You need to see this to believe it—dozens, sometimes hundreds, of Bald Eagles doing their thing and you can stand or sit in just one place to take it all in.
Conowingo Dam on the Susquehanna River near Darlington, Maryland, attracts piscivores galore. Young Gizzard Shad (Dorosoma cepedianum) and other small fishes are temporarily stunned as they pass through the turbines and gated discharges at the hydroelectric facility’s power house. Waiting for them in the rapids below are predatory fishes including Striped Bass (Moronesaxatilis), White Perch (Moroneamericana), several species of catfishes, and more. From above, fish-eating birds are on the alert for a disoriented turbine-traveler they can easily seize for a quick meal.
U.S. Route 1 crosses the Susquehanna River atop the Conowingo Dam. Conowingo Fisherman’s Park, the observation site for the dam’s Bald Eagles and other birds, is located downstream of the turbine building along the river’s west (south) shore. As the name implies, the park is a superb location for angling.Heed this warning. Close your windows and sunroof or the vultures will subject your vehicle’s contents to a thorough search for food. Then they’ll deposit a little consolation prize on your paint.Scavenging Black Vultures congregate by the hundreds at Conowingo Dam to clean up the scraps left behind by people and predators. They’ll greet you right in the parking lot.Photographers line up downstream of the turbine building for an opportunity to get the perfect shot of a Bald Eagle.The operator of the Conowingo Hydroelectric Generating Station, Exelon Energy, provides clean comfortable facilities for fishing, sightseeing, and wildlife observation.There’s almost always a Peregrine Falcon zooming around the dam to keep the pigeons on their toes.Double-crested Cormorants on the boulders that line the channel below the dam. Hundreds are there right now.Double-crested Cormorants dive for fish near the power house discharge, which, while just one small generator is operating, seems nearly placid. The feeding frenzy really gets going when Conowingo begins generating with multiple large turbines and these gently flowing waters become torrential rapids filled with disoriented fishes.Ring-billed Gulls seek to snag a small fish from the water’s surface.After successfully nabbing shad or perch, these Double-crested Cormorants need to swallow their catch fast or risk losing it. Stealing food is a common means of survival for the gulls, eagles, and other birds found here.Where do migrating eagles go? There are, right now, at least 50 Bald Eagles at Conowingo Dam, with more arriving daily. Numbers are likely to peak during the coming weeks.Eagles can be seen perched in the woods along both river shorelines, even in the trees adjacent to the Conowingo Fisherman’s Park car lot. Others take stand-by positions on the boulders below the dam.To remind visiting eagles that they are merely guests at Conowingo, a resident Bald Eagle maintains a presence at its nest on the wooded slope above Fisherman’s Park. Along the lower Susquehanna, female Bald Eagles lay eggs and begin incubation in January.When an eagle decides to venture out and attempt a dive at a fish, that’s when the photographers rush to their cameras for a chance at a perfect shot.The extraordinary concentrations of Bald Eagles at Conowingo make it an excellent place to study the plumage differences between birds of various ages.Here’s a first-year Bald Eagle, also known as a hatch-year or juvenile bird.A second-year or Basic I immature Bald Eagle. Note the long juvenile secondaries giving the wings a ragged-looking trailing edge.A third-year or Basic II immature Bald Eagle.A second-year/Basic I immature Bald Eagle (top) and a third-year/Basic II immature Bald Eagle (bottom).A second-year/Basic I immature Bald Eagle (bottom) and a third-year/Basic II immature Bald Eagle (top). Note the white feathers on the backs of eagles in these age classes.A third-year/Basic II immature Bald Eagle perched in a tree alongside the parking area. Note the Osprey-like head plumage.A sixth-year or older adult Bald Eagle in definitive plumage (left) and a fourth-year or Basic III immature Bald Eagle (right).If you want to see the Bald Eagles at Conowingo Dam, don’t wait. While many birds are usually present throughout the winter, the large concentrations may start dispersing as early as December when eagles begin wandering in search of other food sources, particularly if the river freezes.A pair of Bald Eagles is already working on a nest atop this powerline trestle downstream of Conowingo Dam. By late December, most adult eagles will depart Conowingo to begin spending their days establishing and defending breeding territories elsewhere. Any non-adult eagles still loitering around the dam will certainly begin receiving encouragement from the local nesting pair(s) to move along as well.
To reach Exelon’s Conowingo Fisherman’s Park from Rising Sun, Maryland, follow U.S. Route 1 south across the Conowingo Dam, then turn left onto Shuresville Road, then make a sharp left onto Shureslanding Road. Drive down the hill to the parking area along the river. The park’s address is 2569 Shureslanding Road, Darlington, Maryland.
As Bald Eagle numbers continue to increase, expect the parking lot to become full during weekends and over the Thanksgiving holiday. To avoid the crowds, plan to visit during a weekday.
You can get the generating schedule for the Conowingo Dam by calling the Conowingo Generation Hotline at 888-457-4076. The recording is updated daily at 5 P.M. to provide information for the following day.
