Although I am normally a little unhappy when I cut off the tip of a bird’s wings when taking its photo, the intensity of this Bald Eagle(Haliaeetus leucocephalus) more than made up for any sense of disappointment and I am actually thrilled with these shots. I was standing close only a short distance from the eagle last Thursday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge and was concentrating on photographing it while it was perched. When the eagle suddenly extended its wings and took off without warning, my immediate reaction was to concentrate on tracking it rather than worry about pulling back on the zoom and in all three of these photos I clipped the wings.
I decided to present the photos in reverse chronological order, because the first image is my favorite. If you look closely you will note that the eagle snagged a few spiky balls from the sweet gum tree in which it was perched, sending them flying and leaving one stuck in its tucked-in talons. You can also see how the eagle generated its initial lift with a flap of its impressive wings in the final photo and then pushed off with its talons to clear the branches in the penultimate image.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
Break the rules and you get drama. I’ll take drama.
Me too. I generally find that rules may work when shooting in a controlled environment, but anything goes when photographing wildlife.
Interesting about birds 💙🌸
Lovely photos 🌸
Nice Mike! For me in my photo career, rules are made to be broken!
Thanks, Reed. I’m finding that the more I shoot the more I realize how rules really are made to be broken. They were useful guidelines when I was starting and was overwhelmed by the number of creative choices that I had to make. Now that I make a lot of those decisions instinctively, I feel more liberated to go color outside of the lines.
Amazing creatures, Mike. I’d say you’re forgiven for breaking the rules.
Slick!! Just crushed a sweet gum ball today on my walk. Sadly no eagles were seen here abouts.
These are stellar shots, Mike. So close up and so clear and sharp!! No problem about the wings the bird is just so big!:)