Timing is Everything

I just knew the eagle was going to fly.  Some birds have an innate sense when your interest concerns them.  I remember a great blue heron at North Beach a couple of years ago well off the road in the middle of some marsh grass.  I thought the bird in a of a sea of grass would be an interesting environment portrait, so I took a photo.  I was on the side of the road and there was absolutely nothing in the way of humans or birds around.  Once I had taken that photo, I decided to move up the road where I could take an even closer image. Traveling on the road was going to take me closer, but at an oblique angle, so that I wasn't walking straight at the GBH.  As soon as I folded the tripod legs in and started walking up the road (keep in mind, I was probably fifty yards from this bird), he looked at me, croaked, and left for parts unknown.  I don't know how he knew I had an interest in him.  I was reading an entry the other day by John J. Audubon and he described exactly the same thing with a great blue heron.  Maybe there is something about that species...

As I drew closer to the eagle sitting in the dead tree, I fully expected it would also fly, so it was with no small surprise that I reached the spot I was hoping to reach and the eagle hadn't left.  Maybe he had grown use to pedestrian traffic.  While it is a fairly rural area, it is part of a route used by both bikers and joggers.  At any rate, he paid me no mind and continued with his surveillance of the river.

I don't know if you have ever noticed, but birds don't wear watches.  They could care less about being somewhere at a designated time.  When they are perched, it is a good opportunity to preen feathers or sleep or maybe try to spot a fish, but they have little motivation to get up and fly.  I have watched exasperated many times with the camera trained on a bird waiting for that first second or two when they take off.  How long do you think you could do it?  Sometimes it has nothing to do with patience; it has more to do with an aging body and an aching back.  And, I can almost guarantee that it will be in the brief time you decide to take a break, that they will decide it would be nice to visit the other side of the river.

So you can imagine my delight when the eagle decided to dive down to the water after only thirty minutes or so.  Snap, snap, snap, snap, snap, snap.  If you have a camera with a burst function, I don't recommend using it.  Sure as shooting (pun intended) as soon as the buffer fills and you can take no more images, something REALLY interesting will happen.  So, I use a modified burst where I selectively fire off the shutter at a little slower pace, but end up able to take ten or twelve images rather than the six.  You have to consciously think not to simply press and hold the shutter down, but its worth it in the extra images you will end up with.