Photo of the Day! Bald Eagle

Nikon D90, Nikkor 300mm f2.8 w/TC14 @420mm, ISO 1250, f4,1/200

One of our favorite subjects is the bald eagle. Unfortunately the eagles aren't around this winter for us to photograph. So I dug through my archives and found this one from Lamar Valley in Yellowstone National Park.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from Derek and Chad at Natural Vision Photography!

Warm Weather

It didn't even cross my mind that the "mild" weather over that last 4 days would melt the river ice. When I say mild its been in the 20's for that time period.

I was at BDR today around 7:30am looking at the spillway near the 35w bridge, and surprisingly there wasn't any ice. So, I headed further down the road to find the eagles. Near the Black Dog Power Plant is another area where there is open water even during the coldest weather. Again no eagles. So back in the car I go. I was thinking maybe they were all down near the Cedar bridge (where Chad and I have had the most luck). Well, about half way between the power plant and the Cedar bridge I found the eagles! However, I had a new problem. I wasn't able to get any shots due to the eagles (17 of them) were flying all over the place and it was difficult to predict were they would fish at. Another day as a wildlife photographer!

Image is from the frigid weather last week!

Eagles Through the Fog

It sounds cool, and could even make a nice photo, but when I take a photo of an eagle through the fog, it typically looks like I just forgot to clean my lens.

Derek and I got to the river yesterday morning before sunrise hoping to catch the eagles in another active and hungry mood. But instead, we found thick fog in the river valley. The fog was so thick at one point that we couldn't see across the river.

The other problem we ran into was that the ice of the river had melted a bit and the river opened up quite a bit. This meant the eagles could do some fishing down river from us if they prefered, which they did.

We ended up getting a couple of shots and now I'm back to work for a few days but hopefully I'll be able to get back down there soon. Just another day as a wildlife photographer

An Active Morning Indeed

There isn't much more I can add about today that Chad hasn't already said. Although I missed the morning rush that Chad witnessed. I did get a text from as I was arriving that said "YOU NEED TO BE HERE!" As I got out of the car there were two eagles fishing right in front of Chad! Anyway, a little later in the morning I got two of my best eagle shots as well.

Remember to click the image to view it larger!

Sub Zero Eagles

Temperature: -5
Wind: 5-10 mph
Wind Chill: -15 to -20

The weather didn't stop us. The eagles were in the trees and flying over the river, we didn't want to miss it. Good thing too because Derek and I ended up with some pretty good shots.

In total, we stood outside watching and photographing the eagles for about four hours. The funny thing is I got the image above within the first 10 minutes I was there.

Below freezing temperatures can be very hard to deal with, but the truth is that wearing proper gear makes it easy. I wore five layers over my body and legs and two layers over my face and head. I did discover that my gloves and boots are not sufficient for this cold of weather. But that won't stop me, I'll be back out there tomorrow and I will report the details here.