Highlands “Eagle Loop”
As winter draws closer, it is with eager anticipation that we await the first ice on the Hudson here in the Highlands. As the lakes and ponds to our north begin to freeze over, Bald eagles begin to creep southward in search of open waters in which to hunt fish. In a stretch of 12 miles from the Bear Mountain Bridge to Croton Point Park, the eagles will congregate along the banks of the Hudson and on isolated ice flows where the water remains open due to topography and river traffic. In colder years, the ice may begin to appear as early as mid-December, and with the ice come the eagles. Now it is way too early for the freezing of the northern waters, but today I decided to retrace the route we take later in winter to see if any resident eagles were on-site and to see what other wildlife might be found.
Croton Point Park - 11/18/25
First stop of the “Eagle Loop” we trace along the Hudson in winter is Croton Point Park. Eagles will often roost in the trees seen across the bay and are in fact often observed here during the rest of the year. None today, however, but there are some American Black ducks swimming far out in the bay. While Black ducks are year-round residents here in the valley, their numbers are augmented during the late fall and into winter as more northerly residents migrate south into areas of open water. And so it is at this time of year that we are beginning to see the Black ducks in greater numbers.
American Black ducks - 11/18/25
The Black ducks can easily be mistaken for female Mallards at first glance. But upon further inspection, the totally yellow bill is a “give-away” clue. Mallards will have a yellow bill with a dark smudge down the middle of it. Also, if you look carefully at the left-most duck above, there is a blue spot known as a “speculum” on the wing. On a Mallard, that spot would be outlined in white. No white = Black duck. Always fun to see the influx of these birds around Thanksgiving.
Other than America crows and a good number of Ring-billed gulls (see most recent post for more info on Ring-bills), the bay was quiet today, so we’ll move on to the next stop on the “loop”.
George’s Island - 11/18/25
Heading north several miles from Croton Point Park, we arrive at George’s Island Park in Montrose. This little park can be a magnet for wintering Bald eagles with a dozen or so eagles sprinkled through a single tree overlooking the embayments. Later in the season, I often find other waterfowl such as Bufflehead, Common mergansers, Hooded mergansers and even an occasional Common loon here. But again, it is too early for those birds today. I do find a handsome little Downy woodpecker. Judging from the number of excavations on this tree, he has obviously been sharing the site with other woodpeckers.
Downy woodpecker - George’s Island - 11/18/25
Continuing north, next stop is Verplanck and Lake Meahagh. This lake is a stop for eagles during the colder winter months but today, the best find is a gorgeous Great egret enjoying the warming sun on a dock at the local park.
Great egret - Lake Meahagh - 11/18/25 “Low Key” technique used - ISO 125, f/5.6, 1/1250 sec (See Tech Tip below)
It is late in the season for these birds here in New York. While found throughout the state in summer, by late November they have usually vacated the area and are now concentrated to the south for the winter. Indeed fortunate to see this bird in all its brilliant splendor this close to Thanksgiving! No eagles here today, however, so we’ll move on.
Next stop is at Charles’s Point. A new “makeover” has the pier looking quite beautiful. A local tour boat runs out of this site and is very active during the peak of fall foliage. That time has come and gone, however, so the vessel was lying quietly on the Hudson this afternoon. When the ice is on the river, this is a great spot to find the eagles from up north floating along on the ice platforms in search of fish close to the surface. During those periods of heavy ice, it is not uncommon to find in excess of 200 Bald eagles between the Bear Mountain Bridge and Croton!
American Bald eagle on ice - Croton- 1/10/25
The image above was taken at Charles’ Point earlier this year when the cold temperatures gave us ice on the Hudson. It’s quite a sight to find dozens of these birds all in close proximity to one another waiting for an easy meal to come floating by. While I certainly son’t want to wish away each wonderful day I experience here in the Hudson Valley, I am looking forward to the return of these beautiful icons from the north in the next month or so.
The final site on our “Eagle Loop” is Iona Island. We normally check out the island from an overlook on the opposite side of the river. That overlook offers wonderful scoped views of the eagles up and down the Hudson as well as on Iona. There are nesting eagles we found, photographed, and reported on earlier in “Natdigital” (see “The Silloway Count Part II” from June 2, 2025), but access to the main part of the island is restricted most of the time, so I could not check on them today. Again, today no eagles, but there were four more Black ducks to photograph on the marsh.
American Black ducks - Iona Island - 11/18/25
It will be interesting to see how the eagle numbers changes as we continue into the late fall and early winter here in the Hudson Highlands. The changing of the seasons always offers new sights and sounds in the natural world. Always something new to find and experience.
Tech Tip - the image of the Great egret above is an example of what is known as “Low key photography”. Low key photography emphasizes hard shadows, strong contrast and darker backgrounds to enhance the detail of the subject. This effect is generally achieved by setting a lower than normal ISO, a low f-stop and higher shutter speed than normal. This also known as “"exposing to the left”. Use the histogram on your camera to push the exposure peaks closer to the left edge of that histogram and thus slightly underexpose the image. It may be necessary to later brighten the subject in “post processing” as was done in this image.
