I rarely take pictures from an automobile even though that particular method is touted as being a good mobile blind for bird photography. Today, though, turned out to be the exception to the rule as can be seen in these images of a juvenile Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) I was able to take on the drive to my mother’s home in the country this afternoon.

Turning onto the country lane leading to my mother’s house I glimpsed through the trees a Bald Eagle perched atop an abandoned telephone pole. Hurriedly driving down the road, I turned around at the first opportunity, jumped out to get my camera out of the back of the car, and warily drove back hoping the bird would still be there when I reached the opening in the trees.

Sure enough, the Eagle was still atop the pole. The raptor seemed unconcerned I was there and more intent on eyeballing the field below for prey while I sat in the car with the camera sticking out the window clicking away.

This is a juvenile Eagle, soon to reach adulthood, based on the dark feathers still on the head and the splotchy mottling of the rest of the plumage. For the first four or five years of life, a Bald Eagle’s head is brown, slowly molting to white as adulthood approaches.

Sadly, once the Eagle decided the leave the pole the bird immediately disappeared out of sight behind the trees.