Migrating Bald Eagles

I thought I'd share a few more of the images I took during those 2 days of shooting migrating Bald Eagles in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho over New Year's.  By now, the only Bald Eagles that are likely still left in Coeur d'Alene are the ones that are there year-round.

In this image of an eagle in flight, I took while on the Eagle Watching Cruise we took one afternoon, the catch was successful but hard to see in this image.  I was just happy to get a decent image from the boat.

Some of my favorite images are environmental ones of the eagles or any wildlife in their natural surroundings, whether temporary or permanent.  This one below wasn't such a challenge to capture; no moving boat or cold, shaking hands, no waiting for hours.  We were driving next to the lake and I saw this eagle perched on this branch.  We pulled over and I got out, shot a few frames and then moved on.  Simple, compared to the eagle fishing shots.  I love this image!

It was pretty cool seeing so many bald eagles at once.  As we looked around we would see trees like this with many eagles in them.  There are 7 in this image, including the 2 juveniles that aren't as obvious due to the fact that they don't have white heads or tails yet.  It takes 5 years for their heads and tails to become completely white

The image below was another pull over and shoot, shot.  What we like to refer to as drive-by shooting. lol  This eagle didn't mind my presence at all and just seemed to be so majestic.  They are majestic birds anyway, but this guy...up in the top of the tree staring at me and then all around was quite impressive.  It was a wet morning and you can tell by the way his feathers look.

What a wonderful time we had viewing and photographing these bald eagles.  Special shout out to my incredibly patient husband who waits with me for wildlife, even if sometimes it's in the car.  Thanks, honey!

Do you have Bald Eagles where you live?  Have you photographed them?  I'd love to hear your stories in the comments.  

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Evening Meal

I recently captured this wren at Dedication Park, just south of Kuna, Idaho.  It's mate was waiting for supper and after I took this picture, this bird faithfully delivered the meal to its mate, which I assume was for some tiny family members since it quickly disappeared from view.  I love the way the light was causing a glow on the edges of the bird, rim lighting is one of my favorite types of light.

Backyard Hunting has begun

On December 17th,  I saw this bird in a tree in our backyard.  I believe it to be a Cooper's hawk, perhaps 2nd year.  This is not the first hawk of the season to be hunting in my yard.  There have been a couple of others that I did not get photos of.  Both of the others were much smaller, I ID'd them as Sharp-shinned hawks, and had yellow eyes meaning they were immature birds.  This one was perched kind of high up in our tree so I headed up to my "bird blind" (aka laundry room on our 2nd floor with a small window, just perfect for a blind) to hopefully get some good shots.  I always take a few pictures before opening the window, just in case my action of doing so causes the bird to flee.  This bird was not concerned about me, only finding its next meal.  The light was nice although shadows crossed the eye of the bird and I had to wait until its head was turned just out of shadow in order to get some catch light in the eye. 

Here's the horizontal version of this same image.  Which one do you like best?  

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