African Fish Eagle - Fishing

[John Harper]

Hi There

At the risk of sending everyone to sleep... (yes its me again) with another episode of... Lets try and get a shot of the eagle fishing.

Well alas we don't have a lake nearby so we use a large water bowl. Place some chicken on the water and wait for the splash!.

Tried a different approach to my usual 400mm

EOS1D MIIN - 24-105F4L @ 35mm 1/2500 @5.6 - manual focus at around 15 feet - Hi Speed on the camera and hope no one jumps in front of me.

Would have liked the background a bit more blurred but 1st attempt I am fairly happy with it. As usual comments and critiques welcome.

Apologies if you are all eagled out but i love these magnificent creatures!.


John

 

[Asher Kelman]

Interesting that you have the American flag boldly in ther b.g.! It appears to be at half staff?

Where are the other shots?

Also explain the Eagle's bracelet and why you expected an Eagle? Do you know one hangs out there?

If you can, consider stitching more pics around the best one.

To me this is great stuff, just be careful not to do this often or you damage the bird's hunting habits and it expects to interact with humans. some camper might get a bad surprise!

In game parks in Zimbabwe, young monkeys fed by the roadside in the summer, starve, begging for food in the winter instead of digging for roots!

Asher

 

[Mike Spinak]

It looks like you nailed the moment. I prefer shots that are more "natural", but this is well done.

If you will be doing this, again, I think you would do well to get even lower, so that the rim of the bowl is not visible, and so that you get more sky, and less ground, behind the bird.

Obviously, there is more to this story, and, like Asher, I, too, would like to hear more details.

Mike

www.mikespinak.com

 

[John Harper]

Interesting that you have the American flag boldly in ther b.g.! It appears to be at half staff?

Where are the other shots?

Also explain the Eagle's bracelet and why you expected an Eagle? Do you know one hangs out there?

If you can, consider stitching more pics around the best one.

To me this is great stuff, just be careful not to do this often or you damage the bird's hunting habits and it expects to interact with humans. some camper might get a bad surprise!

In game parks in Zimbabwe, young monkeys fed by the roadside in the summer, starve, begging for food in the winter instead of digging for roots!

Asher

Asher - Mike

Sorry if in my efforts to be humourous i have given a mis leading impression.

I had nothing to do with setting this up. Its a demonstration at the Hawk Conservancy they have the eagle come and grab some food from the water bowl. I just wanted to get a shot showing the eagle and the water spray. So I am not tempting it myself just observing part of the flying display.

The flag at half mast in the bg.. is in fact a barn owl nesting box, that has a pair of kestrels in it this season.

Sorry if i have mislead it was not my intention.

John.




A link to the Hawk Conservancy Website http://www.hawk-conservancy.org/index.htm


Full frame shot for reference

 

[Mike Spinak]

Ah! Okay, understood.

Well done, under the circumstances.

 

[Asher Kelman]

Well, now things are much clearer!

I, of course made an error about the flag. That shows how poor witnesses we can make!

I like what you have done and always enjoy shootng at such opportunities, even though it's a setup.

Still, for a conservation outfit not to use a mouse or other live bait is a pity since we educate people wrongly.

However, the chances are that no one who sees this will ever bait these creatures in the wild, at least I hope not!


Asher