Mount Vernon Photographer Captures Viral Bald Eagle Bathing Images at Camp Casey

Jennifer Landahl came to Camp Casey for a scrapbooking retreat. She left with one of the most-shared wildlife photos to hit Central Whidbey social media feeds in recent memory.

On Feb. 22, the Mount Vernon photographer spotted a bald eagle bathing in a shallow puddle on the grounds of the historic coastal camp and reached for her Sony camera and long lens. What followed was a 20-minute spectacle: the bird plunged repeatedly into the puddle, wings flapping, water droplets spraying in all directions, completely unbothered by any audience it may have attracted.

"It was pretty funny," Landahl said. "He'd poof out his feathers, look like a drowned rat and then smooth right back out again."

Landahl snapped more than 200 frames during the session, chasing a specific shot: water droplets catching the afternoon sun. The resulting images capture both the unmistakable silhouette of a mature bald eagle and the thoroughly undignified reality of one mid-bath. When the eagle finally finished, it flew up into a nearby nest and settled in beside a baby eagle.

Landahl posted the photos to Facebook, and the response was swift. The post drew 7,200 reactions and hundreds of comments praising the images.

The story picked up an additional layer shortly after the photos circulated. A viewer reached out to Landahl and shared a video of a bald eagle bathing in the same spot at Camp Casey, filmed four years earlier. Landahl believes it could be the same bird, though no banding or formal identification has been made to confirm it.

If the hunch holds, that eagle has been returning to the same puddle on Central Whidbey for at least four years, apparently indifferent to scrapbookers with cameras.