Bald Eagles - day 3

We started the last day with an hour talk by an expert in photographing eagles, he had lot of useful hints and information that helped greatly. I ended up many more good photos than I did the first 2 days.

One of the few times I saw two eagles flying together.

Coming in for a fish.

This and the next 6 photos are all one continuous sequence of a bird coming in a catch a fish.

Reaching for a fish.

Missed, you can see the fish splashing back into the water.

This and the next 7 photos are one sequence, 6 frames per second.

Talons forward and ready to strike.

Fish in talons and taking off.

Looking down to check his catch.

Flying off to eat lunch in one of the trees.

Bald Eagles - day 2

Today was colder and sunnier and more people and fewer eagles. In fact there were way more people than eagles and they birds spent most of the day sitting in trees or soaring over the river. I think only one time did one swoop into fish and I missed it because I was in the car warming up.

Lots of people and lots of expensive cameras, not so many eagles.

So we photographed geese.

And dead leaves.

And eagles sitting in trees.

Eagles landing in trees.

And lots of eagles soaring.

Bald Eagles - day 1

I took today off and drove to Moline Il for the weekend for a seminar on photographing Bald Eagles. During the winter they fly south from northern Minnesota to winter in places along the Mississippi River where the dams and locks keep some of the river open so the eagles can fish. I got here early enough to see some eagles but of course I was so excited to see them I just grabbed my camera and started shooting without checking that all the settings were what I wanted, so most of the photos were really bad. I managed to clean up and sharpen a few of them enough to be somewhat presentable. Hopefully I learned a big lesson and will do much better tomorrow.