Reel Foot Lake - Trip Notes

[Jeff Cashdollar]

Last week I visited Reel Foot lake a Tn state park in the north west corner of the state bordering Ky. The eagles nest along the Mississippi river, fish and raise their chicks. The shooting opportunities were not good either too far away or too high in the trees. Even with the 500 and a 1.4 TC they were out of range, but those nest are absolutely huge. I capture one with a mature adult minding the home front. Mind you, this is not a great eagle picture but the next are fascinating IMO.

I saw over 50 eagles with about 20 being juveniles scattered among 9 nests, here is an example.

[Doug West]

Yep, those nests are gigantic. I can see why they usually return to the same
nests every year, who'd want to build another one.

Doug

[Kerry Perkins]

Jeff, birds are excellent architects as well as builders. Eagles take it to a higher level with their innate ability to locate ideal building sites, design an integrated nesting chamber, and construct it with their beaks and feet. Not bad... I like your image of the nest and guardian - I would probably evict the one branch covering the bird's neck.