The eagle has landed

Perched on a dead tree along the Umpqua River, a bald eagle shakes its feathers as the early morning sun warms the day near Elkton in rural western Oregon on Thursday, Sept. 23, 2021.

A bald eagle takes flight from the branch of an old-growth Douglas fir tree along the Umpqua River near Elkton in southwestern Oregon on Friday, Sept. 24, 2021. According to the The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, bald eagle populations have flourished in recent years, growing to more than 71,400 nesting pairs and an estimated 316,700 individual birds. The bald eagle was removed from the list of threatened or endangered species in 2007.