Some Snapshots of Baldies

[Clark]

Last Sunday my wife and I teamed up with CNYCharles to shoot some eagles about 140 miles south of here.
We have done this before. But the conditions were terrible.
No power was being generated(on a Sunday?wtf???). So no stunned fish floating down river to snatch up.
Nice and sunny anyways. And I got to purchase Fat Tires in Maryland on way home. Nice discount on the case price btw.

7D and 100-400mm



Hope we can squeeze in there. Not even enough room for the water....




Six eagles here




Finally after 2.5hrs, some action




Airbrakes














Yawn, last one. Got an unexpected fly by.




And that was the whole day.
Thanks for looking

 

[Migrant13]

Great shots Clark! Thanks for sharing.

 

[My Green Pets]

Beautiful

 

[SlipperFan]

Yawn? Not!

 

[abax]

I very much enjoyed the bird catches fish and the fly by
shots. Do Golden Eagles ever hang out at that spot?

 

[Migrant13]

It looks like it has a bird victim in its talons in the last photo. I guess if the fishing isn't up to snuff, they look for other snacks?

 

[JeanLux]

Strong pics Clark!!!! Jean

 

[Ray]

Being along the Delaware River, and having two large reservoirs nearby, we see Bald Eagles pretty regularly, especially in fall and winter. Have never seen a Golden around here.

 

[Clark]

Abax- it happened once in five years. And it was down river by half mile.
I know that is nothing for birds. I have not ever seen the two species perch next to each other.
Along the Delaware, near Port Jervis, I got golden and bald within same hour. Golden was trying to take down great blue heron. It got away. But for about 15 seconds we were watching some cool stuff. I don't remember if it was 4 or 5 uears ago, but it was my last day fishing.


Migrant13-hey hawkeye, I was thinking coot. Coots are like a peanut and butter sandwich for eagles. But no! It was pijun.
I was checking the LCD on back of camera expecting fins, and I see these two little feet and I'm like wtf???

I'll stir the pot, did that pigeon eat mouse/rat poison?
IDK. but first time I have seen pigeon floating down, To be fair, there is a lot of electrical stuff on top of dam also.
Conowingo Dam is a nice place for a morning shoot.

Thanks

 

[KyushuCalanthe]

Nice Clark. The last shot in particular is really nice.

I visited Lake Biwa in central Japan (Japan's largest lake that is ~4 million years old) this past weekend - a place you would love due to the number of birds there. We traveled along 15 km or so of the shore and almost as far as you could see there were birds on the water, truly thousands upon thousands. At a nature center we saw mixed ducks, bean geese, and tundra swans. The staff there said that in another week the star of the lake will show up, the Stellar's sea eagle, a rare straggler this far south.

 

[17andgrowing]

Great shots, thanks for posting them.

 

[abax]

Oh, I'm so curious about the large predator birds. What
about Osprey in the area. I asked about Goldens because
some years ago one crapped on my head. I'd been looking
for one for quite a while and didn't realize one was sitting
on a branch just above my head until I felt the PLOP! I think that's when I was smitten with eagle/hawk love.

 

[Clark]

I asked about Goldens because
some years ago one crapped on my head.

Well aren't you in a league of your own.

Conowingo Dam has bald eagle, cormorant, great blue heron and black vulture. And a flock of pijuns, and sea gull. Sea gulls are like people, they are everywhere.

I live where the Cheesequake Creek meets the Raritan Bay. We have more ospreys than you can shake stick at. They fly over the house all day long. Sometimes you can see the fish is still alive with the tail still moving. Ospreys always fly with the fish head going forward. At least by me. YMMV

 

[Clark]

Tom, I have never heard of name bean goose. Thanks for the lesson.
In the US they would be a big deal I guess
http://blog.aba.org/2013/10/rare-bird-alert-october-25-2013.html

Not much about them here, or I am looking in wrong place.

The sea eagle is a big deal. The tour I was looking at was on boat that got next to icebergs to photograph them. The photographers had lots of clothes on.
I may have I missed the boat on that one, I like to be warmer.

 

[emydura]

Great photos Clark. I particularly like the last one. The Bald Eagle is a such a beautiful raptor.

 

[Migrant13]

Abax- it happened once in five years. And it was down river by half mile.
I know that is nothing for birds. I have not ever seen the two species perch next to each other.
Along the Delaware, near Port Jervis, I got golden and bald within same hour. Golden was trying to take down great blue heron. It got away. But for about 15 seconds we were watching some cool stuff. I don't remember if it was 4 or 5 uears ago, but it was my last day fishing.


Migrant13-hey hawkeye, I was thinking coot. Coots are like a peanut and butter sandwich for eagles. But no! It was pijun.
I was checking the LCD on back of camera expecting fins, and I see these two little feet and I'm like wtf???

I'll stir the pot, did that pigeon eat mouse/rat poison?
IDK. but first time I have seen pigeon floating down, To be fair, there is a lot of electrical stuff on top of dam also.
Conowingo Dam is a nice place for a morning shoot.

Thanks

I hear you about the coots but figured it was not one because the foot color didn't match nor the overall size. Up our way (e.g., at Great Meadows NWR) we see Baldies grabbing coots quite often (at least when the coots are in town). Great shots again.

 

[abax]

Clark, I'd rather be **** on by a Golden Eagle than never
see one. They're not that common in this part of KY. I'd
love to see photos of the Ospreys sometime or other...such
gorgeous birds...lucky you. I felt rather special actually.
We have Red-shouldered Hawks and Sharp-shinned Hawks like you have Ospreys.

 

[Clark]

I wasn't making fun of you.

If you go to everglades, there is a nest at the bottom of park that is soooo easy to work with camera. I'll look around for them. Only of couple of shots of the osprey chick. Small and did not stick head up all that long.
I'm thinking its about 150ft. away from gas pumps.
I got news, if one doesn't do 400-600 shots there and across the street at Eco pond, maybe photography isn't your thing.

I don't photograph the osprey by us. They are almost like seagulls.
Plus when they are in town, so are ALL the biting insects.
We get wide variety of birds because of location and great set of bins.
Gannets are to fun watch feed. They hang around for a couple of weeks.
All the raptors we get twice a year during migration.

Hilarious when the neighbors are looking for their cats......