Took the hour's drive to Conowingo Dam in Maryland Monday to catch this season's crowd of bald eagles. It was worth the drive.
To get to Conowingo Dam, take state route 74 into Maryland, where it becomes state route 165. Turn left onto route 136 for seven miles. Turn left on U.S. 1 for five miles, and then right on Shuresville Road for one mile, and then left on Shuresville Landing Road for one mile, a steep and curving road to the river.
From one spot, I counted 50 eagles there, along with the usual hundreds of black vultures, great blue herons, cormorants and other assorted creatures. Couldn't find an official eagle population, and all kinds of numbers were thrown around Monday, including one gentleman who said there will be 400 eagles here in late November. I highly doubt it, but would like to know the counts.
Now, while most of the photographers there were sporting huge 400 f2.8 or 600 f4mm lenses, some were still standing with 300 or even 200 mm lenses. I had my trusty 500mm mirror (manual focus) lens, and did what I could. Felt terribly out of place and had a serious case of lens envy. My shots were OK for my one morning visit, but certainly not the quality that 'regulars' at the dam get (many are retired and spent nearly every day for the next month there).
As you look at the river, some eagles will perch in trees behind you and fly overhead, but the majority will be on the far shore (inaccessible and illegal). On the two power towers in the middle of the Susquehanna, I counted 21 eagles.
For some superb photos of the eagles, check birdsbykim.com/blog and the other photos that nearly anyone can get-- even without a lens that takes two men to carry. With the advent of auto-focus lenses, shooting eagles is fairly easy (they are big, relatively slow-moving and easy to find), so take notice of the wonderful photos on this blog that are not closeups.
If possible, go early in the day. Mist coming off the water makes for interesting photos, and the birds are generally more active. Check with the Conowingo Dam generating report at 1-888-457-4076 for when the dam operators will be releasing water. The eagles will be looking for easy pickings of fish that have been beaten up during the release.
Thanks for the directions and other info. I'll be on my way as soon as possible. The last time I attempted to do bird photography, I think in Lebanon Co. or somewhere in that area, I froze to death and saw not one bird before leaving after about 45 minutes. The "big guns" were there too but I wasn't intimidated. My great Panasonic DMZ-FC30Pl takes super-fantastic photos and weighs only a few pounds.
thanks for the great pictures!