Or maybe it worked out perfectly — otherwise you wouldn’t have had the bridge all to yourselves…

That's a good point, and you're probably right. Being able to get to the pier made a big difference in how well we we were able to see beyond the island.

On the meadows along the banks there are often hundreds of gray herons (and a few great egrets). I’ve never photographed them. It’s strange how we often don’t consider the “everyday” things photogenic.

Right, I got a sense of that with my White-Tailed Deer photos, too. With a worldwide platform like Steem, what's commonplace to people from one location is exotic to others. Now you have a homework assignment.;-)

For me, the Bald Eagle is a special case. They were almost extinct when I was a kid, but they have made a strong recovery. (From 3 breeding pairs in the entire state of Pennsylvania during the 1980s to more than 400 pairs now.) So, even though they are becoming more common again, they still feel exotic. I had never actually seen one in the wild before last November's visit to the dam.

I looked up some photos of the White-Tailed Eagle, and they look somewhat similar to the Bald Eagle. I even saw some pictures with white heads (though not as white as the tails). Interesting how the white tail feathers evolved on both sides of the Atlantic. I wonder what purpose they serve.