Bald Eagle takes flight

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Bald Eagle takes flight

February 11, 2015 by Mike Powell

After record-breaking warm weather this past Sunday, the ice on the ponds at my local marshland park melted and I suspected that there might be a Bald Eagle there on Monday. On a gloomy, overcast day, I spotted one in the trees and captured some shots as the eagle took off and flew away.

Bald Eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) frequently hang out in a remote area of Huntley Meadows Park, and I think that that there may be a nest in that general area. When the ponds started to freeze over, not surprisingly the eagles seem to have disappeared from view.

I initially caught sight of the eagle in flight and watched it land on a distant tree. I had an unobstructed view of the eagle, because I was looking over a small body of water. My telephoto lens is too heavy to hold for long periods of time when it is pointing upwards, but I was fortunate that I was looking through the viewfinder when the eagle took off from the tree.

I have been working on tracking birds in flight and managed to keep the eagle pretty much in focus as it flew over the trees. When the lens is extended to 600mm, it’s quite a challenge to keep a moving subject in the viewfinder. Normally I also like to keep my ISO as low as possible to avoid grainy images, because my Canon 50D is a little dated and doesn’t handle higher ISO levels as well as newer cameras. Taking into account the limited light on the overcast day, I was shooting at ISO 1000, which let me stop the action at 1/1000 of a second.

I actually enjoy shooting on days when the weather is marginal, because it keeps many others away. When the weather is sunny and warmer, the park tends to be crawling with people, which tends to decrease my chances of getting shots like these.

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, Winter | Tagged Alexandria VA, Bald Eagle, Canon 50D, Haliaeetus leucocephalus, Huntley Meadows Park, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto | 8 Comments

8 Responses

on February 11, 2015 at 8:07 am | Reply New Hampshire Garden Solutions

It’s great that you got to see him and get photos too. Have you ever tried a monopod? If that lens has a tripod mount a monopod might help. I use one all the time.
- on February 11, 2015 at 8:11 am | Reply Mike Powell
  
  I actually have a monopod that I have not yet used. That’s a great suggestion, Allen, and the lens does have a collar with a tripod mount.
on February 11, 2015 at 11:37 am | Reply Charlie@Seattle Trekker

Love your action shots…Eagles are so magnificent to watch.
on February 12, 2015 at 7:55 am | Reply nliakos

Wow, Mike, that’s awesome!
on February 12, 2015 at 5:31 pm | Reply Lyle Krahn

Ha. Maybe I need to expect an eagle and it help show up.
on February 12, 2015 at 6:13 pm | Reply Sue

Great work on a cloudy day!
on February 13, 2015 at 1:50 am | Reply krikitarts

Nice work, Mike. I’d like to see a tighter crop of your first image, with a bit of enhanced brightness. Eagles are definitely in a class of their own!
- on February 13, 2015 at 6:54 am | Reply Mike Powell
  
  Thanks for the advice, Gary. I had already cropped so much that I was afraid to go in much tighter. I’ll play around some more and see what I get.