Eagle – Jennifer Sawicky Photography

November 17, 2024November 17, 2024

2024-11-17: Predatory Birds

Last week I focused on land predators, and this week, it is a few predators of the air.

A Pel’s Fishing Owl. As the name suggests, this owl primarily feeds on fish. I’ve highlighted this owl in a previous post, with more images of this owl and her chick, which can be found here. Moremi Game Reserve, Botswana. April, 2024.

It would have been nice if this dark chanting goshawk had turned its head slightly, but at least it stayed still so I could get a shot. I saw lots of dark chanting goshawks on this trip, and had previously only seen the pale chanting goshawk, so it was nice to add a new bird to my list (which I really should start keeping somewhere, other than in my head). These birds have a varied diet of small mammals, birds and reptiles. Klaserie Sands Private Game Reserve, South Africa. April, 2024.

This is the tawny eagle mentioned in my post from last week, that lead our group to a hyena sighting. I believe our guide thought that the tawny eagle was feeding on the liver of the impala that the hyena caught, but wasn’t 100% certain. It was definitely a very fresh piece of meat. Klaserie Sands Private Game Reserve, South Africa. April, 2024.

I’ve been fortunate to see many African fish eagles during my travels, as they are widespread and common, but this was the first time that I saw one having a drink at the river. Chobe National Park, Botswana. April, 2024.

Another eagle I have been fortunate to see on several different trips; this is a brown snake eagle. As the name suggests, its primary diet is snakes. This sighting was one of the times where there actually was a bird on the tree, rather than just a piece of broken branch fooling us. Chobe National Park, Botswana. April, 2024.

I was so excited to finally see an adult bateleur eagle during this trip, as previously I’d seen many juveniles, who don’t have near the impressive colours as this adult. We were very fortunate that this individual chose to stay on this branch for a long time, allowing all of our group the chance for good views and photographs. Savute Game Reserve, Botswana. April, 2024.

May 7, 2023

I believe this is a tawny eagle, but raptor identification has never been my strong suit, so I hope if I have that wrong, someone will provide a correct ID. I saw a lot of raptors on my trip, but didn’t get into the habit of writing down names, as often they were spotted when I couldn’t get an image of the bird. It was different being on a specific birding trip, rather than a general safari. Birding was concerned with sightings, whether they were close up or far away (and some of them were really, really far!), whereas a general safari is more focused on close sightings and photography. It was interesting learning more about birding during my trip, but I must admit, I prefer my bird watching to be closer to me, where I can really enjoy them, rather than a small spec through binoculars.

March 1, 2021February 28, 2021

2021-03-01: Monochrome Monday

A stately marshall eagle seen on a rather drab day, which made it a great candidate for a monochrome conversion.

December 15, 2019December 14, 2019

2019-12-15: Photo Art – Birds

For the last few days, it has been very quiet around the yard in terms of bird life. While last weekend the chickadees, nuthatches and flickers seemed to be around non-stop, the past few days, even on my walks, I haven’t heard a twitter.

With birds on my mind, I decided to play around with some of my photo art edits for my post this week. This is a topic that I have worked on previously; if you missed some of the posts from a couple of months ago, here are two links to take a look at:

2019-10-20: Photo Art – Owls

2019-09-15: Photo Arts – Birds

XT3X4193 copy-Edit — A saddle billed stork resting along the shore of a small dam.

XT3X3499 copy-Edit — A pair of Verreaux’s eagle owls

DSCF1729 copy-1-Edit — A helmeted guinea fowl

DSCF1112 copy-Edit — A long-crested eagle perched at the top of a dead tree.

DSCF0782 copy-Edit — One of my favourite birds to see on safari, a lilac breasted roller. Just a little brighter than you may see in real life 🙂

September 26, 2018

2018-09-26: Wordless Wednesday

June 17, 2018

2018-06-17: Monthly Photo Projects – Birds

I had planned on creating a post about hummingbirds this week, but it’s just not going to happen. I have been out taking photos of them as much as possible, but I haven’t had a chance to edit them yet. As it’s Father’s Day today, I want to spend time with Pops rather than at my computer editing images.

Below is a selection of bird images from my travels that I haven’t had a chance to share yet.

Hummingbirds next week – I promise.

20170502-DSC_1707 — A huge gathering of marabou storks and white backed vultures on the banks of the Boteti River in Botswana. May, 2017.

20170510-DSC_3934 — Groups of darters and cormorants in the early morning fog at one of the dams on Phinda Game Reserve. A few hippos in there for good measure 🙂

20170516-DSC_6568 — A pair of tawny eagles spotted in the Okavango Delta. May 2017.

DSC_6849-Edit — My best guess at identification is a banded snake eagle. This bird was up and away very quickly; spotted on a game drive through Amboseli National Park. September, 2016.

DSC_9620-Edit — A Coqui Francolin spotted in the Masai Mara. September, 2016.

January 24, 2017

2017-01-24: WPC Graceful

I can’t think of anything more graceful than watching birds in flight. Trying to capture that grace and beauty with my camera is a challenge that I am always happy to undertake 🙂

tawny-eagle — A tawny eagle, Masai Mara, Kenya.

dsc_6156-edit — A pied kingfisher carries home the catch of the day.

dsc_6129-edit — A pair of gulls catch the eye of a marabou stork.

dsc_6110-edit — A pelican soars of the Kazinga Channel in Uganda.

dsc_6004-edit — A fish eagle crosses the river, heading to its mate.

Please visit:
www.jennifersawickyphotography.com for wildlife, landscape and nature inspired artwork.

and

https://shopvida.com/collections/voices/jennifer-sawicky for textiles inspired by my photography.

WPC: Graceful

December 27, 2016

2016 Year in Review #5

I decided to take a look back at my most “popular” posts of 2016 – going only by the number of post views; since many of them are from the earlier part of 2016, I’ll be sharing them again over the next few days, along with a new photo related to the the original post.

I hope you enjoy this trip down memory lane 🙂

Coming in at #5 is the post 2016-02-07: What I’ve seen this week. I was lucky to see a pair of eagles during my daytime walk back in February, under lovely blue skies.

The photo below was one that I originally dismissed, but looking at it again, I really like the triangles of light hitting the eye, beak and back, which tie together with all the triangles created with the mess of tree branches.

2016-12-27- 2016 Year in Review #5.jpg

Please visit:
www.jennifersawickyphotography.com for wildlife, landscape and nature inspired artwork.

and

https://shopvida.com/collections/voices/jennifer-sawicky for textiles inspired by my photography.

February 28, 2016

2016-02-28: What I’ve seen this week

This week has flown by, as most of them seem to do lately. Rather than ramble on and on, I’ll get straight to the pictures.

I hope you enjoy, and wishing everyone a wonderful week 🙂

20160228_What I've seen this week — A pileated woodpecker that I spotted at the top of my road Tuesday morning. 1/640sec, f4.0, ISO125
(Taken with my new Panasonic camera. I’m pretty impressed with it, and it certainly is nice and light to take on walks)

20160228_What I've seen this week-2 — I glanced out the window while in my office, and noticed the pileated woodpecker in the forest behind my house. This one was shot through the window with my Nikon / Tamron combo.
1/500sec, f6.3, ISO640 @ 600mm

20160228_What I've seen this week-3 — I ventured outside to get a few shots, keeping a safe distance so I wouldn’t startle the woodpecker.
1/640sec, f6.3, ISO 2200

20160228_What I've seen this week-4 — Not a classic bird photo, but I love the contrast of the blurry branches and the nicely lit eye.
1/640sec, f6.3, ISO 2500 @600mm

20160228_What I've seen this week-9 — I ventured out to West Lake yesterday, because as you can see, it was just too nice to be indoors. There was quite a brisk breeze, and the place was deserted save for one other car. Spencer had a great time sniffing along the edge of the frozen lake.
1/640sec, f8, ISO 125

20160228_What I've seen this week-10 — An eagle’s nest high in the treetops. I imagine once the tree is in full leaf, many people sitting at the benches below wouldn’t even realize that it is there.

20160228_What I've seen this week-5 — I noticed movement in the nest, but was having a hard time seeing what it was. On full zoom, I finally caught sight of an eagle 🙂 1/640sec, f4.0, ISO 160

20160228_What I've seen this week-6 — An explosion of movement that I wasn’t prepared for at all. I had no idea there were two eagles in the nest until they decided quite suddenly to vacate it and head for another nearby tree. Given the proximity to my house, I wonder if this is the pair I saw a few weeks ago at the deer kill site?

20160228_What I've seen this week-8 — Eagles always look quite fierce to me, so it’s hard to tell if this is a dirty look, or just a normal one.
1/1250sec, f4.0, ISO200

20160228_What I've seen this week-7 — A bit of preening in the sun.
1/1250sec, f4.0, ISO 160

20160228_What I've seen this week-11 — One final shot before it was time to head home.
1/1250sec, f3.8, ISO 125

February 21, 2016

2016-02-21: What I’ve seen this week

The week ended on a very interesting note, and has left me with a fair number of photos to go through. On the advice of one of the members of the photo group, I went east of town yesterday hoping to see the northern hawk owls that had been spotted earlier in the day; I managed to see one, perched so high up in a tree, the first time I drove straight past it.

Today, I decided to take a drive about an hour out of town to a park, to scope out potential photography areas for the spring. It was just too lovely a day to be indoors. I had Spencer with me and we had a nice walk along the frozen marsh, but on the way out, I started to pull over closer to the side of the road to let a truck past, and the combination of ice covered road and extremely soft snow on the side, I ended up with the passenger side wheels stuck. A lady tried to give me a tow (who it turns out is also part of my photo group, but we hadn’t met yet), but that didn’t work so we set off to get into cell range so I could call for a tow truck. While I waited for the tow, it gave me a bit of time to catch up on some podcasts I’d been wanting to listen to, and honestly, the people around here are lovely. Every single person heading in or out of the park stopped to see if they could help in any way. I’m very grateful to the kindness of strangers.

And if I hadn’t been delayed an hour, I likely wouldn’t have seen a bald eagle perched high in a tree on the side of the highway (thoughtfully, right near a truck pull out so I could safely pull over). And since many wise photographers have always said “look behind you”, I turned to scan the opposite side of the highway, and saw two more perched in a tree and one soaring above, calling repeatedly. So an owl Saturday, and four bald eagles (plus a slightly lighter wallet) on Sunday. All in all, an excellent weekend.

And with that long and rambling weekend description behind us, on to the photos.

Enjoy, and have a lovely week.