Bald eagle focused on fish at Conowingo Dam, 2024 (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

7 November 2025

When my husband’s family lived in Harrisburg I liked to combine a Thanksgiving visit there with a stop at Conowingo Dam in Darlington, Maryland, five miles down the Susquehanna from the Mason-Dixon line and an hour and a half from Harrisburg.

Conowingo Fisherman’s Park is the place to be in late November. Migrating bald eagles congregate below the dam to scoop up fish that were stunned by passing through the gates. Competition is fierce between immatures and adults though there are enough fish for everyone.

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This week there have been only a few bald eagles at the dam but by late November eagle numbers will be way up and so will the photographers.

Photographers “shooting” bald eagles at Conowingo Dam, 20 Nov 2013 (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

Photographer Johnny Chen was there in November 2021 to film the action. You will love his 8-minute video. He slows the action during dives, shows real-time interactions between eagles, and includes an adult mantling over a fish while the black vultures pace around him!

See more of Johnny Chen’s work here on YouTube.

And don’t miss Conowingo in late November!