Bird Watching: Bald Eagle - Our National Symbol - Vol. #3, 1 by linthicum

linthicum wrote:
Thanks, all. I'm glad you enjoy them. I'll try to be somewhat selective in posting new photos. I do take lots of Bald Eagle photos, but as I mentioned, I'm still looking for better action shots.

Margaret, I've been exclusively using a Nikkor 500mm prime lens with a Nikon D300 Digital SLR. I have 1.4x and 1.7x teleconverters but seldom use them. Tracking a flying Bald Eagle at 700mm or 850mm becomes a little difficult for me. I often miss a lot of shots at 500mm because tracking and keeping the eagle in focus isn't always easy. I use a Wimberley head on a Gitzo tripod which is a perfect combination. If you have never seen a Wimberley head in action you don't know what you have missed. The first time I saw one in action, I immediately decided I've got to get one of those.

Many of the Bald Eagles are too far away to take any respectable photos. I haven't found that increasing focal length beyond 700mm helps a lot from a picture quality perspective, especially in-flight shots. So, I wait for them to come to me.

Anyway, here is a photo of an immature Bald Eagle with a huge catch, taken this weekend. The fish was so heavy the eagle never really got airborne. It glided across the water to the adjacent island where it enjoyed some Sashimi. You can quickly see that a lot of improvement could be made on a photo like this one, but many times, the variables are beyond the photographer's control. So next time you hope that he catches a fish at a different site under better lighting conditions.