As I zoomed in on a bright white splotch of color in a distant tree at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge on Friday, I realized it was a Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus). almost hidden in the autumn foliage. The eagle reacted quickly to my presence and took to the air, but I was able to capture a few images of this majestic bird.
Photographing a bald eagle is always a challenge. One of the biggest issues is the contrast between its bright white head and dark body, making it tough to get a good exposure. In this case, if I had had a little more time to check my exposure, I might have been able to avoid blowing out the details in the eagle’s head. Time, though is something that I usually don’t have. The eagle’s vision and reaction time are so far superior to mine that I have to react immediately when I spot an eagle, usually with the settings that already dialed into the camera. On multiple occasions I have missed opportunities as I scrambled to make adjustments to my camera.
Finally, it is often hard to predict an eagle’s actions and the direction in which it will choose to fly. This was a somewhat unusual situation in that the eagle initially flew right at me. You have to have really steady hands and a lot of luck to maintain focus when a bird is coming at you that fast. I didn’t quite nail the focus on the eagle’s eyes in the final shot, but am happy at the way that I was able to capture its fully extended wings.
This situation reinforces in me the continuing applicability of the Boy Scout motto that was drilled into me as a youth—”Be Prepared.” You never know when you might stumble upon a Bald Eagle.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
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