Who Said Children Were Fun??
A baby can be an exciting time for a new parent, but it’s also a lot of work. The local area mated pair of bald eagles hatched their chick over a month ago and mom and dad have been very busy every minute since then.
But from the expression on dad’s face as he was flying around on a recent afternoon, he just might be a little worn out already. I thought he had kind of a sad sack or hang dog look on his face and I’m not sure if he was out hunting for baby food or just taking a head clearing flight as a short break from child care.
Bald eagle babies grow fast and seem to be just about always hungry so these parents have a lot more to do in the coming weeks!
Phil Lanoue Photography 
Didn’t your mother ever tell you “Have your fun but pay for it?”! Beautiful pictures, Phil!
I don’t think this boy gave much thought to what happens once the fun is over. 🙂
That’s hilarious! Who knew that one could read a bald eagle’s facial expression?!
I might be reading a bit much into this but suspect I’m not too far off. 🙂
Escaping for a little breather! But I’m sure he was told to bring home the bacon before returning! 🙂
He has been a little sneaky though. One time I saw him pluck out a fish but did not bring it to the nest! He sat in a tree and ate it himself.
The perfect flying machine. Great detail. The wings are just perfect and the look on his face is priceless
Yeah I got a kick out that look he had on his face too. They are impressive flyers! Thanks for looking and commenting.
He certainly looks like he needs a breather.
Yes he does. The cool thing about eagles is that they can still take it easy when flying. I’ve seen this guy gain significant altitude and go quite a distance without so much as a flap. He just holds out those big wings and lets the air do all the work.
Beautiful photos of dad on the hunt, Phil. We have them building nests up here already even with all the snow. So I do imagine they have one tough life being parents. In December I was in Conowingo, MD and saw many juveniles and saw how hungry was a growing eagle. They fight like crazy to grab the food from each other.
Do you watch the Berry College GA eagle cam? They now have 2, week old grey fluff ball chicks and those two are already battling with each other over food.
We have no way to close up view the chick our local pair have except for a glimpse with a high power spotting scope but know for sure it keeps the parents busy.
Thanks so much for looking.
I will look up that eagle cam. We have one at our local reserve too, but may not as they decided the tree grew too tall for cam maintenance. They could not replace the guy that climbed the tree! If the camera goes out, it is done. Plus the eagles have tried to destroy it once too.
That would be amazing to see eagles destroy a camera. 🙂
Che spettacolo il volo dell’aquila!!
Grazie Pat glad you liked these!
He looks slightly hen-pecked. 😕
He may have had better days I’m thinking.
The light on the face, super sharp … priceless.
I still don’t have them perfectly trained to angle their wings properly for the best lighting when top lit. I’ll keep at it though.
Incredible photos of this guy – he does look a bit haggard but VERY handsome and quite regal.
fantastic!