Bald Eagle Spotted at Lake Mercer in Fairfax Station, VA

Today my wife and I took a stroll by the lake to photograph woodpeckers. It was not the best day for long lens photography. Very overcast and constantly diminishing light made exposure a continual problem. However, there was a very high abundance of subjects to shoot including a Bald Eagle. See below. There are a good number of shots in the sequence but these are a few I can share. All shots were taken with my Canon 60D and a 500mm F/8 mirror lens.


This Red Shouldered Hawk has a nest up on a hill near a house. If I was that homeowner, I would be perched at the window all day as they have an excellent view down onto the nest from their upstairs bedrooms. However, I had to be satisfied with observing this hawk from the trail. An excellent subject, he was aware of everyone standing around watching him and was patient with everyone.




This little guy sat patiently spying on me while I tried to get a good position on a hawk. He was an excellent subject and held very still.



I could hear this Pileated Woodpecker hammering on a tree from a mile away. As we tried to get other shots on Downey and Red Bellied Woodpeckers I was subconsciously drawn to the sound of this large bird hammering away and got an excellent opportunity to photograph and observe him feeding.




This was the highlight of our journey today. When I first saw this Bald Eagle I did not have a very good line of sight and the image I got was bad at best. He flew along the south side of the lake and we were able to catch up with him opposite a creek along one of the trails. This is where I took this picture. We continued to follow him for yet a 3rd photo opportunity but it did not present itself very well and the creek shots ended up being the best. In past years we heard reports of Bald Eagles being spotted here but never any nesting. He is probably a transient that stopped by to feed on squirrels and fish. Hopefully he will stay around for a while.