Yesterday morning I saw my first Bald Eagle of the season at Farmington Bay. It was too far away for even mediocre images but it was there! We have a small number of resident eagles in northern Utah but those few birds normally don’t hang out at Farmington this early in the season so I’m not sure if it was a wandering resident or an early migrant. Either way it was a delight to see.
As a result, when I began thinking about today’s post my mind kept returning to eagles so I thought I’d present several images taken at Farmington two winters ago.
1/1600, f/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc
One of the nice things about photographing birds in flight at Farmington is that you can often get the Wasatch Mountains to the east in the background. The lighting on the bird can be a challenge but you often get an interesting backdrop. Here the mountains are covered with snow. I like the squared-off wing angles in this image.
1/1600, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc
This bird was fighting with another eagle just above the surface of the ice. I’ve done some cloning in this version so…
1/1600, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc
here’s the original. As you can see, this eagle’s opponent is mostly out of frame at the top.
1/1600, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc
The competition for the invasive carp that have been killed by refuge personnel (as a means of preventing damage to emergent vegetation) is often intense – from other eagles and from gulls. This eagle’s solution to the problem was to attempt to eat the carp “on the fly”. It’s not simply killing the fish (it was already dead) – it’s actually eating it in flight. Here it’s taking a chunk out of the head and if you look carefully you can see scales and debris falling below and slightly behind the bird.
I’ve posted other images of this eagle with the carp but this one is new to my blog.
Ron
Are you sure your dreams aren’t filled with eagles more often than harriers? These images, like the ones on display at the FB Nature Center, are truly iconic and always a pleasure to look at. Btw- we had our first official BE migrant, as well as a Roughie, cross the ridge a couple of days ago.
I think I actually still prefer harriers, Mike – probably for two reasons. Harriers are more challenging subjects and there’s just too much baiting going on where Bald Eagles are well known to gather in large numbers.
I saw the HW tally of raptors from the ridge a few days ago (http://hawkwatch.org/images/stories/NewsEvents/Goshute_numbers_as_of_9-28-13.jpg) and noticed both the single Bald Eagle and the Roughie on the list. You guys do great work up there!
Ron, great shots. In the first the highlight on the head and leading edge of wings is striking,and in the third the detail,point of view and eating in flight, is amazing!
Thank you, Jane.
Terrific photos, Ron! Kudos to you for getting such beauties.
I’m glad you like them, Linda. Thank you.
OH My! Absolutely amazing shots Ron! How wonderful!
Charlotte
Thanks, Charlotte.
Splendid photographs of the Eagle behavior!
The Florida Bald Eagle population is quite robust and their comeback from endangered status has been surprisingly rapid. Competition for feeding and nesting sites is really fierce.
Great news about your Florida eagles, Wally. I can’t imagine what it would be like if we had lost them back in the 70’s. We came fairly close to doing just that.
Wally and others may find this info about “Southern” Balds interesting:
http://hmana.blogspot.ca/2013/09/juvenile-bald-eagle-bbrr-southern-bald.html
Bill
Awesome captures Ron! I really like the one with the fish.
Thank you, Steve.
spectacular!!! we get oodles of these beauties at Conowingo Dam (Maryland) right around Thanksgiving … I’m hoping to get up there again this year …
“Oodles of eagles” – love it, Lois.
Wow! What beautiful images. I am always happy to see Bald Eagles. I love that you were able to capture the bird eating in flight, which strikes me as being somewhat unusual behavior. Once again you’ve shown why it is worth taking time to really watch the birds.
Susan, As far as I know, eagles eating in flight is unusual – this is the only time I’ve observed it.
Such beautiful shots Ron. If I recall that was a great year for bald eagles at Farmington Bay. It was the first year we went to see them and was so excited to be so close to such wonderful birds. We moved to Utah in 2007 and the first bald eagle I saw off redwood road was what pushed my interest into photographing eagles and hawks.
Yes, that was a good year for eagles at Farmington, Tanja.
It’s interesting what the stimulus experience has been for many folks who start photographing birds. For me it was the many birds who flitted about in a tree just outside my window where my computer is located. I spent a lot of time at the computer but the birds began drawing my attention more and more. Eventually I decided that I should be photographing them and my passion grew from there.
Pirating (stealing from other eagles) and kleptoparasitism (stealing from other species, like Osprey) is a way of life, especially juvenile Balds. Less skilled at catching their own prey these behaviours see them through the early years along with scavenging and becomes a perfected method of acquiring calories. The habit of stealing starts very early in an eaglets life. Once they can self feed and if they have siblings stealing/pirating becomes a regular behavious with prey often being pirated back and forth between the eaglets until the dominant bird can monopolize the prey. I have witnessed some interesting techniques by other siblings in attempts to acquire snatches of the prey. Interlopers will even risk pirating from an active nest though well “guarded” by an adult.
Bill
Bill, Competition among the eagles for these fish was amazingly intense but I was even more surprised at how brazen the gulls were with the eagles. There was actually a gull right behind this eagle (barely out of frame to the left) and it nipped at the eagles tail several times in flight.
Yes Ron, the superior mobility allows many birds to take advantage of prey held by many raptors. Grounded the larger eagles or most other raptors don’t have the rulers of the sky dominance. It’s not uncommon to see various raptors “sharing” a carcass and also in the presents of meat eating non-raptorial birds. I have seen our two eagle species, vultures and various corvids dining together. There is a “pecking order” but once partially cropped up aggression is eased.
Bill
I agree. The third image is amazing. I am lucky enough to live in Southern Illinois and see eagles flying, nesting, etc. Last week I saw my first juvenile bald eagle. I am in love with all of you photos, but bald eagles and owls are my favorite birds.
I’m glad you like that image, Karen – it’s one of my favorites, also. Thank you.
Ron: The third image is simply phenomenal. Not a surprise that one of the frames in that series was the Avian Pick of the year on Nature Photographers Network. The behavior you captured is amazing, the image is at the top of Bald Eagle images that I’ve had the joy of viewing. Great stuff. Hope you get some more this fall / winter up there.
Keith, Bald Eagles should start showing up in good numbers around here in November. By February we’re sometimes up to our eyeballs in them but it sure can very from year to year. Thank you for the nice words about two of the images in that series.
I’m especially struck by the third image. Just phenomenal, Ron. I learn so much about bird behavior through your blog… Thanks!
Bird behaviors are often fascinating, Alison – one of the reasons I like to post about them. Thank you.