No matter how slowly and silently I move, a Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) seems to sense my presence very quickly and immediately takes to the air. It’s really not that surprising, given the eagle’s amazingly keen eyesight that lets it spot prey from a long distance away.
Last weekend I spotted this Bald Eagle when it was perched atop a broken-off tree. Most of the previous times the stationary eagles that I have seen have been sitting on branches. When they took off, they seemed to push off of the branch a bit to gain some forward momentum.
In this case, the eagle appeared to initially push in an upward direction to gain a little height before flapping its powerful wings. Here are a few shots that show some of the stages of the takeoff process.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
Another beautiful sequence!
Hello Mike, It’s been a catching up day for me on some of my favorite blogs. I always enjoy visiting your site when I can, most of the time I catch your posts on my reader and I’ll leave a like. I usually don’t leave any comments on anyone else’s blog too often either. I just wanted to stop by and say I love your work and enjoy your style of capturing nature in your area. We have the same love of wildlife and the outdoors. Keep up the great work and I look forward to your future posts. Congratulations on your recognition for your photography work and getting your name in the paper for your contributions to wildlife photography.
Catch you when I can, MT 🙂
Thanks so much, Michael, for your kind words. You and I shoot very much in the same style, capturing a lot of the local birds and other wild life in our respective areas, and posting our images pretty regularly. Keep on shooting and posting–I love seeing the world though your eyes.