I’m located about eight miles from the Virginia border, so I have a couple of favorite birding spots just east of the West Virginia state line. One of them is the Shenandoah Cool Spring River Campus.
The campus is about four miles east of the state line in Bluemont, Virginia, along the Shenandoah River. Its 195 acres support an abundance of wildlife, including Great Blue Herons, Bald Eagles, ducks, cormorants, Red-winged Blackbirds, White-tailed Deer, and many smaller animals. In addition to the river, several ponds are scattered across the property, and that’s where I found myself one mild morning in July.
Heading northwest along the property, just off the paved cart path, is the smallest pond on the campus. I had visited it a couple of times before and made some nice photographs of male and female Red-winged Blackbirds. That morning, I positioned myself about 25 feet from a small tree to my right. It looked like the kind of place a bird might choose for a perch.
I checked my watch and decided to stand still for at least half an hour to see what might happen. I could hear ducks moving through the tall marsh grass and reeds around the pond, but they never showed themselves.
After half an hour, I looked over at the little tree to my right as though it had somehow failed me. Then, almost by instinct, I glanced over my right shoulder toward the clear blue sky.
Two Bald Eagles were flying together in near-perfect formation.
I quickly raised my camera and began firing off frame after frame. I could hardly wait to get home and see the photographs on a large screen.
Once home, I went straight to my office and uploaded the images. One photograph immediately stood out. The two eagles were almost perfectly aligned, their wings stretched into nearly identical positions as they glided across the blue sky.
The pond may not have given me what I was waiting for that morning, but the sky gave me something far better.