“Quick Decision”

Feb. 14, 2014 at the Ridgefield NWR.  I witnessed some nice eagle action today at the refuge. The 3-year old Bald Eagle (perched) needs to make a decision soon – stay on the perch or leave. The approaching 4-year old helps make the decision easier for the younger bird by displaying its talons, which means, “I am going to land here.”  The older eagle is close to maturity, as the last of its brown tail feathers will soon turn all white.  Also, under its right wing you can see a patch of white feathers that will turn dark brown soon.

I’m posting this as a blog post instead of a gallery entry so that readers can view the image in its large format.   (My galleries do not display landscape formatted images very large).  Please click once on the thumbnail below.  Thanks!

Canon 5D Mark III, 1/1000, f4, ISO 800, 500mm.

I have a whole series of shots of this encounter and I’ll try to share them in a special blog post sometime this weekend.