Bald Eagle

My friends have been going to Honeymoon Island and Anclote Key, here in Florida, where there are known active Eagle nests. Although I don't have a lens nearly long enough to successfully shoot these beautiful birds, I thought I'd give it a try anyway.

I've never seen a Bald Eagle in the wild before and I must say that finding a pair nesting was quite the thrill. This is either the male or the female. For a long time, probably an hour and a half I watched the nest and only saw the Eaglets (there are two of them at this nest) popping their heads out every now and then. Mom and Dad were somewhere else and I assumed they were out hunting. Well you all know what assumed stands for. Mom and Dad were both there, very close to the nest keeping a watchful eye on their cute little Eaglets. It took a while for me to spot them. Each parent was hidden in different, but nearby trees.

An Osprey on the hunt flew over the nest and Mom and Dad came to the rescue, each of them perching in the open on two separate branches just above the nest. I know they had nothing to fear from the Osprey, since Osprey only eat fish, but they let him know that they were there to protect their babies in case he got any funny ideas. It was amazing to watch them squawking at the Osprey until he left the air above the nest. I also know that the Eagles knew they had nothing to fear from the Osprey. It was as if they were telling him that this was their territory and that they were mightier than the Osprey. Besides, there was two of them.

I waited for another hour, but they never went into the nest to feed their young. I guess it was the wrong time of day. It was quite an amazing experience. One that has convinced me that more than ever I need a longer lens.

Settings for this image in very tricky, contrasty light were: ISO 200 because the light was very bright, Aperture Priority Mode at F5.6 to ensure a fast enough shutter speed to contain any movement and + 1 2/3 exposure compensation to keep from burning out the shadows since the Eagle was backlit from the sky. I used two cameras with 2 lens combinations: on the tripod, I had my Canon EOS 40D with a 75-300mm lens and a 2X tele-extender, and I hand held my 20D with the 55-250mm lens attached. This was shot with the 55-250mm at 250mm. The 75-300 lens isn't that great a lens and I knew it was pretty useless to try it with a 2x tele-extender on it. I'm glad I kept the 55-250mm handy because the other lens, while it gave me a lot more distance, there was so much chromatic aberrations (purple fringing in high contrast areas) that the photos I took with it were pretty much useless. I had a feeling that would happen. I was hoping the better camera might make up for the loss in quality with the lens/tele-extender combination. It's always good to be prepared.

Osprey Flight Formation

Yesterday, my meetup group and I met at Honeymoon Island in Dunedin, FL. We took a walk on the Osprey Trail to see a Bald Eagle nest and hopefully a glimpse of the Eaglets. Unfortunately, the area next to the nest was cordoned off, so we weren't able to get very close to the nest so I couldn't get very good shots of it.

I did however, get some great shots of the Ospreys in their nests and the Osprey chicks. These two were flying doing some kind of dance near their nest. I'm not sure what they were doing, but it was thrilling to watch them fly overhead.

This is one of my favorite shots of these two. Actually, it's one of my favorite shots of the day. I love how they're flying so close in formation. A fast shutter speed and high ISO allowed me to get this sharply detailed shot. I used + 1 1/2 stops exposure compensation since I was shooting in the sky which allowed me to hold the shadows from blowing out and keep detail in their whites.

I'll be posting more shots from this shoot at a later time.

Osprey in Flight

There is something about a bird in flight that I can't ignore no matter how hard I try. I especially like to photograph Osprey.

Osprey are fascinating birds to me because of all the Birds of Prey, the Osprey is the only one that eats a diet of fish only. It's amazing to see them glide way up high above the water while looking for their next meal. All of sudden, they'll hover for a few seconds, then dive so fast they're hard to track--even with our eyes, then slam into the water and come up just as quickly with their catch. They also will turn the fish around head first so there is less drag and it makes it easier to fly. It's such an amazing site.

I've also watched them on the nest. The male brings the first fish back to the female who feeds it to her clutch, or if they haven't hatched yet, she'll eat it herself. Then the male goes back to get a fish for himself to eat. He'll usually sit on a perch about level or slightly above the nest on a nearby tree so (I assume) he can watch his family. Imagine, with humans it's also the male who primarily makes the money to buy the food for his family as well. I wonder who started that. Was it the birds, the animal kingdom or humans? It seems we all do the same thing.

That should keep you wondering until tomorrow night.