Serendipitous Eagle
December 17th, 2022
I had some extra time on this day to explore a local park for photography opportunities. There was no particular plan in mind other than to go out and get some exercise as my primary plan. It was a cloudy day with little light breaking through which is ideal for photography.
As I was walking along the boardwalk I saw another photographer looking at something to the right. A brief moment of time later I spotted the a bald eagle perched on a platform. I quickly changed direction and proceeded to the best location to photograph the eagle. From previous experience, I knew that the eagle will frequently drop off the platform to a convenient log in the water. There the birds often take a bath after a meal. This offers great opportunities for capturing the birds flying off the log.
When I got to the viewing area, the bald eagle was already on the log. I then setup and proceeded to wait. I have often had to wait for long periods of time for the eagle to launch. In one case several hours. Sometimes after waiting for a good long time, the bird would pick exactly the moment when I looked way to launch. Always a worry but nothing you can do other than hope you get the timing right.
On this occasion the bald eagle cooperated with me. I was looking through the view finder as the bird launched into the wind. The bird did launch away from me, but I knew that they often turn to the left after launch. There are several areas when the bird like to land afterwards to the left. I was not disappointed when I was able to get wonderful images as the bird flew low over the water. Wonderful memory captured in the images shared here.
