Recently I spent two weekends on the Mississippi River photographing out of a blind. I knew the eagles would be concentrated there in large numbers as they migrate northward. I had seen reports that the ice was out in the sloughs paralleling the main branch of the mighty Miss. Ice out means the grocery store is open for the fish-eaters. Much of my wildlife photography is similar to hunting. Study the critter's habits, the layout of the land, figure how to get close, know your equipment, practice with it. And then spend tons of time in the field and hope for the best.
The first shot in this series is of a Bald Eagle. Still pretty low light level when an eagle landed on a small chunk of floating ice upstream from my blind just after dawn. I swung my 600/4 lens toward him to watch as he started working on a fish. Then I realized he was going to float right past me. He did just that at frame-filling distance. Pretty unusual to be this close to a wild, non-habituated Bald Eagle.
Other mornings, I got some pretty rewarding flight shots of eagles feeding in the river. Kind of like connecting on a big buck at 700 yards. Enjoy!
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