Great Eagle Sightings, Terrible Light

It's MLK day and I have the day off from work. I felt like going for a walk in OBNWR again, so I went at first light. The forecast called for clearing skies; no such luck. I made the walk in dim light under overcast skies. The hunters were out again, in boat-blinds along the shore. They would let a barrage loose every now and then that had me hoping they kept their guns pointed out over the water.

I saw one eagle near the shore-side nest. It sat there for a while, but I didn't bother trying to photograph it because the light was so bad. I was up to ISO 1600 just to get almost-acceptable shutter speeds. Between the shotgun fire and the poor light, I was resigned to this just being a walk for exercise.

Just as I was about to go to the car, I heard the distinctive eagle calls of a pair near the inland nest. I approached along the road and saw both of them, one on a branch, the other in the nest. They took off and settled in a nearby tree, one that has an osprey nest in it. As I stood there and shot, I could see that one of them was eating a bird; I could see the webbed feet. I leaned against a nearby bench shelter's posts to steady the camera. The shots are awful, with grey skies dark branches: blur and noise are in most of them.

They eventually took off again and flew to a nearby osprey platform, where they stayed for a while, continuing to eat. It was too far away and too dark for good shots. I moved on.

So here's the best shot of the bunch, with heavy noise reduction and some details recovered in Lighrroom.



Pair of Bald Eagles