![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/golden-eagle-1019-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"golden-eagle-1019-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\nPlus my first Merlin of the season.<\/p>\n
This is the same\u00a0eagle I posted photos of earlier this week. When it took off the first time (the images I posted four days ago) it didn’t fly very far, only to the side of the next mountainside down the line. Since I was traveling in that direction on the road I soon encountered the eagle again. This time it was further away but I stopped and watched it through my lens anyway and once again it gave me a good angle at takeoff so you can bet your patootie that despite the distance I took the shots. Below are two of them.<\/p>\n
Keep in mind, due to thick clouds it was dismally dark that morning so to get sufficient shutter speed for flight\u00a0I was shooting at ISO 2500 – not the best of conditions for quality images, especially at that distance.<\/p>\n
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1\/2000, f\/6.3, ISO 2500, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n This is the first shot I got after takeoff and as always I like the dynamic pose resulting from push-off. As you can see the mountainside was fairly steep so the eagle launched downhill to make gaining airspeed easier and that meant it was getting slightly closer to me with each wing-beat. In these situations their inclination is to turn away from me but the nearby mountainside\u00a0discouraged that evasive maneuver.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/2000, f\/6.3, ISO 2500, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n I took 26 shots of the eagle in flight but there were problems with many of them including a soft bird, poor wing position, distracting background and of course not a lot of detail because the eagle was so far away. This is the last shot I got and I chose to include it for three reasons – the eagle is sharp,\u00a0it’s as large in the frame as any in the series and I like the yellow rabbitbrush in the frame (but I’m definitely not fond of that old sunflower stalk in front of the face of the bird).<\/p>\n By now the eagle was really moving down that hill so I was happy to get it as sharp as I did in that light and with the background so close to the bird.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/2000, f\/6.3, ISO 2500, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n Ok, back to the previous series of the same bird I posted four days ago. In reviewing the images I posted in that series I realized I’d inadvertantly\u00a0left out one of the better ones so I’m including it here.<\/p>\n Better late than never, I hope…<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n And on an unrelated note…<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Yesterday morning\u00a0at Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area I saw my first Merlin of the season. Sadly it was about 40 miles away so I only got documentary images of the\u00a0little falcon\u00a0in an ugly setting but my first\u00a0Merlin\u00a0is always a memorable experience for me. And it even provided a little drama, albeit at great distance.<\/p>\n See that little mound at lower left? That was the Merlin’s perch and it seemed quite content with it\u00a0until all these\u00a0pesky American Pipits\u00a0landed\u00a0nearby. The pipits weren’t happy with the presence of the\u00a0Merlin and they kept coming in closer, pushing their luck\u00a0until the pride of\u00a0the fierce little\u00a0predator just couldn’t take it anymore.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Merlin made several attempts to snag one and\/or\u00a0chase them off, both on the wing and on foot (a raptor running on the ground is far from graceful,\u00a0or quick) but the pipits were persistent and kept coming back. I don’t know the final outcome but it sure was fun to watch some of the\u00a0encounter\u00a0through my lens. Damn, I wish I’d been closer!<\/p>\n At first I thought the Merlin was carrying something in this shot but when I zoomed in on the bird\u00a0it was\u00a0only its talons forming a circle.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Plus my first Merlin of the season.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/golden-eagle-1045-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"golden-eagle-1045-ron-dudley\\"")
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