HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?

This bald eagle was captured with my Canon Mark IV in May of 2011.

I always carry my camera in the boat while I’m fishing. Why? Because I often see really cool photo opportunities while fishing. In the simplest of words, I was fishing for crappies and not catching them so I was watching this bald eagle as it sat in a tree across the bay. I was mentally prepared to grab the camera off the floor of my Fishhawk and I wasn’t surprised to see this bald eagle jump from the tree. I picked up my camera and pointed it the direction the bald eagle was flying toward and hit the hammer. I followed the bald eagle swooping down to grab the pike and hoped for the best! It was an experienced I still have not forgotten and I know the exact spot to this day.

In reviewing my images I had the eagle captured in multiple backgrounds with a variety of lighting and my camera was set to aperature priority. When this happens again…I won’t have the camera on aperture priority. I will set my camera speed to meet the potential of any background lighting and my camera will be set to a shutter speed of 3200 instead of varying from 800-1250. Lesson learned. Take that with you….pick the right shutter speed and you won’t get a soft image often. That said I like this shot….it prints well.

Revision on 10-7-24.

Reading this post again today I am revising what settings I’d have based on I now have a camera with auto ISO. So set on auto ISO I’d be set at 3200 and F5.6. 

Walking The Blaine Wetland Sanctuary.

Report from June 13, 2024

The Blaine Wetland Sanctuary is a walk through multiple habitats and it takes about an hour.

This day was a typical spring day with temps in the 70’s and a mix of clouds and sun. Along the path there are a few different habitats. Entering from Lexington Ave the hike is a boardwalk and it enters a fen. Fens are peat forming wetlands using groundwater to  support various grasses plants and shrubs. This fen makes up the largest part on the sanctuary and it’s home to ducks, pheasants, deer, coyotes, fox and many types of field birds. This hike will take you though some upland habitat where I’ve seen owls, broad wing hawks, northern flicker and deer.

On this walk I had the opportunity to set up my gear on the west side of the sanctuary to attempt to photograph indigo buntings but they would not come into photography range. Continuing eastward along the path I found some of last seasons mullein with common yellowthroat, song sparrows and eastern kingbirds using them as perches. I set up my tripod and camera and I pointed toward the dead mullein plants and waited to snap the shutter. I took a few hundred images on this day and the best are shown below.

If you live in the area this is a very nice walk. It’s popular on nice weather days and on rotten weather days you can have the place to yourself which is nice!

Visit the Blaine Wetland Sanctuary website.

Blaine Wetland Sanctuary

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