Can you react faster than an eagle can? Yesterday, I was getting ready to step out of the brush that surrounds one of the ponds at my local marsh, when I spotted a large dark shape in a dead tree that overlooks the water. I suspected that it might be a Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus), since I had seen eagles perched on this tree a couple of times in the past.
As I stepped forward and was starting to bring my camera to my eye, a juvenile Bald Eagle took off. The eagle flew upwards so quickly that I had trouble finding it and keeping it in my viewfinder, as you can see in my first shot. I got a few more shots as I tracked the eagle’s flight, but in most of them, the eagle’s head is obscured by its outstretched wings. Just before the eagle flew behind the trees in the distance, I got a reasonably clear shot, the second image below.
What did I learn? If an eagle spots me at the same time that I spot him, his reaction times are going to be quicker than mine. Someone I’m going to have to figure out a way to be more stealthy and more ready the next time I find myself in a situation like this. That will be my challenge this autumn as I start to take more shots of birds as the insect population gradually decreases.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
They are awesome creatures. We see them here in Missouri once in a while. Spectacular!
I consider it to be a great day if I see an eagle, even when I am not able to get a shot of it.
Your shots were marvelous. So quick you must be! 🙂
Its never easy huh?! 🙂
If I wanted it easy, I’d choose some different subjects to photograph. Sometimes I think that if I had a bigger lens or a better camera, it would be easier to get amazing shots, but then reality sinks in and I realize that in most cases (like this one), it’s more about technique and reaction time than about the gear.
It’s also fun practising to be quicker than an eagle or in my case other birds.
I’m hoping that practice will lower my reaction time, so that the next time I will be able to focus and shoot faster. In the mean time, I’ll keep trying to put myself in situations where I’ll see birds like this, or maybe even some of your hawks.
Any day you see an eagle is a good one, I’d say. It must be close to impossible to sneak up on a bird with such amazing eyesight. Maybe if you just sat in the brush and watched their favorite tree you might get lucky and have one stop in.