Bald eagle with fish, Jan 30th

I can't beleive our lake here is still wide open. This morning early there was a thin covering of ice out there but way out was open. Was very pretty. As I sat and watched this eagle. He flew suddenly and headed right for the open area. Swooped down and circled around coming back. I waited patiently. Back he came and landed. I actually didn't know he had a fish until I was viewing my shots with a friend. She said I think he has a fish. Well darned if he didn't. He didn't stay there long. He moved up the way to another tree. I saw him in that tree as I was driving up the road. I stopped to watch him. He sat there looking beautiful. Then I heard another eagle vocalizing as it approached. It was the young eagle who came right to the parent bird and tried to land with it. That didn't work, the adult flew the young flew and they touched talons. I am now wondering if the adult passed off some of the fish to its young one.At any rate. It was a very exiting day, the whole family gave me a great show. Still lots of ducks out there. In 2 hours all the ice gave way to wide open water yet again. Over the next few days I will be posting more shots of these magnificent birds.

Bald eagle family January 2012

I have been very fortunate to be able to photograph a family of bald eagles this winter. As the ice has yet to freeze over they have ample food here. The lake has frozen with a light layer a few times only to melt again after the next warm spell. This winter has been very different for sure. Jan 27th and I am only starting to get a lot of feeder birds at my house. Some mornings it actually sounds like spring. But to be able to watch this family of bald eagles so readily. Well it has been a wonderful experience for sure. I have spent many an hour standing amongst cedar trees and pines. Just watching these birds with respect and love. These are magnificent birds that I have been very lucky to watch before, monitoring a nest from a boat and watching Mom & Dad raise 2 little ones up to the first flights and teaching to hunt. An incredible bond. So this family has been so wonderful for me. The next 3 or 4 pages are some shots I have taken in the last month.I hope you enjoy them.

Immature bald eagle

Today my patience was rewarded when the young immature eagle of the family flew almost right over me. He was incredible as he looked right at me, almost landed in the eagle tree, but the winds were so high and the tree after a night of freezing rain was a difficult manuver. He continued on over the lake and was gone. I was left with my mouth open in amazement that this bird had just flown right over me giving me ample time to get some great shots. As I left I was rewarded with an adult bird. It just wasn't a great day for perching on that tree. But they were flying all around as the winds carried them with ease. As the young eagle approached all the little goldfinches got very vocal and flew off as did the ducks in the bay. I knew something was coming.It was snowing and I was surrounded by a winter wonderland as well which was not to difficult to handle. You can see a few flurries of snow in the young eagle shots. Always love it when I can shoot in the snow. It had been snowing very heavily before I got there. But by the time I got all bundled up,scraped the layers of ice off the windshield and all that good stuff it had slowed down considerably.

Bald Eagles

You can see the pair vocalizing as one joins the other. Next day I got the one coming in with high winds and icy branches. It made it diffcult. He landed for a short time and off he went again.

Bald Eagles

My pair of bald eagles on their favorite tree. As I am sitting amongst the pine trees so as not to bother them it is not the greatest shots in the world. But they are for sure natural shots. I find they are very unique in their own way.

Ice

Although the lake is not frozen yet here. We have had ice on and off out there. When we get the rain and the winds it melts and comes in to shore yet again. The shoreline is a very artistic place to go walking with your camera. Ice holds many artistic shapes and is truely one of mother natures miracles. What do you see!!

The Photographers

Here is my son Jeff on our trip to Algonquin. We always have a great time just shooting each other. He is the photographer here.This day we had squalls going through occasionally. It was a mild day and was beautiful there. Here I am all covered in snow tring to keep the cameras dry in one picture while in another I made friends with this cute snowman. And of corse no trip to Algonquin would be complete without a visit from the gray jays there.Was awesome. An all out incredible day.

Snow buntings

Finally as we had a wee bit of snow and it was finally cold although it was extreme cold on this weekend. I found a nice flock of about 50 or so snow bunting flitting about. In amongst them a couple of morning doves. The cold clearly didn't bother them. This was what they needed. Is was great watching them for a few min from inside the car. They were flitting here and there without a care in the world. I have not seen any snow buntings this year. Twice I had a small flock and they were here one day and gone the next. This year has been so very different than other years. And seeing anything somedays is just not happening. Yet there have been reports of eastern medowlarks and bobolinks in out lying areas. Just not good.

Snowy eruption

This year we seem to have a lot of snowy owls showing up all over the place. It was a fridged weekend. One with temperatures we have not seen yet this winter. -30 deg. C.with windchill. But the sun that we see so rarely was shinning and I just had to bundle up and go out. It paid off. I was just leaving an area after seeing nothing. No birds at all. And why would you in this cold right. Then I spotted her. She was flying right towards me. I got out and stood by the car. The wind was so cold and blowing strongly. I didn't take time to get on the gloves or hat. Just hopped out and stood there camera in hand. She flew right over me almost and landed briefly in this tree. Then on she went to look for food. She flew over the open field and dissappeared. Then she came back over and I saw way off behind her,another young snowy in flight. She headed a different direction. But it was clearly hunting time for these birds. She landed far off and sat there face into the setting sun. The feathers blowing in the cold winds. She didn't seem to mind. Me on the other hand was sitting with the heater on full with my hands sitting on them. My hat now on. Yes a little late. But wow. It was magnificent to see her and the other one in flight serching for food. And as for me. I survived out there very briefly without my hat and gloves. Would not of wanted to be out any longer mind. What a beauty. A note on these birds. They have come here because of food shortage and they need to be allowed to hunt. People gathering around them and snapping cameras in their faces is not a good idea. I use a 150 -500mm lens. And it is great to be able to photograph them in nature. If this is what you want to do. Please get a camera with a good zoom. So many out there now that are not SLR's and so much less expensive. By all means enjoy the bird. But don't chase it. If it leaves,it has had enough. Don't stay long. And don't feed it. They must survive on their own and they will. Don't put them in harms way. They are such a calm bird and will sit for you if you do it right. But they need to conserve their energy for warmth,hunting and just plain survival. Enjoy at the respect and safety of the bird. Please.