Juvenile Bald Eagle

I am in total awe of my friends who are able to get a wildlife shot of something more majestic than a sea gull.  I get the sea gulls.  To be sure, there is no pressure in photographing sea gulls.  They are everywhere.  And if you miss the first trick, the one right behind will do the same thing.

OK, they can be cute, but it's not like, say. an Eagle.

To me, there's pressure in photographing an Eagle.  First, I've never photographed one before.  Pressure.  Next, since it has taken me a number of years to be in position to photograph one, I might not get another chance anytime soon.  Don't screw it up pressure.

Here goes:

Today's adventure took me to Shiawassee National Wildlife Refuge.  I've been there a few times, hiking the The Ferguson Bayou Trail most of the time.  There is an auto tour that for some reason has always been closed when I've been there before today.  Today, the drive was open.  New territory not along the familiar trail.  Along the drive, between mile 3 and 3.5, I saw a large bird circling off to my right.  I know there are Eagles in the area.  Could this be?  I know Eagles don't get the adult colors until after about fours years of age.  Still, could this be?

The park 'asks' you to stay in your vehicles to minimize the disturbance in the area.  So with this bird on the right, lots of windshield between us.  Eventually, let's call it 10 minutes or so, the bird sat on my left.  Just awesome!  The bird sat there for a few minutes and I would try to catch head movements.  The bird was about 30 feet away from me.  How lucky does one get?

This was taken with the new lens.  I don't know if I get this without it.  The particulars.  ISO 800, f/8, 1/640 sec, 450mm.


I was able to get ten good photographs of the bird in this area.  But I have only one with it looking right at me.


All in all, I had a good outing today.  Fired off around 500 shots.  I'll bet I have maybe 50 keepers.  But this one photograph was worth the whole day.