It was quite an exciting week for photos this week! Given the continued icy conditions on my road, I’ve been driving a short distance away to one of the main roads to walk Spencer. Tuesday morning, there were a huge group of ravens and magpies surrounding a ravine, so I stopped the car to see what had happened. During the night, the local coyote pack took down a deer, and the birds were tucking into the leftovers (evening at 9am, maybe only 1/4 of the deer remained.
We set off again at lunch for another walk, and this time the ravens and magpies were absent; while walking I figured out why – a beautiful bald eagle was watching over the area. I grabbed a few shots and he or she flew off through the field, and I carried on with my walk. On the drive home, I spotted the eagle again and grabbed a few more shots through the open window of the car, before realizing that there were two eagles in the area. I followed one to the end of the cul de sac, and was lucky enough to be able to get a few more shots in before it was time to get home and get back to work.
Fingers crossed this coming week brings more wonderful photo opportunities.
Have a great week!
On Monday afternoon I spent a bit more time with the northern hawk owl. It was late afternoon and snowing lightly, and he chose the top of the tallest tree possible to perch. This was the best of the few shots I got.First spot of the eagle; this was only the second time I have seen eagles in my neighbourhood. The first time was a fleeting glimpse far too quick for me to capture.The deer carcass was at the base of this hill. The previous day, the snow was untouched; there certainly was a large amount of activity that went on in the night.I stopped the car, put on the four way flashers, and took a few photos (I live in a really quiet area so it’s not a safety issue).This is the second of the eagles I saw. I don’t know of the distinguishing features between sexes, so I don’t know if I saw two males, two females or one of each.I couldn’t have asked for better light. Midday sun up north in the winter comes in at a pretty gentle angle.The branch shadows are a bit unfortunately, but at least the body positioning leaves the stunning yellow eye exposed.Up and away. I did briefly see the pair when I returned home, circling high up, reminding me of the vultures in southern Africa.What more could you ask for on a Tuesday lunch break?I always love the opportunity to capture birds in flight. 1/1600sec, f5.6, ISO 180
After seeing this challenge, I decided to go through the photos I took of fish eagles throughout my last trip to Southern Africa. I saw them from a lot of different vantage points, including from above, which is a unique way to watch birds.
I hope you enjoy!
Looking into the river, looking for the next meal. 1/1000sec, f10, ISO 400This juvenile fish eagle was perched in a tree across from my room. The branches in the background are distracting, but I couldn’t ask him to move, and I didn’t want to spend ages photoshopping them out. 1/32sec, f5.6, ISO100The tilt of the head shows off the hooked book. 1/320sec, f5.6, ISO 100An attempt at dinner as the light fades. This time, he was unsuccessful. 1/800sec, f5.6, ISO 6400A view from behind.1/800sec, f7.1, ISO 800Watching a fish eagle fly from above, during a helicopter tour of the Okavango Delta. 1/1000sec, f9.0, ISO 900Capturing a fly by. 1/250 sec, f5.6, ISO 160A pair of fish eagles perch along the river. 1/200sec, f7.1, ISO 200Flying off into the sunset. 1/800sec, f5.6, ISO 2200
On my first trip to South Africa, I completely blanked on the name of this bird while watching a pair perched in a tree along the river, and asked my guide the brilliant question “What is their primary prey?” Fish. Oh dear… I felt quite silly. I learned a bit more about the fish eagles this past trip (thank you to Graeme, Rebecca and Vincent for all the valuable information throughout my stay!) You can tell the difference between the males and females by the white front feathers. The males have a shirt, and the girls have a skirt. I had serious trouble distinguishing between the two at times though – those fish eagle girls sometimes have VERY short skirts! I’ll give my best guess as to the sexes in the pictures below. I’ve got a 50/50 shot of being right. Have a great evening!
Maybe not the nicest perch, but it certainly was a popular one. During my two weeks at Zimanga, I saw herons, kingfishers, fish eagles and an assortment of other birds on this dam structure. By looks I think this is a male, but I think this may be the eagle that I was told was indeed a female with a very short skirt. 1/320 sec, f5.6, ISO 640A male fish eagle gave us a fly by while we were out doing our monitoring activities. The more I look at this picture, the more it looks like I (badly) photoshopped the bird into the background. I can assure you I didn’t! 1/800 sec, f5.6 ISO 800A female fish eagle along the shores of Jozini Dam. I saw several fish eagles during my morning boat trip, but unfortunately for my photography, most were too far away to get a reasonable picture on a somewhat bumpy boat ride. 1/1250 sec, f5.6, ISO 320I’m not even going to hazard a guess on the shirt vs skirt for this photo! 1/1600 sec, f6.3, ISO 400
Here in southern BC, we have spent the last few days with lovely warm weather for February, but have been absolutely hammered with rain as well. This morning, I woke up to a reprieve from the rain and even a few hints of blue sky. As such, I finally got out on a morning walk with my camera. I can’t believe it is February and these are the first 2015 photos I am able to post. They aren’t the best eagle or osprey photos I have taken and the birds weren’t doing anything weird or wonderful. I am just so thrilled that I was able to have a dry walk and see some birds that I decided to share.
Based on the quality and direction of the light, and how desaturated the photos were, I decided to convert everything to black and white.
Happy Sunday everyone!
An osprey peers down at me from a tree along the banks of the Pitt River.Tired of being photographed, the osprey flees the paparazzi.This osprey didn’t seem to appreciate the camera being pointed at it, and flew away to a new perch after only a couple photos. We played this game a few times before it headed off out of reach of my camera.The trunks of two trees nicely frame a beautiful bald eagle. It kept a very watchful eye on Spencer and I.The eagle’s penetrating gaze trained in the direction of the osprey. Even though it was a fair distance away, I have no doubt they were aware of each other.
Since Monday I have been at Zimanga Private Game Reserve as a photographic volunteer with Wildlife ACT. The primary focus on this reserve is monitoring and tracking wild dog and cheetah. While the cheetah has remained elusive thus far, I have had the opportunity to spend some time with the pack of six wild dogs. I’m having a brilliant time. As it is very soon time for the afternoon monitoring session, this post will be brief; I wanted the chance though to share a few photos from the past days, as a hint of what is to come.
A bull elephant heading straight towards us on the road, while we drove in reverse! He was completely cool with our presence, but was also on a mission along that road, so we had to get out of his way. 1/320sec, f8.0, ISO 200A juvenile brown snake eagle. 1/1000sec, f6.3, ISO 200A member of the wild dog pack eyes us; we woke them from their afternoon nap. 1/160sec, f9.0, ISO 200A pair of waterbuck, moments before they bolted for safety away from our gaze. 1/500sec, f8.0, ISO 1000A giraffe in front of a jacaranda tree. 1/640sec, f10, ISO 400
I was surprised that the pair of eagles that I saw involved in the osprey chick stealing were still hanging around at the end of my walk, after all the trouble the mother osprey had been giving the pair.
A pair of bald eagles perch along the Pitt River while a group of barn swallows flies past. 1/640sec, f5.6 ISO 1250I call this one the double shoulder check. 1/1000sec, f5.6, ISO2000A bald eagle works on loosening some twigs and debris from a post while her partner looks on. 1/640, f5.6, ISO1400
It has been wonderful to watch, and capture, drama involving the eagles and ospreys the past couple of weekends, but I must admit, it is also nice to once in a while see them sitting still so I actually have the chance to really focus and compose a shot! 1/1000sec, f5.6, ISO500
I was out for my usual Saturday morning walk, when I heard a great amount of commotion out on the water, and I knew even before I looked that the cry was of an eagle. The bald eagle had raided the nest of an osprey and stole one of the chicks, and the mother osprey was out for blood.
The bald eagle pauses on one of the eroding pylons in the Pitt River, with the osprey chick still clutched in her talons.Calling out to her partner, the lifeless legs of the chick dangling in the air.The chick is dropped into the river, as the eagle begins her defence against the mother osprey.Even though nothing can be done to save the chick, the osprey mother is relentless in her attacks of the eagle.The battle continues.The osprey circles back again to try for another attack.
The dramas unfolding in nature are better than any soap opera!The eagle’s partner flies in to provide reinforcement.The nest robber still defends her position as her partner comes in to land.The landing is aborted and the battle continues in the air.
As the drama continued in the air, Spencer was getting restless and it was time to carry on with our walk.
Even though it is a holiday and I didn’t need to get up at the crack of dawn to head to work, I did anyways, so I could head out for an early morning walk with Spencer and hopefully catch a few nice photos of the sunrise or the herons (which I did!). I’d already snapped over 130 photos on our hour walk, so I decided to put my camera away. I’ve beaten myself up before about putting my camera away before getting to the car, and hopefully today will have driven that point through my thick skull!
I don’t know if it was a sound or the movement over the water that caught my attention, but I looked to the right over the river, and heading towards me at top speed was a bald eagle. Thank goodness I took my camera in my sling bag, not my backpack, as I was able to get it out in time, turn it on, and snap a few photos. I am seriously grateful I put my camera into auto ISO mode earlier on the walk (I actually didn’t realize it was possible on M to use auto ISO on this camera – so much still to learn about the new body!) but I’m sure that is what kept me from having a bunch of photos either over or under exposed.
The perfect ending to a beautiful sunrise walk 🙂 1/100sec, f6.3, ISO360Getting closer!A very intense look to have coming at you at top speed! 1/100sec, f6.3, ISO280I did not crop this photo; the eagle really was this close. I had my lens at the maximum reach of 300mm, but I am still quite shocked just how close the eagle passed in front of us. I’m very grateful I keep Spencer on a short leash at all times, because I imagine to an eagle he looks like breakfast. 1/1000sec, f6.3, ISO560My last view of the majestic eagle this morning; moments later he was obscured by trees. 1/10023c, f6.3, ISO160
Saturday was quite the day for bird sightings while out on my morning walk with the dog. I haven’t had a chance to do much editing, but since I also haven’t been terribly consistent with posting, I thought I should do a quick post showing a sample of the birds I saw on the weekend, and hopefully I will have a chance to highlight each sighting later in the week.
I’m having some real difficulty with my bird identification, but I think this is a juvenile bald eagle, based on the beak and the size.I’m not sure what type of sandpiper these are. They were in a small pond next to the dike – these were a first for me 🙂 Not a stunning photo, but just great to see something new.The female heron was in hot pursuit of the male, and as soon as she got too close, he would fly a little way further down the shore.I have been hoping that one day I would be able to get a decent photo of a flicker, and Saturday was my day. More to follow!So, I had a post called Slow; where I called myself out for not taking my camera with me. This time, I put it away moments too soon. After the juvenile eagle, an osprey that I didn’t manage to photograph, the flickers and the sandpipers, I thought my photographing was done for the day, and put my camera away, as I was only a couple minutes from the parking lot. And of course, a pair of adult bald eagles took off from the trees and headed straight towards me. 🙁 This is the best I could capture… note to self, don’t put away the camera until you’re in the car!
