The Eagle Has Landed - on the Holston!
By Mike Faulk


The bald eagle, our nation's symbol, and its struggle to survive all that mankind has put into and taken out of its habitat is also, in no small measure, symbolic of the comeback we are slowly making in our environment.


For several years now, an eagle brood house has towered over a secluded cove on Douglas Lake near Dandridge, Tennessee. From there, many a raptor has made its way back to nature - a nature better than it was when the majestic birds were so very threatened only a few decades ago.



In this last decade, we first spotted a golden eagle along the banks of the upper Holston River near Strum Island. About two and a half years ago, we watched a bald eagle stand sentinel in a shag bark maple towering over the sluice that forms the island.


Now observed with regularity throughout the length of the Holston, these bald eagle photographs are submitted courtesy of my friend and fellow outdoorsman, Joe Holt, who gladly conceded he would tolerate this new competition for the smallmouth bass near his Mascot, Tennessee home.