Today at Lock and Dam 14 along the Mississippi River just South of Le Claire Iowa under perfect blue skies, I took 41 GIG’s of Eagle photos.  Just in case you are wondering that is 1715 images.  After the first pass through I was able to delete almost 200.  That means 1500 images to edit.  Just a few teasers for tonight.

This one reminds me of our dog Sadie the ways she cocks her head.

I was being watched!

Juvenile

The Dive

Money Shot!

Stop and Go Eagle buzzing the Lock’s traffic control. 

Almost.  Very heavy crop.  Still haven’t caught two eagles talon to talon!

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Thanks for stopping by, Life is good, and I am blessed!
Kent

I love my canon 1DX paired with my 500mm prime lens.  Sometimes I get lucky or unlucky and my subjects gets too close.  I could feel the down force of this wings as she few right over me!

Sick of eagle and Snowy Owl photos yet?  Got a new tip this morning on a Bobcat!  I spend 5 days stalking one in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and never got a photo, now there is one within 15 miles of my house and I am on vacation this week.  How cool would that be?  Hope my tip isn’t a wild bobcat chase!

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Thanks for stopping by, Life is good, and I am blessed!
Kent

Just haven’t had 7 or 8 hours to edit all the eagles from Christmas Day.  Fishing Eagles are my favorite pose!  Talons out, tail down, death from above.  The adult Eagles almost NEVER miss the fish, the juveniles catch rate is no where close to the adults.

Classic Pose: AKA the Money Shot! Amazing what 10 minutes a little sun will do for the water color.These are all from different passes. Lift OffThe stretch for the skies.You can tell from the different water colors and lighting conditions these were 4 different passes.  They were fishing too close and I clipped wings on ever pass. Sometimes big glass is too big, but 90% of the time I love my setup or wish I had more reach!

Here is a complete fishing series from last season.  My camera shots 12 FPS, so keep in mind this all happens in less than a second!

Complete Fishing Sequence 

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Thanks for stopping by, Life is good, and I am blessed!
Kent

Sharon (wife) stated since none of the kids were coming on Christmas and it was just the two of us home it wasn’t really Christmas.  The our big Christmas will this Saturday. She wanted to clean and always says she can get more done when I am not around.  She cast me out of the house on Christmas!  The sun was out, blue skies, and a nice steady southerly wind.  Christmas day, and everything is closed, only place I could go to spend 4 or 5 hours was the Mighty Mississippi River.  I always stop before I get to Lock & Dam 14 for a bio break and some food.  The only thing open was a gas station.  They were out of hotdogs and all pre made sandwiches.  My Christmas lunch as a bag of beef jerky and some chips. I was surprised how many other guys got kicked out or were asked to leave and were already photographing eagles.  Tons of photos to edit, but I’l start with a few that I loved the background of.  I’ll start off with some of my more patriotic Eagles.

Red White and Blue Eagles:

Are you interested in spending a day in the field shooting next to me photographing Eagles.  Still a few choice dates open!  Send me an e-mail and we can work out the details.

Enjoy what you read and the photos? Subscribe to be notified of future posts via email by either clicking the Follow button at the bottom or the Subscribe section on the right!  Feel free to leave a comment.

Thanks for stopping by, Life is good, and I am blessed!
Kent

This year’s early cold snap had driving the American Bald Eagles down the Mississippi River and into Illinois 3 to 4 weeks early this year.  However, it has been so gray, overcast, or foggy that nobody has been getting any decent photos. I usually never start traveling to photograph eagles until after Christmas.  Cabin fever and boredom was setting in!

Finally yesterday (Friday 12/20/15) a sunny day.  I grabbed my gear and headed to my favorite spot to photograph my beloved Eagles.  Their was 30 – 40 eagles fishing WAY out by the damn, but nothing happening in near the lock.  Took a couple shots of some birds sitting in the parking lot trees.

Classic Banking PoseAction was slow so I was working on my tracking and focus on sea gulls when I caught this one eating a fish mid flight.

Heard a ton of clicking of shutters from photographers around me, turned around to see them firing this female goldfinch behind me.  So I thought I better take a couple too.

Put my 2 X teleconverter on my 500mm and tried to squeeze out a couple mid-air fight sequence. These birds are WAY out there!

A lone eagle buzzed a flock of Speckle Bellied Geese resting on the ice. The all got up and took to the air. I caught them flying past the lock’s traffic light.

Heavy crop, but the rare “upside-down” eagle.  I still don’t have a full frame talon to talon shot.  Maybe this will be the year.  Guess that is why I keep going back.Sometimes I wonder how many more eagles photograph I really need, I think it is more of an excuse to get out an just watch and enjoy them!

More eagles trips to come!

Kent