Farmington Bay Eagles

[gonzo]

I am sure glad I went up again on Sunday with my tripod. I got much better shot. And since I accidentally setup next to Carpey I got to meet a few people.

Here's some of the better shots:






This is only barn owl shot I managed to grab. Those suckers move fast!

[waltny]

Keith and Kris I love the shots of them fighting. I tried so hard to capture that I tracked them evertime a few got close and they were screaming at each other. I just dont have the frame per seconds in RAW....

That barn owl shot of Dan's looks fake, the lighting is surreal.

Anyhow good job to all, Ive still got a few more to look through and hopefully get up.

[CarpeyBiggs]

That barn owl shot of Dan's looks fake, the lighting is surreal.

Thank god for digital! Photoshopped the whole thing. Glad you like it. I tried to put a moon in behind it as well, but...

All kidding aside, the owls are awesome. Fast buggers though.

[Uncle Rico]

I went out Saturday and had a blast. It was a lot cooler then I expected. Now I just need to learn to take pictures like some of you.

[PhotoHound]

Hey, great captures guys. I stopped by Sunday afternoon too, and mainly just shot from the cab of my truck because my back was bugging me. I think I did see some of you guys grouped together around some serious artillery on the south side of the bridge. I would have hobbled over and said hello , but unfortunately I had suddenly developed a severe case of lens-size...envy...?



It was a nice enough show; I think I got some fairly decent eagle-catching-fish shots. I'll have to post some once I finish going through them. I would love to go again today (which is looking pretty good as far as lighting goes), but my back won't let me go again for a while. Besides, it may be even more crowded today due to the holiday than it was with yesterday's Sunday crowd...

Anyway, great shots everyone, I look forward to seeing some more!

[gonzo]

PhotoHound: you have some great Alaska pics on your site - I loved all of the Northern Lights pics. Someday I will make it up to Alaska before it all melts...hopefully.

That was probably us on the south end of the bridge. You should have come over and said "hi". I can't vouch for Carpey, hallkc, or waltny, but I don't bite. And don't worry about the lens envy, most of us had to rent those things. It was a like a Farmington Bay reunion at Pictureline this morning.

[CarpeyBiggs]

Here's a few of mine. I tried to get different behaviors than last time, but I eventually gave up and headed down to the barn owls.

Full galleries are here:

Barn Owls: http://www.danransom.com/TripReports/?p=149

Eagles: http://www.danransom.com/TripReports/?p=148

And now the pics. Eagles:









Barn Owls

[asdf]

Nice pics Carpet Biter.

[LJ]

I am just blown away by the barn owl pics!

[waltny]

Somehow I sense slight sarcasm on that photoshop comment Dan, buts its ok either way we all must make do with what we got....

Anyhow nice captures once again, I like the one you got of the eagle mucking through the mire. Those barn owls are fast and are twice as hard to track as the eagles. for catching any.

Here is the best one I got of them fighting



and a OH moment. As a side note on this, I left the gulls in the back of this crop to show depth.


I might have only a few more unique ones left.

[gonzo]

I think I have the follow-up to your "Oh" moment:



Keith and Dan: your shots are so crisp. Am I seeing the difference between a fixed length lens and the telezoom that I was using? Or is it more likely a shutter speed/aperture setting? I've tried my best to sharpen in post-processing, but I'm guessing Picasa isn't the tool of choice for that.

[waltny]

Good call on that

BTW Kris what are you shooting with? I have a older model that really isnt suited for that shooting we were doing out there. My AF is softer and takes a bit longer than Keith's. He let me use his for a while after he left early after you guys left. I was FLOORED at how much of a difference there was. IM sure if your using an older model like myself your going to see a huge gap in yours and Dan's like I do in Keith's and mine. Its one of those , what you going to do but upgrade things....

[CarpeyBiggs]

I think I have the follow-up to your "Oh" moment:

Keith and Dan: your shots are so crisp. Am I seeing the difference between a fixed length lens and the telezoom that I was using? Or is it more likely a shutter speed/aperture setting? I've tried my best to sharpen in post-processing, but I'm guessing Picasa isn't the tool of choice for that.

I thought yours looked pretty good for that lens, actually. The lens has something to do with it, but when they are resized so small for the web, they should sharpen up pretty nice.

Chances are though, it is more that our pictures are a little larger, and that they are sharpened one more time before posting on the web. I batch process all mine, so some actually are too sharpened, some not enough. I haven't used picasa much, but I'd say yours look pretty good.

[gonzo]

...BTW Kris what are you shooting with?

I'm shooting with an older Canon Rebel XT (EOS 350). I know it's certainly not a pro level camera, but it's light, manageable, and most importantly: what I could afford. I rented a Canon 100-400 telezoom for the weekend. But, in retrospect I should have gotten the 400mm fixed length lens. (Although, that would have cost more than twice as much as the 100-400).

...if your using an older model like myself your going to see a huge gap in yours and Dan's like I do in Keith's and mine. Its one of those , what you going to do but upgrade things....

Yeah, good luck selling that idea to my wife. :)

In reality, I'm sure the reason my images aren't as sharp is as much inexperience as it is equipment. I'm just starting to learn how to use a "real" camera, and what I don't know about photography could fill a book. (A little secret: when Dan let me look through his lens I noted his aperture and exposure time settings and copied them on my camera!)

[waltny]

...BTW Kris what are you shooting with?

I'm shooting with an older Canon Rebel XT (EOS 350). I know it's certainly not a pro level camera, but it's light, manageable, and most importantly: what I could afford. I rented a Canon 100-400 telezoom for the weekend. But, in retrospect I should have gotten the 400mm fixed length lens. (Although, that would have cost more than twice as much as the 100-400).

...if your using an older model like myself your going to see a huge gap in yours and Dan's like I do in Keith's and mine. Its one of those , what you going to do but upgrade things....

Yeah, good luck selling that idea to my wife. :)

In reality, I'm sure the reason my images aren't as sharp is as much inexperience as it is equipment. I'm just starting to learn how to use a "real" camera, and what I don't know about photography could fill a book. (A little secret: when Dan let me look through his lens I noted his aperture and exposure time settings and copied them on my camera!)

I hear you about being on the cheap, I got a deal on my body, a D70s(camera of the year 2005, buts its 2008.....) and everytime I bring up camera stuff the wife goes almost immediately.

I think I got the fundenmentals down fairly well, but I think but it is amazing that you learn something new every time out(to include digial workflow). I also have learned to shoot to my cameras strengths and know its weakness which makes the digail workflow(ViewNX>CaptureNX>CS2) so much more smoother.

[tmartenst]

Are they pretty well gone for the year? I know we have a few days of overcast skies coming anyways.

[gonzo]

Yup, my buddy went up on Wednesday and only saw about 20 eagles. (Last Saturday my wife counted over 120). I think the ice is melting, so the birds that are still there are more spread out, too.

[tanya]

The photos on this thread are so incredible. I would love to go there next year!

[trackrunner]

I don't know if this is true, but I heard on the news that at its peak over 1/3 of the bald eagles in North America come to the bay.

[CarpeyBiggs]

I don't know if this is true, but I heard on the news that at its peak over 1/3 of the bald eagles in North America come to the bay.

Interesting thought, but I doubt it's true. Perhaps this was true years ago, when balds were nearly extinct, but nowadays, balds are flourishing all over the continent. There are something like 40,000 in just Alaska. Easily over 100,000 birds on the entire continent. There are maybe 1,000 eagles at Farmington Bay and it's environs at it's peak. This year, the most I counted was just upward of 100. Granted, there are a lot more that aren't visible, but not that many.