While navigating the very cold weather on Wednesday morning, had a nice opportunity to make a quick check for Bald Eagles along the Merrimack.  Bumped into Doug Fernandes, a UMASS Lowell student preparing to graduate.  Doug made numerous trips to Lawrence last winter and captured a number of terrific photos of Bald Eagles including a handful of keepers of an adult Bald Eagle with a transmitter and antenna on its back.  We had an unexpected surprise while watching an adult perched on the North Andover side of the river.  It launched into flight headed a short distance to the west, circled back and landed on the opposite of the river in Lawrence near the ball field.  After circling, we had a few moments for photos, even with eagle at quite a distance.  Later, the photos indicated a transmitter and antenna.  NICE!  Hope to capture more photos later with leg band numbers so that we might learn more about this Bald Eagle!  A few more photos posted:  http://www.pbase.com/birdshots/image/158758020  Click “next” upper right to advance!