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Redwing Eagles

These pictures were taken at Colvill Park in Redwing, MN in March 2008 during the Eagles annual Northward migration along the Mississippi River.

On Saturday, it was cold (25 degrees F) and cloudy, not enough light and not much eagle action. I got back there on Sunday morning about 8:00. It was still cold, but there was beautiful golden morning light facing in the right direction.

These were all taken with a Nikon D200, a 400/2.8 lens (non-VR) and a TC17 teleconverter. With the teleconverter and the digital conversion factor, that a 35mm effective focal length of 1020mm/f5.0! It's an amazing lens that I have to grow into. This was my first time shooting this size of glass, it was a great experience and I am excited to learn more.

For those interested, I was using a Bogen 3021 tripod (too light - need a Gitzo!) with a Really Right Stuff BH-40 Ballhead and plates. Most photos were shot with shutter speeds between 1/1250 and 1/2000. Most of the time I shot aperature priority matrix metering at -1/3 stop compensation to protect the white eagle heads from overexposure. Sometimes I would shoot manual using the sunny f16 rule.
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  • This is not really an eagle. It's what you take pictures of while waiting for the eagles to do something. It also demonstrates that it is technique (or lack thereof) that made the eagle pictures soft and out-of-focus, not the equipment. However, the mallard was much closer than the eagles and it was sitting still!

    This is not really an eagle. It's what you take pictures of while waiting for the eagles to do something. It also demonstrates that it is technique (or lack thereof) that made the eagle pictures soft and out-of-focus, not the equipment. However, the mallard was much closer than the eagles and it was sitting still!

  • I would have loved to have this sequence in better focus. It caught me off-guard. I was happy just to have captured it at all. The hard part is staying hyper-focused for hours on end. This was a really good day and it still meant standing in the cold for 30 minutes to and hour waiting for that unexpected 10-20 seconds of action!

    I would have loved to have this sequence in better focus. It caught me off-guard. I was happy just to have captured it at all. The hard part is staying hyper-focused for hours on end. This was a really good day and it still meant standing in the cold for 30 minutes to and hour waiting for that unexpected 10-20 seconds of action!

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  • I didn't see this until I got home and viewed the frames on the computer. It's pretty amazing to have captured the eagle with the fish's head in its talons with the broken off body falling off behind him.

    I didn't see this until I got home and viewed the frames on the computer. It's pretty amazing to have captured the eagle with the fish's head in its talons with the broken off body falling off behind him.

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  • I love this fishing sequence. Again, it's not as sharp as I would like, but the action is phenomenal! If you look closely, you can see that he has the fish in his right talon.

    I love this fishing sequence. Again, it's not as sharp as I would like, but the action is phenomenal! If you look closely, you can see that he has the fish in his right talon.

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  • After grabbing the fish in oe talon, he brings it forward and will grasp it in both talons as he fly off to a tree for dinner.

    After grabbing the fish in oe talon, he brings it forward and will grasp it in both talons as he fly off to a tree for dinner.

  • He looks dramatc here, but didn't get a fish. 'A' for style.

    He looks dramatc here, but didn't get a fish. 'A' for style.

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    I would have loved to have this sequence in better focus. It caught me off-guard. I was happy just to have captured it at all. The hard part is staying hyper-focused for hours on end. This was a really good day and it still meant standing in the cold for 30 minutes to and hour waiting for that unexpected 10-20 seconds of action!