drastically cropped to bring the subject closer, enhance in Franzis 4 Pro

This is the first time in many months that I saw the bald eagle again, and I cannot resist taking his picture. He has not yet attained the definitive all white plumage that bald eagles attain at 5 years of age. His head feathers (and his tail though not all visible in the photo) still have shades of ivory or light yellow brown. Before I learned about this fact, I had thought that the yellow brown feathers that I observed in some eagles were due to fishing in muddy waters, or something like that. When I was taking his pictures, at one point I stopped and turn momentarily away due to a family with children passing close by, and when I turned my eyes back to the eagle, he had flown away not to be seen again at this time. Just like that.

In 1782 the American bald eagle was selected as the primary U.S. symbol mostly or partly due to it being the only eagle indigenous solely to North America. The regal bird saw its first appearance on the Massachusetts copper cent back in 1776.