Bald Eagle

I was at NJ Audubon's Plainsboro Preserve a few weeks ago and saw someone flying overhead. This usually turns out to be a Turkey Vulture or Red-tailed Hawk, but I was surprised to see this was a Bald Eagle. The picture isn't great, but the eagle was quite a bit closer to me than they usually are.

I don't know the backstory of this eagle, like whether the eagle is part of a nesting pair or is more of a "lone wolf" eagle. I was on the shore of a lake, so I'm assuming that the eagle had been fishing. The plumage looks like that of an adult; if it was too young to breed this year, it'll almost certainly be ready next year.

It is getting a little crowded for eagles in NJ. My impression is that they usually require fairly large territories around here (places with more fish probably allow them to shrink their range), and we have about 200 nesting pairs of eagles in NJ these days. Most of the prime spots are probably occupied, and would require a fight to acquire them.

April 28, 2021 at the Plainsboro Preserve
Photo 128318961, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)


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