Bald Eagle

Yesterday morning was a bust.  Cloud cover caused light levels to be so low that the only way to eek out enough shutter speed was to turn the gain all the way up - in other words use the highest ISO setting the camera was capable of handling.  There is a catch-22 in doing so in that what you gain in shutter speed, you lose in image detail.  So, despite there being some activity, the resulting photos were disappointing.

I decided to call it quits early and turned to pack it up.  Then my eyes fell on a dead tree down near the bridge over Graham Creek where osprey will occasionally sit and look out over the river.  It would seem to me it would be a perfect spot to watch for fish since it stands right on the edge of the river, but birds don't utilize it as much as I would expect.  I looked through the telephoto to see if there might be something sitting there and to my surprise, there was an eagle perched on a branch.

Since my car was parked in that direction, I decided to see if I could get closer and perhaps take a few decent photos.  I expected the eagle would become unnerved and fly before I could get very close.  I stopped about half-way there and took a couple of "grab shots."  A grab shot is where you take a photo just so you have something in case further photos don't work out.  Then, I moved closer, stopped again, and took a couple more photos.  I kept doing this until I was as close as I could get to the eagle.  It was unfazed by my presence and sat there for more than an half-an-hour posing, preening, and pooping.

If you are ever waiting on something to happen so that you can take a photograph, you don't want to simply have the camera in your hand.  If you do, you will never catch the action.  You have to have your finger on the shutter and your eye to the viewfinder ready to instantly take the image - or you will miss it.  You would be surprised how much activity can occur in the eternity it takes you to put the camera up to your eye, find the subject in the viewfinder, focus, and press the shutter.

So I stood there for more than an half-an-hour with my eye to the viewfinder and my finger on the shutter waiting for the eagle to take off or do something more than just sit there and profile.  The only thing I dislike about my tripod is that it isn't quite tall enough to stand comfortably.  So, when you are stooped over the camera for a few minutes, it becomes very tiresome.  When minutes turn into a half-hour, it can make you feel like throwing in the towel.  But, I have seldom had the opportunity to film an eagle at this close a range, so I hung in there.  I'll post some of the photos over the next few days.