Today was another fantastic day in the North Country. I began it by being lazy and sleeping in since I knew the morning was going to be overcast with gradually clearing skies. When I did get up and moving, I headed out towards La Chute River for a six hour paddle.

Before I reached Lake Champlain, I came across an immature bald eagle who came flying in with a fish in his talons and a red winged blackbird chasing him. He landed on a tree very close to me and did not care that I was kayaking relatively close below. I must have watched that eagle for almost two hours. I watched him eat his fish, clean his beak, and preen. I even watched how he watched every move of the boats that floated through with fishermen fishing. It was interesting watching him watch the fisherman cast their rods and roll them reel back in. Not a single movement got past this eagle. Several boats with fisherman came and went and this eagle just sat there looking around while occasionally being harassed by red winged black birds.

We weren't too far from Fort Ticonderoga and this weekend was the annual reenactment at the fort. I thought for sure that when the war broke out, the bird would fly... but, he didn't. I could tell he was very nervous of all the noise and the loud bangs of the guns being shot, but he just sat there.

Not long after the war ended at the fort, the eagle finally flew. Unfortunately, it did not fly towards me, nor did it catch a fish in front of me. It did in fact catch a fish rather far from me and as I paddled towards the eagle, I could see it had a nice sized catch. I got a few shots of him taking off with it and then I moved on to look for other wildlife.

The shot I'm showing today is of him with his first fish in the tree I sat and watched him in for almost two hours. It was really cool how he felt comfortable sitting there with me floating around so close by. What a beauty and yet another fantastic opportunity! I'm loving my weekends in the North Country. Wish I had more free time to get out and enjoy the beauty of the nature and wildlife up here.