Recently I have featured a number of photos of Bald Eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) and their nests. Some of the photos make it look like I am close to the nests, but in fact I took the photos from quite a distance away with a telephoto zoom lens. In mid-December each year, the authorities at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge put up barriers to keep people from disturbing the nesting eagles.
The first photo below shows one of the barriers. The tallest tree to the left of the road is where the eagle nest is located. If you read yesterday’s posting entitled Three eagle nests, you make recognize the nest as the one in the sycamore tree in the third photo.
This year, a sign was posted at each of the barriers that explains the potential negative impact of the close presence of humans on the eagles. Hopefully these signs will help deter visitors from walking past the barriers. I have been told that in past years trespassers have in fact been apprehended and have paid hefty fines.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Nice Mike! Eagles are one of my favorite photo subjects but I am always aware of physically not getting close to them on the nest. I am usually using a 400mm DO lens with a 2x teleconverter giving me a 800mm focal length and uprezzing my “raw” files when opening and then using a tighter crop to the file for the final Eagle image. When I had a Sigma 300-800mm lens I used a 2x teleconverter giving me 1600mm. But even when photographing eagles on the nest at a safe distance people would just walk past me to get as close as possible. I would point to warning signs to not get close but they would not listen! Then they would be annoyed when they flew off!
It’s good to know that the refuge is taking action, apprehending those not obeying the signs. Sadly way too many folks act like the rules don’t apply to them.