The Potomac Eagle is an all-day scenic railroad journey through a river valley called "The Trough". Often, eagles are spotted in The Trough, which is a major draw of the railroad. So give your ticket to the conductor and let's spot some eagles!

The crew in the engine act as spotters, and a tour guide announces where the eagles are over the PA system so that everybody gets a chance to see them. Here are our first eagles! Two of them!

As you might imagine, it's hard (impossible) to take good photos of creatures that are smaller than Shelly from hundreds of feet away on a moving train. If eagles were thought to be mythical creatures, like bigfoot, the evidence here might not be convincing. Here's an enhanced view of the same shot:

You can stand between the cars to get unobstructed views. Unless someone is already standing there to obstruct your view. Here we look toward the back of the train, and then toward the front, showing what The Trough looks like. The overcast conditions are good: eagles like that.

Crossing the river, we head out of The Trough. Probably won't see any more eagles until the return trip.

Did you see that? In that tree?
False alarm: it was probably a buzzard. There are a lot of buzzards patrolling the skies in this part of the country. Sit back and enjoy the first-class club car surroundings.

On our way back, we can catch pictures of any scenery we might have missed on the way out.

After we cross the river again, the eagle-spotting will resume.

This time, all the between-cars spaces are full of people, forcing me to take pictures through the windows. And here's an eagle fishing! It's flying, right in the middle of the frame.

Here it is again, swooping down on the water. You really have to look closely, but you can see it. The 2nd picture gives you a closer (albeit still indistinct) view. That might help you pick it out of the original image. It's about 1/3 of the way from the left edge, and 1/2 way up.

And here's an easy one. In the tree on the right. In the blown-up view, you can even see the color of the beak!