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The position of the eagle relative to the moon enabled mt to get some "ET" shots.
All this time, the eagle's mate was hanging out on the piling off the Senior Center near the ferry dock. A Boeing Dreamlifter flew over and I was able to get both big birds in one photo.
A few minutes later it took off and flew south after making a loop over the marina. Later I ran into a fellow bird photographer at the marsh who said he had seen both eagles circling together over Pt. Edwards.
Late Tuesday afternoon (11/24/15) twelve to fourteen great blue herons were at the marsh, probably due to a high tide and high winds along the Sound. The herons seemed preoccupied with something at the far southwest corner.
The object of their concern appeared to be eating while perched on a telephone pole.
The eagle flew over for a drink, which caused all the herons to take off at once.
The eagle spent several minutes drinking and hopping between two different locations. All of this shots were taken with the 7DII + 100-400L II telephoto zoom. I took this shot with the short end of the lens to give perspective to the distance from the eagle to the #1 viewing platform where I was standing.
The low angle of the sun in late autumn/early winter presents special challenges. I am constantly playing with exposure compensation and my photos can be very artistic/surreal/ephemeral or just plain bad. Regardless, it is my favorite time of the year to be out photographing wildlife.
Wednesday (12/2/15) afternoon I saw one of the Pt. Wells eagles perched on a light stand at the old tank farm dock at Pt. Wells, about a mile south of Marina Beach as the eagle flies.
I was so "focused" on the distant eagle that I did not see one of the Pt. Edwards eagles land on the piling off Marina Beach. The eagle ate a fish it had caught and cleaned its beak afterward.
While I was photographing the Pt. Edwards eagle, the other Pt. Wells eagle joined its mate at the dock.
Taken with the 7DII + 100-400L II telephoto zoom. I should have used the 5DIII, as it handles high ISO settings with less noise. On a positive note, with the cloud cover I did not have to use exposure compensation.
On a rainy Thursday morning (12/3/15) both of the Pt. Edwards eagles were perched on their tree at the top of Pine St. If you click on the individual photos to get the larger versions, you can see water drops beaded on the eagles' feathers.
From the marsh. The open area directly below the eagles' tree and the large house at the top of the hill is the site of a proposed addition to the Pt. Edwards condo complex. The developer wants to build additional stories than were called for in the original project plans, which is generating controversy. I believe the eagles' tree is on the property of the large house, which is located in Woodway. Hopefully the tree will not be cut down like two other eagle trees in Edmonds, although the eagles (and the homeowner) may lose their view looking north.
Later that afternoon I caught one of them on the piling opposite the Senior Center between the marina and ferry dock.
Friday afternoon (12-11-15) one of the Pt. Edwards eagles was perched at its usual spot by the ferry dock. The lighting made Mt. Baker stand out in the background. I took this shot at 1/250 and f/22 so both the eagle and the mountain would be in focus.
The eagle took off, made a circle over the Sound, and returned.
Monday (12/14/15) one of the Pt. Edwards eagles had been eating a bird at its usual perch off the Senior Center by the ferry dock.
The low angle of the sun brought out the eagle's eyes. I had to use negative exposure compensation to keep from blowing out the eagle's white feathers.
Tuesday morning (12/29/15) I caught a juvie bald eagle perched in one of the tall fir trees near Shell Creek spit where the Hutt Park eagle pair often hang out. The east side of the grove is visible from the end of Melody Lane.
The juvie took off and flew south, then returned north along with a second juvie.
You have to look at the wear patterns on the feathers at the ends of the wings to distinguish between the two birds.
Both birds headed east. Thinking they might be the 2014 offspring of the Hutt Park pair, I drove to Hutt Park to check out the tall snag. They were not there, so I drove down to Sunset Ave.. While I was parked there, an adult fly over the spit and landed in one of the trees near where I had seen the juvies.
My first eagle shots of the new year, taken at the marsh Saturday afternoon (1-2-16) with both the 7DII + 100-400L II telephoto zoom (handheld) and 5DIII + 1.4x TC + 500L telephoto (tripod mounted).
The eagle flew in from the south around Pt. Edwards. It flew head-on up Willow Creek, so all we could see was a massive wingspan. We had to wait until it turned for a profile shot before we could tell if it was an eagle or a great blue heron.
The eagle landed by the creek for a drink of water, scaring all the ducks and killdeer to flight.
I have always wanted to get a panoramic shot of this, but it is harder than you think. By the time you back off to get all the birds in flight, the eagle is just a white dot in the background.
The boardwalk and viewing platforms of the marsh are situated so that for much of the day you are looking straight south into the low winter sun. This creates problems with glare and lighting that lead to what Terry and I call "artsy" shots.
The eagle changed positions a few times as it drank out of Willow Creek.
It eventually took off, once again scaring all the ducks to flight.
It flew east across the marsh towards City Park. I like the "artsy" background created by the tall, bare trees on the east side of the marsh near Sunset Ave./Hwy. 104.
A while later we saw it flying back west high over Pt. Edwards where it turned south.
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