Superstorm Sandy took its toll on more than just humans in October. Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge on the Virginal coast has been home to a pair of Bald Eagles for several years. Their nest was in a grove of pine trees approximately 500 feet from the wildlife loop road. Unfortunately, the storm blew down several trees including the one holding their nest. It was a sad sight to behold.

This pair has no home. 🙁

According to the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, the Bald Eagle mating season along the Chesapeake Bay begins in November and can last through mid-July. Most eggs are laid from mid-January to late February.

It can take 3 months to build a nest so there’s no time to waste.

Fortunately, we found our eagles hard at work building their new nest in the same grove of trees.

We watched for hours as both birds brought limbs and other materials from the woods to the north.

Keep in mind that Bald Eagles are huge and have a wingspan of 6 to 8 feet. Look at the size of the limb this one is hauling. It could be 15 feet long!

They have to have massive building materials because the nest will be around 6 feet in diameter. Big enough to hold a full-grown man with room to spare.

The eagles took turns flying in limbs while one would stay at the job site carefully fitting the materials into place.

A few times there was a long delay before an eagle returned. We guessed that it might be lunchtime. I was hoping for a flight shot with a fish but, no takeout food was brought back.

Nest building is hard work. You have to take a break sometimes.

Nothing compares to the regal look of an adult Bald Eagle. It’s no wonder they were selected as our national symbol.

We spent most of our time at Chincoteague this trip watching the eagles but, they weren’t the only game in town.

One small group of Snow Geese was out in the pond near the beach road. A hawk flew by and got them excited one too many times so they eventually got up and flew away.

I couldn’t resist shooting this lone Snow Goose with the moon. I had to resort to some Photoshop magic to get both of them in focus.

This little male Bufflehead showed up and gave me another opportunity to hone my “Bufflehead photography” skills. I’m getting better but, they’re still tough to shoot.

Chincoteague NWR is always a treat. Yes, it’s known for the wild ponies but, the bird photo opportunities are unmatched. It just seems that you can get closer to the wildlife here than most places. The ponds and ditches are near the roads and trails and the birds seem to sense that they are safe here. Long lenses are still needed but, most trips produce several keeper images.

I’m already looking forward to my next visit.

Another stop last week on our East Coast journey was a visit to Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge. It’s located on the Delaware Bay northeast of Dover. The refuge covers 16,251 acres. A portion contains several ponds and ditches along a 12-mile network of gravel roads. It offers everything that migratory waterfowl could dream about.

This year is their 75th anniversary!

Our last visit to Bombay Hook was on November 25, 2008. By coincidence we visited on exactly the same date this year, November 25, 2012. Weird!

This image is from 2008 and shows the tens of thousands of Snow Geese that were there at the time. This year we saw a couple of relatively large flights right after sunrise but, that was it. They were just flying over and never landed. That surprised us a bit because we had seen a few thousand down at Lake Mattamuskeet and figured most of the Snow Geese must still be further north. We had expected to see large numbers at Bombay Hook. Oh well…

The weather was a vast improvement over Lake Mattamuskeet. We still had to deal with the wind but, we had MUCH better light for photography. The gray-gloomy conditions were replaced by nice partly clouded skies.

One glance at this Mallard and you can immediately see what good lighting conditions will do for you. All of those beautiful iridescent feathers simply pop in the sunshine. No amount of post processing can make up for a lack of beautiful natural light.

An even better example is this Green-winged Teal. I managed to make this image at the exact moment when the sun struck his signature green wing. That’s no Photoshop gimmickry…those green feathers really are that brilliant!

Here’s another one that I shot in the Bear Swamp Pool area. His wing position is mostly hiding the green feathers. He’s still a dapper fellow and one of my favorite ducks.

Teal are much smaller than Mallards and quite speedy fliers.

The Teal may be small but, this next little guy is tiny. He’s a Bufflehead and is a diving duck. They nest in old woodpecker holes. Usually Northern Flickers or Pileateds.

The Bufflehead is a challenge to photograph for two reasons. First there’s tons of contrast between the dark and light areas which makes the highlight detail in the white areas “blow out”. Basically, all of the detail gets lost. Using spot metering helps but, it’s rarely enough. The second problem is that unless you’re shooting in good light the dark area on his head will appear solid black. This little duck has wonderful greens and purples that can only be seen when the light falls just right. Also, note his pink foot just under the water.

Even this lowly Coot looks distinguished and almost professorial under the pleasing glow of early morning golden light. (well, maybe that’s taking things to the extreme)

I’ll close with this image of an immature Red-shouldered Hawk. He’s entranced by the Sweetgum balls. Unfortunately, this image was shot in less than perfect light but, hey! It’s a cool hawk!

For some reason, this has been raptor week. Everywhere we went we saw birds of prey. Hawks, Falcons and Eagles.

Bombay Hook NWR did not disappoint. We missed the Snow Geese this year but, that was OK. Once again nature gave us plenty of other beautiful sights to dazzle and leave lasting impressions. Both digital and mental.

My visit last week to Lake Mattamuskeet brought back a lot of great memories.

My Grandfather owned property on the lake until his death in 1982. I went there almost every year from the 1960’s to the 1980’s. Around Thanksgiving and sometimes Christmas, my Grandparents, Uncles, Aunts and Cousins would descend on Fairfield, NC to partake in the duck and goose hunting season. These were opportunities to reconnect with family members while learning and enjoying the outdoors. It seems like only yesterday that we were sitting outside in a circle, plucking ducks while my Grandmother and Aunts were busy in the house preparing dinner. I can still smell the singed down feathers as we completed the final step in the laborious feather plucking process. Ahh…

Lake Mattamuskeet is the largest natural lake in North Carolina. It’s fed entirely by rain water and runoff. Originally, it covered 120,000 acres and was 6 to 9 feet deep. The soil in this area is some of the richest in the world. As a result, interest in draining the lake for farming dates back to the 1700’s. A canal was completed out to the Pamlico Sound in 1837 that reduced the lake to 55,000 acres. It’s only 2 to 3 feet deep now.

By the early 1900’s a plan was hatched to drain the entire lake. The Mattamuskeet Drainage District was formed and the entire lake was drained in 1916, 1920 and again in 1926.  The longest period the lake was dry was for 5 years after the final draining. The coal-fired pumping station, shown here, was built by Morris Machine Works and could lift nearly 13,500 gallons of water per second. At the time, it was the largest facility of its kind in the world. But, the project went bankrupt for the last time in 1932.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was dispatched to Hyde County in 1933 and successfully transformed the old pumping station into the Mattamuskeet Lodge. For 37 years the lodge was operated as a hotel, restaurant and hunting lodge. It was known as the “Goose Hunting Capital of the World”. From 1990 until 2000, local volunteers helped to maintain and preserve the old lodge. But, by the end of 2000, corrosion and deterioration of the structural steel in the building forced its closure and ended all public access.

This year Lake Mattamuskeet greeted us with several interesting wildlife specimens. Tundra Swans are common here during the winter months. Their black bill with a small yellow spot in front of the eyes makes them easy to spot. As their name implies, they breed up in the arctic regions during the summer months and winter along the east and west coasts of the US.

Usually around late November, Snow Geese can be seen on the lake and surrounding fields numbering in the hundreds of thousands. We did see maybe a thousand on the lake this year but, most likely it’s been too warm so far to get the full migration going.

We saw some sizable rafts of ducks. These Northern Pintails were spotted in the early morning flying over the southeast corner of the lake. They may be second to the Mallard in US population but, the Pintail has always been one of my favorites. The body shape and distinctive markings are simply beautiful. They lack the bling of the Wood Duck but, they make up for that in style and grace. They taste good, too. 🙂

American Wigeon ducks were well represented this year, too. Our first day at the lake we saw numerous Wigeon mixed in with thousands of Coots.

I’m cool with the Wigeon but, who ordered all of these Coots?

This female Lesser Scaup came out of a raft of ducks further out in the lake. It zoomed by me like an F-18 with 25 to 35 mph winds blowing from the northwest. These diving ducks are another hunter’s favorite.

Bald Eagles used to be a rare sight here back in the 1960’s, 70’s and 80’s. I’m happy to report that they’re doing quite well now. We saw maybe nine over a day and a half. I shot this young adult through the sunroof as we were driving down the causeway. Good thing I wasn’t driving and had my camera at the ready. Nikon D800 with the 500 f/4 hand held.

The American Kestrel is the smallest falcon in the US and as fierce as it is beautiful. I’ve always wanted to photograph one of these but, they are very wary. This little guy would fly from tree to tree along the wildlife road never letting us get too close. He stayed in the same general area but always a bit out of reach even though we had big glass.

We took a drive over to nearby Pungo Lake and were rewarded by spotting this immature Red-shouldered Hawk. Unlike the Kestrel, we were relatively close to this guy. Most hawks and falcons have a huge “comfort zone” and immediately fly when a human starts to intrude.

Pungo Lake is actually part of the Pocosin Lakes NWR. Like Lake Mattamuskeet NWR, it’s also a sanctuary for migratory waterfowl. But, on this day we didn’t see any. Maybe they were out in the fields somewhere. Who knows and who cares? We saw a cool hawk! Nuff said…

The dark gray overcast skies and VERY windy conditions made photography a challenge but, it was worth it. I spent some cherished time with my cousins, Jim and Bill. Lake Mattamuskeet graced us with a couple of days filled with wildlife and more importantly, the experience of being alive and outdoors. I may “hunt” with a camera these days instead of a shotgun but, the feelings are the same.

So many great memories…