Who would be hanging out on the shores of Lake Marble Falls below Wirtz Dam in Cottonwood Shores early on a Sunday morning with a high powered telescopic lens camera on a monopod? Of course, it would be avid birder and nature photographer Dr. Robert Linder, world renowned Gilbert and Sullivan authority, nationally renowned turkey hunter, musician, university educator, Grammy nominated conductor and jazz record producer, and avid nature photographer. Who else would it be?
And what did he discover through his Nikon Coolpix 950 on a monopod from a mere 350 yards? An American Bald Eagle roosting for about half an hour in the treetops across the river. Linder admits, “It was a tough shot! The monopod prevents blurring from movement at that distance.”
For those few who are unfamiliar with Bob Linder, he moved to Marble Falls following his retirement as chair of the department of music at Houston Baptist University in 2006. Despite his long musical career conducting symphony orchestras across the nation, conducting CBS, NBC and PBS television specials in the 1970s, his Grammy nominated jazz recording productions, and his academic credentials as a Gilbert and Sullivan authority, Linder never lost touch with his boyhood roots in Arkansas.
