Deep Freeze

Two weekends ago temperatures dropped below zero for a couple days, which did cause the reservoirs to almost completely freeze over.  This for me was a good thing, because it forced the eagles to be near the stream where I can get the closest to them.  The eagle numbers were the highest I’ve seen this winter, but still lower than normal.  I was seeing about ten eagles every time I went out. 

However I only managed a few photographs.  I was having problems with lighting.  With the lens I use it has a very high f-stop when at long range, which was causing problems with getting the proper lighting.  Also due to this, most of the time I had to use a 1600 ISO. Which I would prefer not to use because of the extra noise that it adds to photographs.  Also I was battling the sun all day.  It was either too bright or not enough.  It always seemed to sneak behind a cloud at the worst moments.  In addition I was having problems with the full mature eagles because there heads were overexposing, and I could not figure out how to prevent it, without the rest of the image being drastically underexposed.

Furthermore I had a day that when I arrived at the lake, there was a construction crew working on clearing brush and putting in new electric poles.  They were working right where the eagles roost and feed.  This really upset me, especially since they were running a chainsaw and making tons of noise.  There are signs that it is an endangered species area during the winter months because of the eagle population in the area during those months.  Also there are signs stating that outdoor activity will disturb eagles.  Yet they were out there working.  It just seemed like poorly timed construction work.  Due to there noise the eagles left the area for the day.  But the next morning they were back and it was the best day I had all week.   

During my trips last week I was also seeing much higher numbers of ducks.  I saw plenty of common mergansers, black ducks, and a few hooded mergansers.  But I also found two common goldeneye ducks, which I don’t normally see.  I also spotted a downy woodpecker, but he didn’t stay around for long.   

Towards the end of last week, the weather had started another warming trend.  It is quite crazy.  Temperatures fell to below zero and days later it climbed into the fifties, with average temperatures around freezing.  I am hoping that I continue to see more eagles, but I believe that the warm weather won’t help.  I guess at least I can look forward to the spring duck migration.  Until next time.           

Low Bald Eagle Count Last Few Days

I traveled out to the reservoir the last two days and both days I only spotted two eagles each day.  This is way less then the previous weeks count.  The water level has gone done a lot and maybe that is part of the reason for the low numbers.  I also went looking along the Delaware River and the Lackawaxen River and didn't see any eagles.  The ice build up along the rivers is crazy this year.  I can’t remember the last time the rivers were so covered in ice. 

I did get to look over my pictures from Friday and almost all of them were overexposed.  I did however do some post processing on a few of the photographs to at least show what I got to see.  At one point there were two eagles together next to each other and one of them was dipping his head in the water I guess trying to fish along the ice.  Another eagle landed about 10-20 feet above me, but the sun was behind him so he was back-lit.  However to me it was a neat angle and the photo still had enough light so the eagle was not just a silhouette.  

Last week was a very good week and hopefully the bald eagle count will go back up as this week continues, so I can see more of these magnificent birds.  Enjoy the photographs.  Until next time. 

Bitter Cold, Great Day for Bald Eagles

Yesterday was a slow day out at the reservoir.  There were some bald eagles, but they were staying put, and were to far away for a shot.  Today however was much better.  At one point there were eight eagles in one tree together.  They were also much more active and landing on the ice.  However the super bright light was an issue.  A few clouds would have been good today.  The sunlight was causing problems not only overexposing the eagles, but the ice in the background.  The lighting was just so harsh not many of the photographs were coming out.  Not sure if I could have done anything better but there is always next time.  

The bitter cold was the worst part of today.  The wind chill was in the negative thirties and my fingers were freezing.  I do were gloves but they have open fingers to allow me to grip the camera and to focus the lens.  This weekend looks bad for photography.  There is a winter storm and ice coming so I’m not sure if I’ll be able to photograph anything.  

It will give me the chance to look at the images I took today though and post them.  Hopefully some of them will come out and not be overexposed.  The photographs on this post are more from a couple days ago and are more or less a sequence as the eagle came in for a landing.  I hope everyone enjoys them.  Feel free to comment.  Until next time.     

Cold Morning Well Worth It

I arrived at the reservoir at sunrise today and the eagles were there again.  When I first got there it was still a little to dark to be photographing eagle’s but they were putting on a show.  No one else was there to see it either.  It was beautiful, the fog was rolling off the water, the sun was peering over the tree line, and both ducks and eagles were present.  It was hard at first to photograph them due to the fog, but it started to clear off once the sun was up.  What made it really challenging was the cold.  The thermometer was reading negative eleven at the reservoir.  However the cold did not seem to be affecting the eagles.  

I was not counting how many eagles were there but it was close to a dozen or so, plus plenty of mergansers and black ducks.  I am Looking forward to going back tomorrow for another chance to see it all again.  The one photograph is from yesterday of the eagle rubbing his beak on the branch.  The other one is one of the flying shots from today.  Hopefully ill get a chance to look them all over and post more soon.  Enjoy the photographs, and feel free to comment.  Until Next time.   

Bald Eagles!

Yesterday while I was out running an errand I passed by the reservoir and there were ten bald eagles on the ice.  So I went back to the reservoir in the afternoon and only saw two eagles.  None were close enough to photograph.  So this morning I went back and there were eagles everywhere.  They were finally here and they were cooperating.  They were on the ice, flying around, and close enough to photograph.  Some were even close enough to photograph with my 250 mm lens.  I’m hoping they stick around because the weather for the next few days is supposed to be good.  This year has been a slow year for eagles in the area, at least for me and I was so happy they were finally here.  There was one eagle today that was acting funny.  He was rubbing his beak up and down a branch.  Not sure why but it was interesting to watch.  Hopefully tomorrow will be another good day.  Until next time.

Cold Weather Woes

The cold weather has been helpful for keeping bald eagles confined to the places that have open water which helps make it easier to know where you have the best chance to see them.  But the crazy weather has also led to me not being able to get out much because of snow, ice, rain, and freezing temperatures.  But I hopefully will be able to get out a few more times before I go back to college next week. 

Because I have not really had many chances to photograph anything I was looking through some of my old photographs from last year and realized I did not upload some of the images.  So I decided to upload them now and hopefully soon I will have some new photographs.  One of the photographs is an immature bald eagle, and the other photograph is of a red squirrel.  I also noticed that I have been having a problem with lighting of my pictures from when they are on my computer and when I upload them.  Sometimes they appear lighter and other times there dark.  I am not sure why but I will try to fix this in further posts. Until next time.

Happy New Year

Last break was very disappointing.  I really didn’t see anything I could photograph.  But this winter break has been much better.  So far I have seen many bald eagles, and an assortment of ducks, including common mergansers, black ducks, and hooded mergansers.  It has been a very good start to break and I am hoping it continues.

It started slowly this break but since the temperatures have dropped and the amount of open water has diminished the bald eagle population is contained in a smaller section of the reservoirs that I frequent.  I have plans to update some of my pages because they are getting outdated.  I plan to change some of the reviews to more relevant cameras and some other updates. 

 

 

I uploaded a few of the bald eagle photographs that I have gotten recently and I am also uploading a photograph of a common merganser that I took.  I was a little upset with myself that I overexposed many of the bald eagle photographs but it wasn’t so bad.

 

 I also will now be uploading full resolution photographs on flickr because they now offer 1TB of space.  So I will upload the full shots to flickr.  Hope you enjoy the photographs.  Until next time.        

More Photos from Trip

I decided I would post a few more images form my trip to Nyquist-Harcourt Wildlife Sanctuary from last week.  I went through my pictures again and decided to post on of the duck photographs from the trip.  Also I got a photograph of a what I think is a Coopers Hawk.  But I'm not sure.  So if any one can identify it from the photograph I would appreciate it.

I'm hoping to get out at least once this week before I go back to school at the end of the week.  While I'm at school I will probably talk more about techniques and maybe some equipment and stuff, because I have less opportunities for photographs.  Hope you enjoy the photographs. 

Eagle Photography

These are photographs of eagles I took last year.  I can't wait to get out this year and try my new equipment.  Hopefully soon the weather will cooperate, because it has been raining and snowing everyday this week, and I need bright light to use my large telephoto lenses.