{"id":166005,"date":"2024-12-28T06:20:47","date_gmt":"2024-12-28T13:20:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/?p=166005"},"modified":"2024-12-28T09:23:30","modified_gmt":"2024-12-28T16:23:30","slug":"the-most-expensive-eagle-ive-ever-photographed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2024\/12\/28\/the-most-expensive-eagle-ive-ever-photographed\/","title":{"rendered":"The Most Expensive Eagle I’ve Ever Photographed"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Maybe the most expensive bird <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">of any species<\/span> I’ve ever photographed.<\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"166008\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2024\/12\/28\/the-most-expensive-eagle-ive-ever-photographed\/damned-fence-post-ron-dudley\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/damned-fence-post-ron-dudley.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"675,900\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{"aperture":"1.8","credit":"","camera":"SM-S901U","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1734625110","copyright":"","focal_length":"5.4","iso":"20","shutter_speed":"0.001779359430605","title":"","orientation":"1"}\" data-image-title=\"damned fence post ron dudley\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/damned-fence-post-ron-dudley-225x300.jpg\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/damned-fence-post-ron-dudley.jpg\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-166008 size-full\" title=\"damned-fence-post-ron-dudley\" src=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/damned-fence-post-ron-dudley.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"675\" height=\"900\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/damned-fence-post-ron-dudley.jpg 675w, https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/damned-fence-post-ron-dudley-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/damned-fence-post-ron-dudley-113x150.jpg 113w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 675px) 100vw, 675px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>A little over a week ago I was driving south on this road (from top to bottom in this photo – the opposite direction my pickup is pointed) when I spotted what I believed to be a Golden Eagle on a post approximately at the spot I’ve marked with a blue X. It was close to the road and in good light but it was on the wrong side of the road for photography so the only thing I could do was pass it, turn around and go back for it.<\/p>\n<p>I know from experience that raptors in particular don’t like it when you turn around for them – they’ll often stay on their perch the first time you pass them but if they see you turn around and come back for them they’ll very often take off before you get there. So I drove quite a way down the road before I turned around. I chose to turn around at this gate, where I had a little more room for the maneuver in my long pickup truck. The road is narrower than it looks.<\/p>\n<p>I was in a hurry of course and when I backed up into the turnoff at the heavy 8″ x 8″ wooden gate posts in the photo I heard an ominous “crunch”. I’d backed up into one of those big posts but I was barely moving and my pickup has a sturdy bumper so I figured there was no damage to my pickup. After I turned around I drove back to where the eagle was perched but by the time I got there it was gone.<\/p>\n<p>It was at that point that I got out of my pickup to check it for any damage, which I didn’t expect to find.<\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"166007\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2024\/12\/28\/the-most-expensive-eagle-ive-ever-photographed\/broken-tail-light\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/broken-tail-light.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"675,900\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{"aperture":"1.8","credit":"","camera":"SM-S901U","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1735339898","copyright":"","focal_length":"5.4","iso":"64","shutter_speed":"0.016666666666667","title":"","orientation":"1"}\" data-image-title=\"broken tail light\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/broken-tail-light-225x300.jpg\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/broken-tail-light.jpg\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-166007 size-full\" title=\"broken-tail-light ron dudley\" src=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/broken-tail-light.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"675\" height=\"900\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/broken-tail-light.jpg 675w, https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/broken-tail-light-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/broken-tail-light-113x150.jpg 113w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 675px) 100vw, 675px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>I was quite surprised to see that I’d broken my taillight (in this photo, taken later, I’ve temporarily patched the worst of the cracks at lower left with transparent tape) and I knew that was going to be a big deal. In the ‘old days’ replacing a taillight was a relatively minor, cheap and easy operation but modern taillights are LED and contained within a modular housing, so I immediately knew I’d made an expensive mistake.<\/p>\n<p>The next day I visited my Ford dealer and discovered that a new taillight housing was going to cost me over $500, installed. I plan on getting it fixed next week.<\/p>\n<p>To pour salt on the wound, a few minutes after the taillight incident I found the eagle again and discovered that I’d misidentified it.<\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"166006\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2024\/12\/28\/the-most-expensive-eagle-ive-ever-photographed\/bald-eagle-7437-ron-dudley\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/bald-eagle-7437-ron-dudley.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"900,720\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{"aperture":"5.6","credit":"RON DUDLEY","camera":"Canon EOS R5","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1734622206","copyright":"","focal_length":"700","iso":"1600","shutter_speed":"0.00025","title":"","orientation":"1"}\" data-image-title=\"bald eagle 7437 ron dudley\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/bald-eagle-7437-ron-dudley-300x240.jpg\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/bald-eagle-7437-ron-dudley.jpg\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-166006 size-full\" title=\"bald-eagle-7437-ron-dudley\" src=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/bald-eagle-7437-ron-dudley.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"900\" height=\"720\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/bald-eagle-7437-ron-dudley.jpg 900w, https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/bald-eagle-7437-ron-dudley-300x240.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/bald-eagle-7437-ron-dudley-768x614.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/bald-eagle-7437-ron-dudley-150x120.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/bald-eagle-7437-ron-dudley-350x280.jpg 350w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>It wasn’t a Golden Eagle, instead it was an immature Bald Eagle and this time it was on the east side of the road where it was mostly back lit so my photos of it were mediocre at best.<\/p>\n<p>For financial reasons, the timing of the expensive broken taillight couldn’t have been worse.<\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"166009\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2024\/12\/28\/the-most-expensive-eagle-ive-ever-photographed\/pickup-payoff\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/pickup-payoff.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"1000,351\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"1"}\" data-image-title=\"pickup payoff\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/pickup-payoff-300x105.jpg\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/pickup-payoff.jpg\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-166009 size-full\" title=\"pickup-payoff ron dudley\" src=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/pickup-payoff.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1000\" height=\"351\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/pickup-payoff.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/pickup-payoff-300x105.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/pickup-payoff-768x270.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/pickup-payoff-150x53.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>For months I’ve been planning on giving myself an early Christmas present by paying off my pickup just before Christmas. I can’t even remember the last time I haven’t had a monthly pickup payment and I really wanted to get out from under them. Because of the unexpected expense of the broken taillight, I thought about it for an extra day or two but in the end, on the day after Christmas, I paid that sucker off!<\/p>\n<p>Financially, I feel like a new man and probably will until next week when I have to cough up another 500 bucks for that new taillight.<\/p>\n<p>Ron<\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n<p><em>Notes:<\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>My pickup has a “Reverse Sensing System” that usually gives me an audible warning when I’m backing up too close to an object. But while I was backing up I had my steering wheel cranked all the way, which meant that my taillight was approaching the wooden post mostly from the side. So the alarm didn’t go off.<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>This isn’t the first time something like this has happened. 16 years ago I spotted a Mink at Farmington Bay WMA. In the excitement of such an unusual sighting, and in my hurry to maneuver my vehicle so I could photograph it, I backed my vehicle into a metal post at one of the boat ramps, causing significant body damage – much worse than just a broken taillight. If you aren’t paying attention, nature photography can be expensive.<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Recently, some color-blind readers have told me that when I mark something with a red “x” in my photos, they have difficulty seeing\/reading it. So this time I used a blue “x”, which they say is easier for them to see. See, this old dog CAN learn new tricks. Now if I can just learn not to back up into things.<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Maybe the most expensive bird of any species I’ve ever photographed. (4 photos)<\/p>\n<p> <a class=\"continue-reading-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2024\/12\/28\/the-most-expensive-eagle-ive-ever-photographed\/\"><span>Continue reading<\/span><i class=\"crycon-right-dir\"><\/i><\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":166006,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[6,334,642],"tags":[153,181,7705,311],"class_list":["post-166005","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bird-photography-methods","category-birds","category-golden-eagles","tag-golden-eagle","tag-immature-bald-eagle","tag-replacing-taillight-on-a-ford-f-150","tag-utah-2"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/bald-eagle-7437-ron-dudley.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1zzJh-Hbv","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166005","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=166005"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166005\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":166041,"href":"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166005\/revisions\/166041"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/166006"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=166005"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=166005"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=166005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}