Chilkat Eagles

NorthernFocus

For those who don't know about it, the Chilkat River near Haines,AK, has the latest salmon run of the season and provides bald eagles one last big salmon feast before they head south for the winter. It's estimated that in a typical year between 3,000 and 4,000 eagles gather on the river in October and November.

With that many birds around there is plenty of opportunity for in flight shots.

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But what most photogs are after in Chilkat are conflict shots.

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And when nothing else is going on there is always someone interested in having their portrait taken.

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PGM

WOW!!! Dan, these are terrific!!!!! Congratulations on a super set! My favorites are #1 because of the bg, #4 because of the low angle, #10 for the beautiful lighting, and #1 for the angle and the detail--what a great portrait! Best, Pam

Dr Calohandre

Love these shots but you have to have good glass to get this quality.

Maestro

Amazing series; great action!

NorthernFocus

PGM wrote: »

WOW!!! Dan, these are terrific!!!!! Congratulations on a super set! My favorites are #1 because of the bg, #4 because of the low angle, #10 for the beautiful lighting, and #1 for the angle and the detail--what a great portrait! Best, Pam

Thanks, Pam. I like that first one for the BG too. The bird is in an odd position but I like it. Ironically with all the action going on, the portrait is my favorite shot. Took me the better part of an hour to get that close plus I've been after a close-up for a long time.

Dr Calohandre wrote: »

...but you have to have good glass to get this quality.

Among other things, it definately helps.

Maestro wrote: »

Amazing series; great action!

Thanks, there was plenty of action. It is amazing how hard it is to get the perfect timing when they're fighting. Seems there is always something wrong

Montec

Beautiful work. Great timing and use of light.
You have your gear dialed in nicely. I shoot similar images (or try to). Care to share your settings?
I am heading for the Fraser River Eagle festival in a few weeks and any tips and hints would be most helpful.

I shoot mostly with the Nikon D4 and 400mm 2.8 with a couple TC's

NorthernFocus

No real secrets, Monte. I'm learning every time I go out. For trying to catch the fight shots I've found that using the AF-On button and dissablling focus on the shutter release is a big help. That way you can pre-focus on the bird on the ground. As far as lighting goes, I typically use matrix meter to evaluate ambient light at the start of the shoot. Then switch to spot when I start to shoot birds. I like to shoot to the right on the histogram. Metering the white heads one stop over seems to work out OK. I try to keep between f5.6 and f8 for decent DOF and ss as high as possible. Even at 1/2000 sometimes the head/beaks and talons can still have some motion blur. They move pretty darn fast when they're fighting for survival

Montec

Thanks. Appreciate the info. Amazing images on your web site.

rwells

Fantastic series

You should be very proud of each and every one!

Wossa

Wow ! Wow! Wow!.....beautfully composed and stunning shots.....just fantastic.

NorthernFocus

Thanks for the comments, folks. Like the old saying goes, if you shoot enough you're bound to hit something once in a while

Dennis Kaczor

Stunning set of images of the Eagles.