![\"golden](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/golden-eagle-0208-ron-dudley.jpg\")
<\/p>\nFor the past several weeks I’ve sporadically been photographing Golden Eagles on Antelope Island.\u00a0 Yesterday morning was the most fun (and the most disappointing) time with them\u00a0yet.<\/p>\n
I spent 31 minutes photographing two Golden Eagles (and one immature Bald Eagle) as they soared in the north wind as it rose up at the north end of the island.\u00a0 I’ll delete most of the images I took of them because it was relatively late in the morning and the sun was high so the eagles above me were mostly shaded because in that wind they rarely had to flap their wings to remain aloft. I did get a few images I like though.<\/p>\n
This first image is for documentary purposes only.<\/p>\n
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1\/3200, f\/7.1, ISO 800, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon<\/em> EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM +1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/p>\n A couple of days ago there were three Golden’s on the island but yesterday I saw only two.\u00a0 I believe them to be the same birds involved in a tussle with coyotes over a jack-rabbit that I posted about recently.\u00a0 These two\u00a0eagles almost seem to be\u00a0joined at the hip – they’re never far apart, even in flight.\u00a0 As they were soaring they would occasionally almost clip each other in the air.\u00a0 I was under the impression, accurate or not, that these birds were more serious about having fun in the wind than they were about hunting.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a01\/2000, f\/7.1, ISO 800, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon<\/em> EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM +1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/p>\n This image illustrates part of the light\u00a0problem I was dealing with.\u00a0 The sun was so high and the light so contrasty that there was no\u00a0detail in whatever parts of the bird were shaded and shooting from below that was\u00a0often a big part of the bird.\u00a0 Though I do like this shot, the shadows show very little detail.\u00a0 I was only able to get good light on the eagles when they were almost at eye level and even then they usually needed to bank in flight.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a01\/2500, f\/7.1, ISO 800, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon<\/em> EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM +1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/p>\n Most of the images I like\u00a0included blue sky as background but they’re still better flight shots than I’ve ever been able to\u00a0get of Golden Eagles in the past.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a01\/2500, f\/7.1, ISO 800, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon<\/em> EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM +1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/p>\n This is the second Golden Eagle.\u00a0Notice that this bird has significant feather damage\u00a0to the tips of its left wing primaries.\u00a0 I guess it’s a tough life when you’re skirmishing with coyotes over prey…<\/p>\n In the 31 minutes I spent\u00a0with these eagles I took almost 600 shots of them and I’ll probably delete all but a couple of dozen of them\u00a0– \u00a0that hurts because Golden Eagles have long been one of my most elusive and desirable subjects.<\/p>\n That’s the agony and the ecstasy of bird photography but dang\u00a0it was fun!<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n Note:\u00a0Last night my friend Mike Shaw pointed out correctly that the left wing primaries are not damaged as I thought they were.\u00a0 If you look carefully you can see that they’re simply turned up due to the air pressure of the banked turn which makes them appear squared off at the ends.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" For the past several weeks I’ve sporadically been photographing Golden Eagles on Antelope Island. Yesterday morning was the most fun (and the most disappointing) time with them yet.<\/p>\n![\"golden](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/golden-eagle-0388-ron-dudley.jpg\")
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