photoartflightBlackwater Bald Eagles
On our photo trip to Blackwater NWR we were hoping to see a lot of Eagles. Winter is when they have the largest concentrations of Bald Eagles, so we were hoping for the best. We saw quite a few in the distance but not many close by. I saw one on the ground across from pool 3a, looking around with some feathers around so I assume it had a meal. This Eagle then flew into a nearby tree. Then, I believe the mate, joined him. This Eagle was on a snag in the water, on the other side of the Wildlife Drive. They were now a little closer, but I still needed to change my 1.4x teleconverter to a 2x to get even closer. Then I got my tripod and stacked the 1.4x teleconverter with the 2x teleconverter to try to get even closer. I was using a Canon 1D MkIV with a 1.3x crop factor (from full frame DSLRs) so with this combination I had a field of view equivalent to 1120mm @ f/11 wide open, so I stopped down to f/16 & f /22 for a series of shots to see what I could get sharpness wise. Luckily my subjects cooperated and were fairly static movement wise. It was a somewhat dull day so I had to up my ISO more than I like to use. They cooperated for quite a while and they attracted quite a few other photographers, so we moved on.
photoartflight 
Nicely done Reed!
Thanks Belinda! My favorite birds and my favorite place to photograph them!
They sit there looking like they own the place! 😉 Hmmmm…..I guess they do, lol. Wonderful shots of a majestic bird, Reed!
Thanks Donna! I think they do own the place! Blackwater In The Winter has the largest numbers of Bald Eagles in the Northeast. But it is a large Refuge so some days they are scarce visually. The Refuge is very large, some just think it is only around the Wildlife Drive.
Terrific photos!
Thanks so much! They are my favorite birds to photograph! Well, maybe one of many of my favorite birds to photograph!!
Beautiful – lucky you!
Yes! It was luck that they landed in a somewhat close tree off the Wildlife Drive! Usually they just go to a tree far in the distance. But it is still fun to see them flying around!
Excellent!
Thanks! It is a fun place to photograph!