Miscellaneous birding

Chirp, squawk, flutter. 

From the trees on the other bank, an eagle explodes out over the water.  This is no fisherman trying to find breakfast; it's a predator being chased away by an angry bird parent.  I have no idea whose nest the eagle tried to pilfer, but the angry chips and sqawks made it impossible to get a nice clear shot of the bald eagle.

Never knew they could be so chicken-shit scared.  They have to be the largest birds on the river.  And I didn't know they ate anything other than fish, but the squawking was unmistakable.  He was sticking his beak where it didn't belong!

Farther up river, near the Elmira Water Board intakes, two good-sized waterfowl eye one another uneasily.  I grabbed a quick shot, and moved closer for another, but the Great Blue on the right had flown. 

Here's another shot of the remaining bird.  I'm guessing it's a cormorant;  there are very few solitary birds on the Chemung.  Just happened that two separate loners met this morning.

I can imagine that the cormorant is reluctant to give up its temporary perch.  Our river is just a flyway to them.  The heron can move along to many familiar spots to find solitude.

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Little Pond