Three days ago I had my most exciting encounter ever with a Golden Eagle along the approach road to Bear River MBR.
I was headed for home after an unproductive morning at the refuge when I spotted this Golden Eagle in a small tree directly in front of me and right next to the left side of the road. The eagle seemed so darned big I’m going to refer to her as a female although I don’t know that for sure. Female Golden Eagles have been known to weigh as much as 17 lbs and have a wingspan up to 7 ft 8 in (although most are smaller than that) and my lasting impression of this bird is that she was absolutely huge, especially when she took off and more than filled my viewfinder.
As I was approaching her the light angle was poor and there were even more branches and twigs in front of her than this so I’m not including any of those photos. When I eventually had to drive by very close to her on my way home I fully expected her to spook and fly off. But when she didn’t I stopped on the left side of the road and photographed her from inside my pickup while she was in better light and had fewer twigs in front of her. This is one of those shots.
I couldn’t believe how relaxed she was with her so low in the small tree and me so close. She sometimes kept her eye on me but she showed no other signs of nervousness – none at all.
But her relaxed demeanor instantly disappeared when a blue Subaru Impreza approached from the east and pulled off the south side of the road just a few feet behind me. Now she was tense and obviously nervous as she kept her eye glued on that little blue car. I hoped she would relax again after seeing that the car and its occupant weren’t an immediate threat but then the Subaru Guy made an unfortunate decision that made that impossible.
He got out of his car to photograph the eagle with some kind of small camera (I’m not sure what it was, it could have been a point and shoot or landscape gear or some other kind of small camera and lens).
This was the eagle’s reaction when he got out of his car. I’m pretty sure she’d have vamoosed at this point if her right wing hadn’t hit that larger vertical branch right next to her but it did so for a few seconds she…
tolerated what she perceived as a potentially threatening humanoid moving around on foot nearby and momentarily folded her wings again. But her relatively relaxed demeanor didn’t last for long.
At this point I don’t know what the Subaru Guy was doing (other than photographing the eagle with a small camera from outside his car) because he was behind me and I had my eye glued to my viewfinder. But whatever he was doing….
it spooked her so despite the difficulties presented to her wings by the twig and branch obstructions she decided to attempt takeoff. At this point she’d had more than enough of the Subaru Guy so close and outside his vehicle.
- The photo above and the following nine are sequential without any skips in the burst.
As you’re about to see she ended up taking off sideways. I’m convinced she did so in order to avoid all those twigs and branches as best she could.
The closed nictitating membrane of her right eye is further evidence that she considered those twigs a potential obstruction during takeoff. Birds certainly don’t need any damage to their eyes.
As she began to tip sideways her body was about to clear most of the twigs directly in front of her but many of the branches and twigs still appear to be a potential obstruction to her descending right wing.
But she fooled me. She didn’t continue with the downstroke of her right wing. Instead she…
stopped the downbeat in mid-stroke and raised that wing again as she pushed off with her feet and turned sideways even more. That impressive maneuver allowed her to completely…
avoid all the branches and twigs during takeoff.
Now that she’d avoided all the obstacles she was on a mission to get the hell out of there.
Just look how massive that right foot is!
I like her crinkly wings in this shot.
Here I was extremely lucky to avoid any clipped or cut off wings.
This is the last shot I got without clipping any body parts.
Immediately after the eagle took off I maneuvered my pickup to get a better look at the Subaru Guy just a few feet behind me but he had quickly jumped back into his car and closed the door. It’s my guess he didn’t want to have a… conversation.
I’m trying to look on the bright side – without the Subaru Guy I almost certainly wouldn’t have any takeoff or flight shots of the eagle. But even three days later I’m having a hard time being grateful.
Ron
Notes:
- My intention really isn’t to paint the Subaru Guy as a villain (I don’t think he was). Some folks just don’t know any better and I’m fairly confident that his intention wasn’t to deliberately spook the eagle. And he was obviously interested in and cared about birds and that’s usually a good thing. But getting out of your vehicle to photograph birds (especially raptors in my opinion) when you don’t need to is almost never a good idea. It unnecessarily disturbs birds and wastes their precious energy when they spook and it certainly won’t make you any friends among other photographers or birders who are already “on the bird”.
- I didn’t have enough time to provide complete image techs for this many photos. All of them were taken with my smaller 100-400 zoom lens at varying focal lengths.
Late addendum: The theme I use for Feathered Photography (it’s called Atahaulpa) is so old it’s out of service and no longer functioning properly so we have to install a new theme. That means my site will likely look quite different than it does now and the transformation could happen any time.
So be prepared – for better or for worse change is coming to Feathered Photography and I may be tweaking it for some time down the road.
The sideways take off is spectacular. The wings are angled yet the head is level with the horizon. They must have a gyroscope somewhere in that head.
Wow! Spectacular Golden Eagle shots, especially that sideways launch and lift.
Your new home page looks is really nice, congratulations all around Ron.
I’m glad you like it, Dave. Thanks. There will be more changes to come down the road but they should be minor.
Superb series Ron!
Charlotte
Thanks, Charlotte.
Stunning photos! Those feet and talons are especially striking. Thanks for sharing this series of photos….and the storyline.
Thanks very much, Steve.
I am finally in an area with enough signal to open and look at the photos. Beautiful photos. She does have big feet!
Thanks, April. She sure does!
Everyone has properly praised the Golden Eagle photos and vented on Subaru guy better than I could without the copious use of expletives. To contribute a positive note, I’m glad that at least your Harrier plate still resides atop the page. Otherwise, I like the changes so far.
Thanks for noticing the plate, Lyle. I have a fondness for it on my blog so I wanted to make sure we kept it. This time instead of having it centered like it was before we moved it over to the right side to provide what we think is better balance with my Feathered Photography logo on the left.
And here it is…………! Will take some getting used to
Judy, this isn’t how it will look in the end. We’re tweaking it right now so you’re seeing some of the intermediate steps.
Personally, I have NO sense of humor with stupidity. I do NOT suffer fools gladly, especially when the answer (so to speak) is so blatantly (insert expletive here) obvious. Raptors overall, and ESPECIALLY goldens, don’t like humans much (and for GOOD reason)! That’s why you don’t see them often. DUH!! A car is one thing, but an idiotic two-legged human is a whole ‘nother matter!! You’re being FAR too kind–and that’s you, so in that spirit, I’ll give him a bye for getting out of the car. HOWEVER, what I cannot forgive is him not seeing the eagle’s obvious distress, not reading her obvious body language which was clear as day, and getting back in his car immediately!! Sorry, I cannot leave that one! Oblivious! GRRRRRRR!
Now, all that said (and refocusing myself on the beauty), what a glorious series. And here I am being ridiculously redundant again 😉 I’m with you that she is a she–those feet! Be still my heart! And the shots of that outrageously lovely nape gleaming in the sunshine! That’s another OH WOW!!! I’m always gobsmacked at what sunlight does as it plays with feathers! There’s serious magic happening there! (I WANT feathers!!)
Overall, there’s something really special about goldens. And what a blessing that she graced you (and us) with her presence.
Laura, thanks for pretty much confirming my suspicion that she’s likely a female. I had that thought the entire time I was with her.
And I wouldn’t dispute anything else you said…
Wow Wow Wow ❗️ What an experience to come across this beauty and photograph her. On top of getting goose bumps I found myself also getting a little teary ❤️ Thank you for sharing your love of birds with us.
No comment on Subaru guy…
Thanks very much, Diana.
Wow. And wow again.
I am leaning strongly towards the idea that Subaru guy was filled with guilt. As he should be.
I am super impressed at this series and am so grateful that you were able to make the most of this very rare opportunity. And I am blown away by the eagles adaptability. And seriously awed by the size of her feet.
Thanks, EC. I keep coming back to her feet too. Rabbits have no chance…
Just freakin’ gorgeous. Many thanks. You had good light, and look at those talons.
Around here the nature-ignorant population is rising steeply. From dawn to 7:30 a.m. is all we get for quiet observation.
That’s too bad. “Quiet observation” is usually the key, isn’t it Martha.
Wow Ron..what a sequence! To see a large mature Golden Eagle is rare..to get a take-off sequence ..even better..to have great light and have her come at you…priceless. That beautiful head, eyes, and golden feathers…I’d call that a once in a lifetime!! Subaru guy…I’d forgive him.
“Once in a lifetime” almost for sure, Jerry.
Don’t worry, I’ve forgiven him. Or at least I’m working on it… 🙂
Hi Ron, beautiful eagle and impressive set of photos. It is shocking indeed that many people don’t realize that staying inside your vehicle is generally the best way to observe and photograph wildlife. (Nice park job though! LOL) You did a nice job on the exposure of the eagle btw, not an easy task with the dark plumage.
Thank you, Gary.
Full disclosure: During processing I had to adjust exposure more than I usually do with my photos. The overall exposure was about as good as it could be in camera with this dark bird in this lighting situation but the shadows were too dark so I lightened them a little.
“Some folks just don’t know any better” is why we have the phrase “forgive them, for they know not what they are doing”. Including how to photograph raptors. You should have approached him and given him your blog URL so he could get better educated (there was a time when I was that ignorant myself).
Elmer, I’m pretty sure he didn’t want to be approached. That’s probably why he was instantly back in his car as soon as the eagle took off.
Amazing series of shots Ron! Wow!
Thank you, Gail.
You did very well framing this huge golden eagle and getting some great compositions, Ron. Especially under stressful circumstances.
Thanks, Ed. As always, luck was part of it. The other significant part was that I had my smaller zoom lens to use in this situation. If I had been using my 500mm lens most or all of these shots would certainly have been clipped.
Well Ron, you promised us the rest of the series when you showed us that sideways take-off shot and now you have kept your promise. This is a seriously outstanding series of Golden Eagle photos. Hard to imagine them being any better. There is often some good in most not good situations, and the good here was that thanks to Subaru Guy you did not have to wait an hour for take-off photos. The bad is of course that you may have lost an hour of photographing and observing this beautiful bird. I am on my third Subaru Forester – great cars, and mine although having 82,000 miles looks a heck of lot better than Subaru Guy’s. I shoot with a super zoom Canon camera obviously much smaller than yours, but I can assure you in that situation I would not have gotten out of my car. I often run into a situation where another photographer is in the process of taking shots of a bird and I will never make any moves or do anything that would disturb either the photographer or spook his or her subject. Wonder if Subaru guy knew that was a Golden Eagle or just stopped because it was such a large bird?
I always try to keep my promises, Everett. I make them sparingly but when I make one it wouldn’t do to disappoint my readers… 🙂
I don’t know if he knew it was an eagle or not but I suspect he wasn’t a seasoned birder or bird photographer – if he was I doubt he’d have exited his vehicle.
GEEZ! Just gotta get in there and grab (or try to) grab a shot with no thought about what their actions might mean to the critter or others….. 🙁 “Technology” has NOT been helpful that way….. That being said it’s a wonderful series on the Golden removing itself from the situation…. 🙂 He acrobatics and the “flex” in those feathers is amazing! Pulling into that tall, dry grass not the smartest move either…..
Thanks, Judy. I had a similar thought about that grass. At least it wasn’t windy that morning.
What a MAGNIFICENT creature ! Those feet ! Those claws ! What a wingspan ! Subaru guy aside, I’m so glad for you that you got to witness
such a magnificent specimen in flight and that you could share her with us……..
Kris, it was an experience I’ll never forget.
Wonderful series. Love those feet and legs!
Thanks, Dan.