ducks.  Great Scott!  A learned friend just straightened my ignorant tail end out.  Thanks Paul.  Good heavens - I'm misleading the world!

But, what about the eagle?  First - look how neat this little spotted sandpiper is:

Ok - the eagle:
This is one of a pair of bald eagles that are nesting on the Holston River.  One adult has been in the nest continually for the past couple weeks.  Today, I noticed that both adults were out of the nest standing on limbs in close proximity to the nest.  This is an indication that the eggs are hatched and the necessity for an adult to constantly be in the nest is past.  From this point on both adults will bring food back to their young.  The shots that follow were taken at a great distance as I can't get the boat close enough to the shoreline for quality pictures but, the act of taking flight has been captured.  

The picture above reflects the actual distance the following shots were taken at.  Thank you 500mm lens.  The pictures show from the "at rest" position to full flight.

Bald eagles are impressive no matter what the quality of the photograph is.  I've got to work on the Calderwood entry so I'll cut this one short.  Hope you liked the eagle.