So while checking on hiking trails in Hansville yesterday for a story, I spotted this raven pestering a bald eagle as it sat on a piling along the shore.
But the more I thought about it this morning I kind of think maybe they were just playing a simple game of leap frog, you know bird style, and my cutline under the photo was way off.
If either bird read the paper today and was slightly offended that I inferred “pestering” I do apologize. 😉
~Meegan M. Reid
Whoa, cool! This was my immediate reaction seeing this recent submission to our reader gallery at yourmedia.kitsapsun.com. My second thought was, “How did they get so close to the eagle, and how’d they know it was going to the rock?”
I banged a few rocks together and woke up the hamsters to fire up the Internets so I could e-mail the photographer.
Turns out, for Noelle Morris of Manchester, this scene is pretty common. What a terrible sight to endure on a regular basis, huh?
Here’s what she had to say:
The rock is exposed at low tide and the eagles are catching flounders and bullheads most time but when I get done fishing and have leftover herring, or leftover scraps I toss them on the beach or the big rock and they usually beat the seagulls to it if it looks like something good to them.
We saw one tonight actually go into the water about 5 feet from shore and he waded back to shore with a fish in his talons…it was too dark to grab the camera and raining so I didn’t get the shot, sometimes its ok just to watch without looking through the lens!
I believe they have young ones in the nest now too, so they are very busy. I enjoy hearing them calling and whistling all the time…they are amazing birds.
On the tech side, Noelle said it was her first attempt stitching in a Microsoft photo program, and that she uses a Canon 40D and image-stabilized 28-135mm lens. Exposure data was ISO 400, F11 1/1000 sec.
She used manual focus, which is a good technique to remember if you’re trying to shoot something like this. Instead of worrying about whether the autofocus can keep up with the eagle, focus on the area where you’re relatively certain the eagle (or football player, kid, dog, whatever) are going to pass through. Since the f-stop is fairly small (F11, there’s going to be plenty of depth-of-field, or the area where the subject will be in focus).
Each of these shots individually are wonderful captures, but stitched together it makes the series convey the power and elegance of our national symbol. And it’s just cool.
Kudos to Nolle.
– Derek Sheppard
