It is a simple formula which anyone can follow:
50% luck: being in the right place at the right time.
50% experience: being aware of your surroundings with your camera in hand and ready for action.
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Wldlife of Edmonds, WA. 2014
- Thread starter Bill Anderson
- Start date
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It is a simple formula which anyone can follow:
50% luck: being in the right place at the right time.
50% experience: being aware of your surroundings with your camera in hand and ready for action.
Believe me Rocky - don't go unless Bill is there and I'm not
sounds like you were up on top of the bluff? how close can you get to the nest from up there? i used a 40D with my 100-400 for several years, till i got my 7D, and i always found that if i had to crop more than about half the original, the remaining image was pretty low resolution...
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It is a simple formula which anyone can follow:
50% luck: being in the right place at the right time.
50% experience: being aware of your surroundings with your camera in hand and ready for action.
Terry O
Well-Known Member
good stuff, Bill... i may try to make it down there next Saturday or something, see if the eagle will cooperate...
Believe me Rocky - don't go unless Bill is there and I'm not
Bill, a question... you seem to be able to tell which of the eagles is the female, just by looking... i was under the impression that there's no visible difference between the sexes, but the females are larger. do you have a secret way to tell which is which?
From what I have observed, the female has a larger beak and does not have much of a forehead. Her head appears flat and flows straight into her beak, where the male appears to have a true forehead that is rounded on the front.
Compare the two on this thread: http://www.pnwphotos.com/forum/showthread.php?9765-Eagle-Action-1-22-14
Compare the two on this thread: http://www.pnwphotos.com/forum/showthread.php?9765-Eagle-Action-1-22-14
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Tuesday (1/28) both of the Pt. Edwards pair were perched in the family tree at the end of Pt. Edwards Place. This is the same tree that is visible from Marina Park. The female's activities are very much like last year: one day she is on the nest and the next day she isn't. It makes it very difficult to tell if she has laid eggs.
Our local urban eagles, especially the Pt. Edwards pair, appear to be habituated to the presence of humans. They let us get very close to them as long as they are perched above us. The only times I have ever "spooked" one was when it was taking a bath on the UnoCal grounds between the marsh and the Pt. Edwards walkway.
2-27-13. Last year Terry and I slowly crawled out to take these shots.
Our local urban eagles, especially the Pt. Edwards pair, appear to be habituated to the presence of humans. They let us get very close to them as long as they are perched above us. The only times I have ever "spooked" one was when it was taking a bath on the UnoCal grounds between the marsh and the Pt. Edwards walkway.
2-27-13. Last year Terry and I slowly crawled out to take these shots.
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Wednesday (1/29) was pure rain, gloom, and doom.
From Sunset Ave.
Barrow's goldeneye
female
male
surf scoters
There was water in the marsh due to the recent rain. This brought back the resident herons and some gulls.
From Sunset Ave.
Barrow's goldeneye
female
male
surf scoters
There was water in the marsh due to the recent rain. This brought back the resident herons and some gulls.
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Terry O
Well-Known Member
For a change, just before I met with Bill Anderson this morning (1/30), I stopped at the Pt. Edwards nest and caught Mom just taking off. This sequence was taken with the Canon 40D and 400mm f5.6L.
Wish I had had a chance to set up the 7D and 500+1.4x (700mm) - but it all happened too quickly - I was lucky to have the 40D and 400 in my lap
Wish I had had a chance to set up the 7D and 500+1.4x (700mm) - but it all happened too quickly - I was lucky to have the 40D and 400 in my lap
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Thanks very much, Christine and Rocky. Rocky these shots were taken some distance upslope and east of Marina Park - and some distance from the nest - hence my wishing I had my 500+1.4x attached
sounds like you were up on top of the bluff? how close can you get to the nest from up there? i used a 40D with my 100-400 for several years, till i got my 7D, and i always found that if i had to crop more than about half the original, the remaining image was pretty low resolution...
Terry O
Well-Known Member
Its on the order of about 100 or so yards, Rocky - in other words a fair distance. The challenge is the available light. I was shooting hand held at ISO 1000 and 1/1250s at f5.6 - its the high ISO's that are limiting, even with the 7D. My dream is the 5D mark III that can handle much higher ISOs much better than the 7D. Here's the fourth shot I posted but full frame (uncropped) so you can get an idea of the level of crop. I was actually surprised that the 40D did as well as it did.
thanks Terry! i find distance a bit hard to estimate in the field, but 80-100 yards is about the max distance to get a decent shot of an eagle with a 400mm on a crop body, and even then, it's hard to get a print-worthy image after cropping. i've had decent luck with my 7D at ISO settings up to 1600, but usually tried to keep my 40D at 800 or below to avoid noise problems. i'd love to have the scratch to afford a 5D3, but for now at least, it's out of reach for me. then again, i use the full frame body for landscape work, not wildlife, and being able to shoot at ISO 6400 isn't as critical...
Good shots, Terry. Noisy as expected due to the low light, but fully in focus. Terry's shots demonstrate why it is hard to tell if the eagle is pregnant. One day she is perched on the tree above the dog park and the next day she is in and out of the nest.
While Terry was photographing the eagle on Thursday (1/30), I was at the marsh. I called him on the cell phone to tell him not to bother stopping by, as the water level was low and all I saw was a red-tailed hawk perched in a tree on the far eastern side. It was probably the same bird I had seen the previous two days in the same general location.
5D MkIII + 1.4 teleconverter + 100-400L zoom (handheld) = 8.0/560mm telephoto lens, uncropped. Distance was about 400 yards.
Same combo, cropped.
It was cold and windy, so we wimped out and met for donuts at the Waterfront Cafe near the fishing pier before I had to leave to pick up my son at the gym.
Later that afternoon I threw peanuts off my back deck for the wild denizens of my backyard. The evil minions of the Dark Lord have learned that they cannot wait until I go inside the house before they swoop down to retrieve the peanuts. If they hesitate, the peanuts will be taken by the eastern grey squirrels, who are not afraid of me.
It is a smart crow who knows not to be camera shy if it wants to get a peanut before the squirrels take them all.
A Steller's jay, a cousin to the crow, managed to make off with two peanuts.
5D MkIII + 1.4 teleconverter + 100-400L zoom (handheld) = 8.0/560mm telephoto lens, uncropped. Distance was about 400 yards.
Same combo, cropped.
It was cold and windy, so we wimped out and met for donuts at the Waterfront Cafe near the fishing pier before I had to leave to pick up my son at the gym.
Later that afternoon I threw peanuts off my back deck for the wild denizens of my backyard. The evil minions of the Dark Lord have learned that they cannot wait until I go inside the house before they swoop down to retrieve the peanuts. If they hesitate, the peanuts will be taken by the eastern grey squirrels, who are not afraid of me.
It is a smart crow who knows not to be camera shy if it wants to get a peanut before the squirrels take them all.
A Steller's jay, a cousin to the crow, managed to make off with two peanuts.
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