The bald eagle story at the county landfill in Charles County

When I first started my photography hobby I was always interested in taking wildlife photographs. To me, the long hikes in the woods to new exciting destinations was always remembered mostly for the photographic opportunities of the local wildlife. The day or week in the woods was only successful if I came back with hard-to-get photographs of bears, deer, elks, moose or eagles. It was the challenge of the hunt.

The art of wildlife photography is the combination persistence, patience, knowledge of the habitat, camera and photography knowledge and most of all - luck. Last week when I was making a dump run to the local landfill, I came upon a opportunity to capture some bold eagle photos. Luckily, I had my camera with me in the passenger seat as I drove on the dirt road to the location for dropping off trash. The drive took me past recent landfills with a host of birds sitting and flying around. Most of the birds were the common seagulls. However, mixed up in these groups of birds were eagles and hawks. With the bald eagle being a symbolic figure I have always tried to get photos to proudly display in my portfolio. So, as I sit in my truck full of trash, I took my camera out and started shooting the bald eagles that were closest to the truck. I should have got out and walked around but something told me that walking around in a county landfill taking photos is not such a good thing.

When I used to take photographs of wildlife I found on my excursions into the wilderness always as a story behind the photo. Typically it might be the story like the one of the two goats that raided my tent all night long on Mt. Anderson in the Olympic National Part in Washington State. Or it could be the story of the moose at Chimney Pond in Baxter State Park, Maine, that followed me around where ever I went for two days. Both of those stories still live in my memory because of the wildlife photographs I took and treasured.

But this story, "the bald eagle story at the county landfill in Charles County", would be much different. It would not involve long hikes or memories of tents, hot chocolate watching the sun set over the mountains. No, this story is of these majestic bald eagles driven to the land fill by their most primitive instincts - scavengers.

Maybe this photograph of the bald eagle will become another story for me to tell 20 years from now! The story behind the photograph of the day I went to the landfill and was rewarded with some opportunities to take shots of eagles as they prey on our waste. Not as exciting as goats invading my tent, or my pet moose following me around but still a memory captured forever in a photograph.