It’s nearly 0730 and here I am bloggin’ already.
It’s my great pleasure to report a success in the “Great Bald Eagle Hunt”. (No pix yet; I’ll get ‘em to you tomorrow.)
Having built a blind, I tried it out (without anything to report) and found it need to be shortened a taste. Did that th’ day before yesterday and put it in place late yesterday afternoon. I found it a trifle awkward to work with; but that’ll smooth out w/practice. Stuff below me will be difficult, as downward vision is severely limited. Otherwise, so far, so good.
‘Shot a few passing shots as I sat, waiting and ‘long about 6:30 I got up to leave. I got out about 15′ from the blind and noticed something coming in the distance. ‘Twas moving too fast for me to make it back to the blind, so, w/camera in hand, I watched its approach. Sure enough, it was an Eagle, and me out in the open… RATS! And it was a male, at that! JUS’ my luck!
I went on and “framed him” w/the camera; if nothing else, I’ll get to watch him. He just kept on coming and as he got “in range”, I started shooting. And right below me, he stooped… and he got one! And the fight was ON!
He’d been harried along his way by a fistful o’ crows and they were GOING TO have that fish! And as he was in THAT dogfight, it was joined by the Turkey Buzzards!
I did my best to keep him framed and kept shooting as fast as I could. The whole thing, from stoop to his escape, couldn’t've been over 20 seconds; but it was a dream come true for me. I still don’t have “The Shot” I had in mind when I started; but what I ended up with will, w/luck and careful processing, turn out to be one of the best Sequences I ever shot.
I spent the next 15 min. figuratively shakin’ my head at the “dumb luck” that gave me the chance to see it all, then thankin’ God that I got it “in the can”.
This wasn’t the first I was thankful for either; I got a few good frames of a Great Blue Heron earlier, and they’re elusive as can be. More shootin’ to thank my maker for…
What a DAY!!
CHEERS!
R
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