When I drive down Sunset Ave., I always check a tree just off the corner of Edmonds St. for bald eagles.
Sunday afternoon (
2/22/15) I found a sub adult perched in the tree. I estimate its age at three years since its head is not yet completely white. I don't think anyone else noticed the eagle until I started photographing it, then it drew quite a crowd.
The eagle remained perched on the tree for over an hour, which gave me the opportunity to take several different shots.
Strafed by the evil minions of the Dark Lord.
Strafed by a model plane. It was actually a real plane at a far distance, but the compression factor of the long end of the 100-400L telephoto zoom created a different effect. Telephoto compression is often used by movie makers to create special visual effects.
An adult eagle flew north at an extremely high altitude. We initially did not know what it was, as it was flapping its wings continually like a cormorant in flight. Bald eagles usually do more gliding and soaring than flapping. The eagle was working hard as zooming in on the photo showed its mouth wide open as though it were breathing heavily.
The sub adult took off and headed north. I just missed its moment of departure, which was more of a horizontal, gliding takeoff than the more spectacular upward liftoff.