At around 6:20, I saw one Eagle to the north circling around. Sure enough the Eagle was on approach. Approaching from the north is not the best angle for me, but I'll work with it. From what I can tell, it was bringing in fresh straw, no critters for dinner. Constant nest upkeep.
This isn't easy, but it is nice when the weather cooperates. And my watching area is way off the people path. Social distancing easily enforced,
There is a disk golf course on one side of the nest. Last year, people would yell, play music and generally have a good time around the nest. The Park Eagles keep coming back. I keep playing that in contrast of the Nature preserve that limits the drive through the area due to the Eagle's nest there to a few months a year. I get it, the Preserve does what it does, and I support it. Anyway, the Park Eagles seem to be doing well.
I missed a number of shots this evening. My stand is surrounded by a lot of brush. There is a limited shooting area. And in front of the nest, and a lot of the perch branches. In the end, there are probably better places. But not in this area, that I know of. I missed a number of shots, more than usual. The culprit? Well, me of course. But I had two contributing factors. The first is the weight of the monster lens. My shutter speed is fast enough to overcome lens shudder. But when that happens, the view through the lens is too shaky for me. That's just funny. The other culprit is the AF mode I was using. I need to get a smaller focus point. I've been using the group setting, and it should be single. Too many branches for a wider AF focus area. When I got the lock right, all worked as advertised. And the learn - I need to get a tri-pod system for this. Preferably with a gimbal head. Yea, it would have limited some of the shots, but the shots in front of me may have a better hit rate. But it is early in the Eagle watching season. The current climate will make it more difficult to get out every day, we'll just have to see how it goes from here.
I think I have five or six keepers out of 30 or so that were technically correct. I think I had 90 shots, with 40 or so of the Eagles. It was a good outing.
Two of the best in my opinion.
In this shot, the Eagle had left the nest padding and was promptly dismissed by the egg sitter. The Eagle flew over to a close branch. I had to move a bit, as a branch was between the lens and subject. And it was enough. This is the Eagle taking flight from the branch. The sun is just about 90 degrees at this time. There was some lighting of the shadows.
Eagle Jump Flight
NIKON D500 Ver.1.20/200.0-500.0 mm f/5.6
750 mm, 1/1250 sec, f/5.6, ISO 320 (AUTO)
MANUAL Mode, Size DX
All I could think of after this was, OMG, I didn't &^$ this up!
This next shots is a few seconds later when the glide has been established. I have a sequence of these that stayed in focus. (Clearly a mistake somewhere?) This has the best sunlight.
Eagle Sunlight Glide
NIKON D500 Ver.1.20/200.0-500.0 mm f/5.6
750 mm, 1/1250 sec, f/5.6, ISO 320 (AUTO)
MANUAL Mode, Size DX
I like the wing tips and the light in the tail feathers. The branches are OK, especially with a solid blue sky.
There was very little cropping in both images. The monster lens did what it was supposed to do.
Nicely done Kurt. My wife and I have taken a couple of trips up to Shiawassee NWR. There is at least one eagles nest there, but I didn't see any way to get close enough for photos. Most of the water birds were beyond the reach of my 100-400 telephoto, so I had to settle for songbirds, turtles, and muskrats. Still, it was great to get out on a nice spring day. We'll have to try your park soon.
ReplyDeleteThanks! I do like going to the NWR. Not sure where you are coming from, but I try to get there around sunrise (webs are brutal to clean off the truck after...) and make three laps. That generally takes me to noon - when all the residents are slowing down. Maybe will see you there.
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