I was thrilled yesterday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge to spot this beautiful Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus). Unfortunately it also spotted me. I captured these images as the eagle began to take off and then as it was flying away.
I was looking for an uncommon dragonfly that had been seen recently at this refuge, so I had my macro lens on my camera and was mostly looking down. As I was passing through a section of the trail that had a lot of tree cover, though, I heard what I thought was the call of an eagle. I slowed down and started scanning the trees. I spotted eagle out on a limb when I stepped partially out of the tree cover. I knew that I was exposed and would be seen, so I positioned myself and prepared for what I anticipated would happen.
I am surprised that I was able to capture such detailed images considering that I was shooting with such a short lens—my 180mm macro lens has an equivalent field of view of a 288mm lens because my camera has an APS-C crop sensor. Be sure to double click on the images if you want to see the details of this majestic bird, including its beak and its talons.
In a way, however, it was an advantage that I was not shooting with my zoom lens, because I could focus all of my efforts on tracking the eagle and did not have to worry about zooming in and out. For example, if I had zoomed in on the eagle for the second shot when its body was compact, I would probably have clipped its wings when it spread them wide open in the third shot.
I did not find the dragonfly that I was looking for, but, as I have said repeatedly in this blog, any day that I see a bald eagle is a good day, especially when I manage to photograph it.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
It is such a thrill to see them, isn’t it?
It is always a thrill. I am blessed to live in an area where it is not too hard for me to find bald eagles. There are two eagle nests at the wildlife refuge where I took these shots and we tend to have eagles here most of the year.
That is good to hear. They have started showing up here, too. Makes me a dangerous driver at times…”WAIT!!! Is that an EAGLE???!” As my car veers toward the shoulder…
🙂
Nice!
Thanks, Linda.
I love it, Mike. I had one in focus last Friday, but he turned as I snapped. I got a nice eagle butt, but not what I was hoping for.
I feel your pain, Dan. It’s hard to predict how an eagle will react. I think we all have collections of butt shots–it’s pretty rare that an eagle will fly towards you. I remember well an encounter with an eagle several years ago when it seemed to be flying right at me with talons extended. It was a little scary, to say the least. https://michaelqpowell.com/2016/02/07/im-not-your-prey/
I remember that post. This guy was well above me, but turned at the last minute.
Are you sure that it’s not an extremely large dragonfly? 😉
I’m pretty sure–the eyes are not big enough.
Excellent point. And you can’t see through the wings. That means it might be an eagle.
Great shots, and using the short lens! It’s that time of the year, Eagles. Our luck was not as good as yours. I saw 4 yesterday, also had a short lens. But I had a run of the mill lens in dark weather. Again, nice and good details.
Terrific photograph of a “target of opportunity”, Mike!
Stunning!!
Thanks. A little skill and a lot of luck. 🙂
Nice shots, Mike. Those talons really give one pause, don’t they? I happened to see a bald eagle just this morning upstream of our river. There’s been one or two drifting in from the bigger rivers this summer.
Thanks, Eliza. I definitely would not want to mess with those talons. It’s cool that you too are seeing bald eagles.
The Connecticut River in our area was part of a rehabilation program many years ago, so the population is slowly growing. It is still quite the thrill to see one circling above.
The Potomac River has quite a few Bald Eagle couples and they seem pretty well established in our area.
Wow! Awesome shots!
Thanks.
Great shots !! You can be proud with photos like these 😉
Thanks so much. I am momentarily satisfied and proud of photos like these and then I am off in search of more and potentially better photos. 🙂
Mr. Mike, this is a Regal Eagle! When I made the photos the biggest size I could, I told Gem that this eagle has the most humongous talons I’ve ever seen! All the photos are so awesome. I like the second one the best cause I can see all the feathers and the wings look so cool in that position. I really like the third photo too cause the wings are fully spread. Thank you!
Thanks, Benjamin. I like the way Regal Eagle sounds. It is kind of rare for me to get such a good look at an eagle’s talons. The only other time I remember getting such clear view of them was a few years ago when it looked like an eagle was coming right at me with talons extended. Here is a link to that post https://michaelqpowell.com/2016/02/07/im-not-your-prey/. I like all three photos for different reasons. It is cool to fire off a burst of shots in an attempt to capture different wing positions. I was really lucky that the eagle did not turn and head the other way or all I would have gotten would have been shots of its tail.
These shots are magical, Mike. Wow.
When I enlarge to the max, I can see tiny white dots all over the eagle. Do you know what those are?
Thanks. I saw the same thing, Nina, and at first I thought they were dust specks on my camera sensor, but they were all over the place, so I think they were really there. I honestly don’t don’t know what they could be.
I am doing a little research and it looks like the white powder might have been the result of vigorous preening.
Very nice Mike! Always fun to see your Eagle images!
Thanks, Reed. It has been quite a few months since I last posted action shots of eagles. Hopefully you’ll see more such shots in the upcoming months.
Gorgeous!
Thanks, William. I am always thrilled to see a Bald Eagle and even more so when I am able to get some shots of it.
I find like you Mike that you have to be opportunistic with photography and no so focused on your chosen subject that it blinds you to everything else. Beautiful sequence!
Thanks, Chris. The opportunistic approach helps me feel like I have not failed if I am not able to find my primary subject. There always seems to be something to photograph.