As was the case with Duck vs. Osprey a couple of weeks ago, this was another round of right-place, right-time.

I was driving down a dirt road near my house when I spotted a red-tailed hawk sitting on the ground.  I pulled over for a shot thinking it may be feeding on something, but it took off and flew across the road in front of me.

Then I saw a bald eagle sitting on a pole, and thought that was great since I hadn’t seen one around these parts for quite a while.

When I was looking through the viewfinder, I noticed the eagle looking up at something.

It turned out to be a pair of hawks coming in to buzz the tower.  Then two more eagles (one juvenile) showed up!

For a minute it looked like a WWII dogfight with wings and claws flashing and slashing their way through the sky.  It was awesome! The hawks broke off the conflict and then it was game on between the original eagle and the young one.

One took off in hot pursuit of the other and I jumped in the car and sped down the road throwing gravel for about a half mile to get back in position to intercept some of the action.  Any photographer-discipline went straight out the window as I was cranking off shots left and right trying to grab something.  It was all happening fast and a little too far away, but I got a few that show a little bit of what it was like.

The adult prevailed and circled around me once before heading southeast over the horizon.  I just stood there smiling.