Bald eagle along the Connecticut River at Orford
— — the bird the river belongs to in winter.
Not only on a wall.
“A bald eagle on a cottonwood limb above the Connecticut River, on the New Hampshire bank at Orford. The river runs slow here between the Ridge houses on the New Hampshire side and the fields of Fairlee, Vermont opposite. Eagles overwinter on this stretch where the current keeps open water below Wilder Dam, and a pair has nested in recent years near the mouth of Jacob's Brook. — from the studio
Bald eagle along the Connecticut River at Orford, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
The place, in three passes.
Orford sits on the Connecticut River in Grafton County, New Hampshire, across the water from Fairlee, Vermont. The town is best known for the Orford Ridge, a row of seven Federal and Greek Revival mansions built between 1773 and 1839, listed together as a National Historic Landmark in 1986. The river at Orford runs roughly two-tenths of a mile wide and forms the state line. The reach falls within the Connecticut River Byway, a 500-mile scenic corridor designated jointly by New Hampshire and Vermont in 2005.
Wilder Dam, about twelve miles downstream at Hartford, Vermont, keeps a stretch of the river above it open through much of winter. The constant flow draws bald eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) to roost in the cottonwoods and white pines along both banks. The New Hampshire Fish and Game Department records the Orford reach in its annual midwinter eagle survey, with counts that have risen steadily since the species was removed from the federal endangered list in 2007. A nesting pair has used the mouth of Jacob's Brook in recent years.
Eagles arrive on the Connecticut River through November and stay into March, with the highest counts in January and February when smaller New England rivers freeze over. The Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department holds a joint midwinter survey with New Hampshire each year on the second Saturday of January, following the protocol that has been run nationally since 1979. Best viewing on the Orford reach comes from the river-side pullouts on Route 10 north of the village, in the first hour after sunrise when the birds leave the roost.