Edmonds Bald Eagles - Page 18 - Ducati.ms

Bill_Anderson · Jan 18th, 2012, 3:45 am

A snow storm hit the area Tuesday morning.

#1-5: The female member of the Pt. Edwards pair weathered the storm on the family tree at the top of Pine St.

#6-10: It cleared up briefly in the afternoon and the male took over sentry duty. After he flew off, I caught up with him at the sole remaining piling of the old oil dock.

If you have noticed a decline in the quality of my eagle shots, it is because I am having to make do with my 55-250 ES kit zoom while my 100-400L zoom is in the shop for repairs.

Bill_Anderson · Jan 28th, 2012, 9:00 am

Friday a friend and I caught a juvie and an adult at Pt. Edwards swapping perches on the various family trees. The juvie flew in first, then the adult flew in and the juvie would fly off. The juvie would find another perch, then the adult would fly over to it. This went on for several cycles.

Based on its coloration, I think the juvie is the one which hatched from the Pt. Edwards nest this spring and the adult may be its father. Dad is making it clear to junior that he has to find his own place to hang out.

Still without my 100-400 zoom lens.

Bill_Anderson · Feb 2nd, 2012, 1:47 am

The tide is now low in the late afternoon, so Wednesday afternoon my son and I walked the beach north from the ferry dock to the Shell Creek spit, where I had seen two adult bald eagles the day before. As we were walking north, I saw a juvie bald eagle flying south out over the Sound.

As we were walking back south, a juvie bald eagle (maybe the same one) perched in one of the tall firs SE of Shell Creek. The large number of crows that had been beach combing during the low tide escorted the eagle to its perch and began strafing it.

Photos # 2 & 3 remind me of King Kong swatting at biplanes while perched atop the Empire State Building. The juvie must learn that one of its duties as our national bird is to stand tall amidst such an onslaught by the evil minions of the Dark Lord.

Bill_Anderson · Feb 4th, 2012, 3:32 am

From Friday 2/3/12.

#1-2: The Hutt Park eagles were enjoying an unusually warm and sunny February day from their family tree at Hutt Park.

#3-4: Meanwhile, about two miles to the south, as the eagle flies, one of the Pt. Edwards eagles was also enjoying the sunshine from its family treee at the of Pine St.

While the eagles can certainly see each other, I have never seen the two pairs of adults fighting. Last year, however, they did engage in a screech fest along 2nd Ave.

curveman99 · Feb 4th, 2012, 11:12 pm

So cool to see them like you do I see some maybe 6 or 8 a year here in Michigan and we do have some local birds that stay year round.

Bill_Anderson · Feb 8th, 2012, 5:51 am

#1: Monday night (2/6) after sunset I caught four of our resident eagles at the marina. In the photo is the Pt. Edwards mature adult pair (left), a sub-adult (middle), and a juvenile (in flight). Sorry for the "noise", but the shot was taken in low light at slow speed and high ISO with my puny a** 55-250 zoom lens. Repairs to my manly 100-400 zoom lens have been completed and I can pick it up later today.

#2: Tuesday (2/7) I got better shots of the mature Pt. Edwards pair perched in the family tree at the top of Pine St. The female was glaring at me because I had earlier caught the two kissing.

#3: The juvie perched at the top of one of the Doug firs at the end of Sunset Ave.

Bill_Anderson · Mar 20th, 2012, 2:41 am

As my friends and I were walking out to the fishing pier on the last day of winter, I heard the gulls raise their eagle alarm. A bald eagle swooped in from the SE and went for the carcass of a fish which was floating near the eagles' regular perches on the pilings off the Senior Center between the marina and the ferry dock. The eagle dropped the fish on its first pass and had to make a second one. After securing the fish, it made a lap around the pilings with its gull-tourage in hot pursuit, then perched on one of the pilings to eat the fish. I try to include the "No Diving" signs when I take eagle and osprey dive squences around the ferry dock for a little avian humor.

After the eagle had consumed the fish, it took off back towards the SE. I had seen the Hutt Park eagles perched on their spar about a mile NE of the marina, but I assume this eagle was one of the Pt. Edwards pair based on its directions of travel.

This was the first eagle fishing sequence I have taken since last year. These ten photos are a few from the total of 64 that came out in focus. My 7D/100-400 zoom is still in the shop, so I was using my 5D Mk II + 4.0/70-200L zoom. The 70-200 zoom is lightweight, which makes it very easy to track the eagle. It does not have image stabilization (IS). Looking at my photos, I wonder if IS is over-rated.

The 5D is not equal to the 7D in terms of rate of fire or advanced autofocus tracking, but it does a credible job. It does have me thinking about the new 5D Mk III, which has many of the features of the 7D including advanced auto fofus tracking and a higher shutter firing rate in full auto. I still miss the 7D/100-400 zoom as it brings me much closer to the action in a package that is easy to carry.

Bill_Anderson · Mar 22nd, 2012, 2:26 am

Eagle photos from Wednesday (3-21-12). It is the location and probably the same eagle(s) as the last set, which I believe is the Pt. Edwards pair. These were taken using my 5D MkII + 2.8/400L mounted on a tripod. It is going to take some practise to take action shots with this set up. Compare these photos with the ones I took above on Monday from the same location using my 5D MkII + 4.00/70-200L hand held. Monday was sunny, Wednesday was overcast.

I tried using my new 2X and 1.4X teleconverters to get even closer, but they slow down the auto focus too much for action shots

Bill_Anderson · Mar 23rd, 2012, 12:31 am

I was on Sunset Ave. in the early afternoon experimenting with my new-used big honkin 2.8/400 telephoto lens. I attached the 2X teleconverter, which transformed it into a poor man's 800mm telephoto lens.

Two adult eagles were circling very high (guesstimate of several hundred feet) over the Sound at least a mile off shore. From my vantage point they looked very small. Under those conditons, the auto focus does not work with the teleconverter attached. I used manual focus and got several usable photos of the eagles. Not the best photos I have taken, but I think they are remarkable under the circumstances.

Bill_Anderson · Apr 13th, 2012, 3:20 am

Thursday (4/12) I met up with a friend and together we toured the Edmonds Birdmuda Triangle.

#1-3: One of the Pt. Edwards eagles flew towards us as we were on the walking path by the condos. It made a U turn above us and headed to the family tree on the top of Pine St.

#4-5: It must have been diving in the Sound, as it assumed the position I have seen eagles perch when they want to dry themselves off.