NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — We all know the saying, "the early bird gets the worm." And that was the strategy all last week out at Radnor Lake State Park. Photographers and hikers gathered, just after sunrise, in hopes of seeing an 11-week-old eaglet take its first flight from the nest. "That is so cool," said one park visitor as she looked through a scope set on the eagle's nest.
"Oh my goodness, he’s a big baby. He is a big baby," said another hiker.
On two different mornings, Photojournalist Bud Nelson and Reporter Chris Davis joined the flock, eager to see the eagle fledge. Unfortunately, NewsChannel 5 didn't get to see it in person. But let us introduce you to the man who, not only saw it, but caught it on camera.
A teacher's patience
"A lot of the regulars here get great, great photos. Their lenses do so much more than mine," said Adam Howell, an amateur photographer.
Howell has been out at Radnor Lake almost every morning and evening for weeks, starting back when the eaglet was just a hatchling in February. "It was so little and pitiful looking," remembered Howell.
For the last 11 weeks, Howell has watched him (or her) grow and spread its wings. "Some days I’ll hit record and forget about it and just have conversations," said Howell.
Last Friday, the usual group of hikers and photographers decided to call it quits around 9 in the morning. But Howell noticed something the others might have missed. "Every time I thought, ehh, I’ll come back tonight, it would stretch its wings," said Howell.
Howell also realized the baby bird hadn't been fed breakfast by the mother or father eagle, so he decided to stay and keep recording. "I don’t know, just something kept telling me to be patient, and luckily I had nowhere else to be," he said.
Sure enough, about five hours after Howell first got to Radnor Lake, the eaglet flapped its wings and took off. You can see the moment the eaglet finally flew by watching the video on the player above this article.
"Oh look, look, it flew. I couldn’t contain the excitement," said Howell.
As far as he knows, he's the only person to capture the flight on camera. "I like to share because I know it makes people smile just like it does me," Howell added.
At this point, you're probably wondering what kind of job Howell has to allow him to be out at the park for so long? He's a P.E. teacher on summer break. "I’ll probably come out quite a bit before school starts," he said.
But unlike his students, Howell is looking forward to the first day of school. That's because he'll get to teach them an important lesson: sometimes it's not just the early bird that gets the worm, it's the most patient one.
"It’s like anything with hard work, the payoff makes you forget all the sweat that got you there," said Howell.
An eaglet update
According to the park manager, Steve Ward, the eaglet, now 12 weeks old, is doing well and is learning to hunt for food from its mother and father. It'll need to learn quickly, though. By this fall, it will be kicked out of the nest and will have to find a new place to live.
Hopefully, Mom and Dad will start the process over again and hatch new babies early next year. As we previously reported, there almost weren't any eaglets this year after a nest failure back in February. But thanks to fast action from the father eagle, he was able to rebuild the nest in time for the new eaglet to be hatched before the weather got too warm.
This is the first-ever single eaglet to be born in Radnor Lake State Park.
Have you gotten to see the Radnor Lake eaglet fly since the initial fledging last week? Send us your videos and photos to Chris.Davis@NewsChannel5.com.
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