Although the sky was gray today, Apr. 3, at the Ridgefield NWR, after about 10 a.m. the clouds thinned out and let wonderful ‘filtered’ light come through, reducing shadows almost completely. Beginning at about 11 a.m. for an hour and a half, I was fortunate to have witnessed a gathering of at least four immature Bald Eagles, circling, diving, flushing ducks, forcing one another off of perches, and dancing in the sky. A lot of the action took place too far away for decent photography but was still awesome to watch. It was hard to know where to position my truck, while guessing where they might fly to next. I decided to park by marker #11 and wait.
It wasn’t long before I had some action in a tree about 150 feet from the road. A first year immature eagle landed on this tree and I kept my lens trained on it for a potential takeoff shot. It wasn’t long before a three year old immature bird flew in from the left and ‘encouraged’ the younger eagle to leave its perch. I got my takeoff shot and a bonus with the older bird landing.
Canon 5D Mark III, 1/1600, f4, ISO 500, 500mm.
For a larger, more detailed image please go to my Flickr page HERE.
