![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/golden-eagle-7172-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"golden-eagle-7172-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\nThree days ago I got lucky with an unusually patient immature Golden Eagle in a remote area of northern Utah.<\/p>\n
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1\/3200, f\/6.3, ISO 640, Canon R5, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n In my experience Golden Eagles, especially in remote areas, are extremely skittish but this young bird was an exception – probably because ‘she’ was young. I had all the time I wanted with her.\u00a0She had her back to me but the light was good and she kept scanning the flats behind her for prey so I got many good looks at her face with light in her eye.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/4000, f\/6.3, ISO 800, Canon R5, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n For some reason this is a photo that I wanted badly but I had to wait for it. I spent quite a while waiting for her shadow to move across the flattish rock at lower left so it was centered on the rock but that wasn’t the only thing I had to wait for. I also wanted the shadow of her head to be in profile with her beak clearly showing and of course I had to have good light on her face and a catch light in her eye. This is about the only pose that would provide all three.<\/p>\n That combination was hard to come by but eventually I got it, for what it’s worth.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/3200, f\/6.3, ISO 640, Canon R5, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n After a while I moved my vantage point, mostly for the sake of variety. She was relaxed and paid little to no attention as I drove a short distance down the road. In this shot I actually caught her yawning so maybe she thought I was boring.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/2500, f\/6.3, ISO 640, Canon R5, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n A little later I realized that if I drove even further down the road I could get a nearby mountain in the background. If I couldn’t get much pose variety out of her I could at least get some variety in shooting angle and backgrounds by changing my vantage point. In this shot the cold north breeze lifted the golden feathers on the back of her head.<\/p>\n Eventually I had multiple versions of all of the photos I wanted of her while she was perched and it didn’t look like she’d be taking off and flying anytime soon so I left her to look for other birds. It goes against my grain to drive away from a Golden Eagle reasonably close, in good light and in an attractive natural setting but that’s what I did.<\/p>\n Whether or not I have any regrets depends on what she did or didn’t do after I left.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Three days ago I got lucky with an unusually patient immature Golden Eagle in a remote area of northern Utah. (4 photos)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/golden-eagle-7158-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"golden-eagle-7158-ron-dudley\\"")
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