BODACIOUS BALD EAGLES: The Largest Gathering on the East Coast

Text and photos by Barbara J. Saffir, unless otherwise noted.

The East Coast’s largest gathering of bodacious bald eagles is just a dash up I-95 at Maryland’s Conowingo Dam. More than a hundred of these ravenous raptors can hunker down at the dam on the Susquehanna River near the head of the Chesapeake Bay for its fish feast around Thanksgiving each year.

ARMN members visited Conowingo on Dec. 8 to learn how to identify eagles of different ages and to eyeball their behaviors first-hand. They saw at least 100 eagles surrounding them without using binoculars—and a professional birder counted 154 the day before.

“The experience was unparalleled and worth the trip up I-95,” said member Kirsten Lyke. “Being able to see an enormous population of eagles, unbothered by birders and photographers, fishing and interacting, was a once in a lifetime experience.”

Eagles descend upon the dam from the north and the south for the endless buffet as fish flop over the dam and remained stunned for “easy pickings” by the eagles, cormorants, and other birds. Member Barbara Saffir, who has informally studied the eagles as she photographed them at Conowingo for several years, led the ARMN field trip.

Lyke attended along with fellow ARMN members Carol Abel, Heidi Moyer, Susan Tatum, and ARMN Board Member Jan Siddle, who previously helped conduct bald eagle surveys at Mason Neck State Park in Lorton, VA.

The members watched the not-so-gentle giants (with a maximum wingspan of 80.3″), flying, fishing, fighting, chasing each other to steal their neighbor’s fish (and maybe chasing each other just for fun), chowing down on shad, and more. While eagles are well known for stealing fish, “they also occasionally hunt cooperatively, with one eagle flushing prey toward another,” says Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Cornell says bald eagles typically are sedentary in the winter “conserving energy by roosting in sites protected from prevailing winds and by perching adjacent to potential foraging areas, waiting for foraging opportunities.”

The ARMN group studied eagles of all ages: from adults, which attain their iconic white heads and tails by age 5, to 3 1/2-year-olds with yellow beaks and mottled brown and white heads, to roughly year-old immatures with black beaks and largely brown feathers.

Eagles of all ages huddled together side by side like old chums—but every so often, if a resting eagle saw a nearby eagle grab a fish from the river, it jetted off to try to steal it.

The eagles’ high-pitched, gull-like calls were heard sporadically during their entire two-hour visit. And even though eagles in Maryland; Washington, DC; and Virginia start nesting in December, one sound they didn’t hear was from a female signaling that she’s “ready for love.” Females, which are about a quarter bigger than their mates, may repeat a single, soft, high-pitched note that Cornell says been called “unlike any other calls in nature”.

Members also learned that eagles can live at least 38 years. And they also discovered that the Center for Conservation Biology in Williamsburg maps eagles’ nests in Virginia and tries to update the status of each nest. If anyone finds a nest that is not on the map or they want to update a nest’s status, they can report it online by clicking here: https://ccbbirds.org/what-we- do/research/species-of-concern/virginia-eagles/nest-locator/.

Bald eagles, of course, are one of America’s greatest conservation success stories. After edging toward extinction, they began to recover after DDT was banned in 1972. But now, the Center says they face a new problem. “The population within the Chesapeake Bay is rapidly moving toward saturation where most of the appropriate habitat will be occupied. Once the population reaches saturation, younger age classes that are reaching sexual maturity have no space to form new territories.”

Since that’s unlikely to happen immediately, it’s not too late to see them in their glory at Conowingo Dam. Some will still be there in January though not as many. And while you’re there, check out the great blue heron rookery (heronry) on Rowland Island by the dam. You’ll also likely see double-crested cormorants, gulls, and black vultures in the area.

Speaking of the vultures, don’t park your car at the southeast end of the parking lot for the dam at the trailhead into Susquehanna State Park. It’s a spot favored by the vultures and they’ll rip the rubber wipers off your car. But do take some time to watch them hanging out. Sometimes they seem to dance when they walk, and sometimes a group on the ground or in the trees—known as a “committee of vultures”—will hold their huge wings out simultaneously like in a horror movie. During our field trip, dozens of them ignored our prying eyes just 15 feet away and took a polar bear bath in the river. I could have sworn that some were smiling as they splish-splashed around like little kids at a pool party.  And just like the bald eagles, they are downright bodacious. 

Here are some additional resources to learn more:

CONOWINGO DAM: https://birdersguidemddc.org/site/conowingo-dam-fishermans-park/; https://www.constellationenergy.com/our-company/locations/location-sites/conowingo-hydroelectric-generating-station.html.

EBIRD CONOWINGO DAM: https://ebird.org/hotspot/L189368.

(Note: Most eagles may not be reported since the south side of the river is in Harford County and the north side, where many eagles roost, is in Cecil County.)