Adult Bald Eagle
Conneaut Marsh

At about 5:45 I noticed a wide silouette coming at me from ahead. Glassing it revealed an adult eagle. He circled around the far end of the marsh and I followed him. He kept circling closer and closer and I was getting excited. I had the light in my favor and was prepared. Had he flown over like the immature had the day before, I would have had a sporting chance at a trophy shot. He was circling lower and lower and suddenly I caught glimpse of his legs dropped down. He was fishing. I love eagle legs. I'm not sure how to explain that. Anyway, I wanted to capture them in silouette form since I had no chance of getting a good exposure against that area of sky.

What I got pleases me greatly. I got a great exposure that kept some detail and color in the sky, and enough in the tailfeathers to show its an adult eagle. After a few passes he swooped down and apparently snagged a fish. Only problem was it must've been a whopper because when he tried to get airborne he couldn't. Whatever it was pulled him down into the water. He was flapping his wings, water was coming up but he wouldn't let go. I'm not sure what became of what he caught, but after 5 or so minutes of struggling, he hauled himself up onto land where he stayed for a good 1/2 hour drying himself off in some cattails. I kept seeing him shaing his head and wings. While in the cattails he must've been thinking "I sure hope nobody saw all that."

While he dried off, I was ready for him to take off and fly over but instead he flew the other way down the marsh.