{"id":28242,"date":"2014-12-02T17:14:24","date_gmt":"2014-12-03T00:14:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/?p=28242"},"modified":"2014-12-02T18:55:18","modified_gmt":"2014-12-03T01:55:18","slug":"anticipating-wintering-bald-eagles-at-farmington-bay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2014\/12\/02\/anticipating-wintering-bald-eagles-at-farmington-bay\/","title":{"rendered":"Anticipating Wintering Bald Eagles At Farmington Bay"},"content":{"rendered":"

I spent this morning at Farmington Bay photographing Great Blue Herons, Pied-billed Grebes, Ring-necked Pheasants, Fox Sparrows, American Kestrels and even a Long-tailed Weasel in the fog.\u00a0\u00a0 But Bald Eagles were never far from my mind as it’s this time of year that wintering\u00a0eagles begin to show up in good numbers.\u00a0 Most years refuge managers kill carp because they’re\u00a0invasive and\u00a0very destructive to the emergent vegetation needed by waterfowl so the eagles congregate at Farmington to feast on the fish.\u00a0 But last year, early\u00a0on in the winter, many of our\u00a0Utah Bald Eagles were dying from\u00a0West Nile Virus\u00a0(at first they didn’t know the cause) so the carp kill wasn’t done for fear that eagles congregating in large numbers would allow the disease to spread throughout the population more easily.\u00a0 As a result, “eagle season” at Farmington was pretty much a bust last year.<\/p>\n

So, with eagles on my mind\u00a0during the drive home this morning I\u00a0thought I’d post on Farmington eagles\u00a0today.\u00a0 First some photos from previous years to demonstrate what\u00a0some of the possibilities are for photographers\u00a0when eagles are there in good numbers.\u00a0 All of these photos were taken at Farmington in previous\u00a0winters\u00a0(early February is usually best for them as that’s when the carp are\u00a0killed).<\/p>\n

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\"bald<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a01\/3200, f\/6.3, ISO 640, Canon 7D, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS USM +1.4 tc<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Close-ups of eagles in flight are\u00a0high on the list of most\u00a0bird photographers and they usually aren’t disappointed at Farmington.<\/p>\n

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\"bald<\/p>\n

\u00a01\/1000, f\/8, ISO 500, Canon 7D, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS USM +1.4 tc<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

I thought this sub-adult (still some dark feathers on the head) was going to take my head off but instead it landed on a post almost directly in front of me.<\/p>\n

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\"bald<\/p>\n

\u00a01\/3200, f\/7.1, ISO 500, Canon 7D, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS USM +1.4 tc<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0Close up portraits are always a possibility once the birds have had some time to become acclimated to vehicles and people.<\/p>\n

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\"bald<\/p>\n

\u00a01\/1000, f\/7.1, ISO 500, Canon 7D, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS USM +1.4 tc<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0The Wasatch Mountains to the east\u00a0butt up very close to Farmington and they can certainly provide some variety to the more typical sky backgrounds of eagles in flight.<\/p>\n

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\"bald<\/p>\n

\u00a01\/800, f\/7.1, ISO 800, Canon 7D, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS USM +1.4 tc<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Even though the carp are often plentiful the eagles skirmish over them frequently.\u00a0 This one decided that it didn’t want to fight for its frozen fish so it took it to the top of a post away from the ice where it would be less likely to have other birds attempt to steal it.<\/p>\n

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\"bald<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a01\/2000, f\/7.1, ISO 500, Canon 7D, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS USM +1.4 tc<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

But serious fights over fish and space on the ice are commonplace and they’re very exciting to photograph, even in marginal light like this.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I’ve already had several inquiries from out-of-town photographers about eagles at Farmington and the possibility of having the carp kill this\u00a0winter.\u00a0 I really haven’t heard any recent plans but the last I did hear the tentative plan was to wait and see if West Nile Virus breaks out in our eagles before making a decision.\u00a0 I suspect that the decision won’t be made until toward the end of January, just before the usual timing of the carp kill during the first few days of February.\u00a0 As the time approaches and if a decision is announced ahead of time I’ll report it here.<\/p>\n

So far I’ve only seen two different eagles at Farmington but it’s early yet.\u00a0 Fingers are crossed.<\/p>\n

Ron<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With eagles on my mind during the drive home this morning I thought I’d post on Farmington eagles today.<\/p>\n

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