In search of the Arizona Eagle
Having recently moved to Arizona, I've been keeping my eyes open for places to shoot raptors out here, and coming up empty handed. That is until I read a little passage in the copy of Arizona Highways that my dentist had thoughtfully provided in his waiting room. It just happend to mention that best place to view eagles in Arizona is at Mormon Lake between November and April. So yesterday morning, I hopped in the car and made the 2 1/2 hour drive out there to have a look. When I hit Flagstaff, it was another 20 miles of icy, snowy roads. The village is pretty quiet this time of year.
The lake is 9 square miles and it turns out has been completely dry for quite some time. It's basically a huge meadow right now, and I wondered if there would be any eagles. I stopped at the marked viewpoint, but my eagle spotting instinct told me this was not the place to look for them.
So I drove along the lake for a while, pulled over in a little spur that went down by the "lake", and went for a hike in the 34 degree air. It's a big place and I had no idea where to start looking, so I starting walking along what would have been the shore if there had been any water. Suddenly I spotted a bird out in the meadow, peered into my telephoto, and this is what I saw.
As you can see, she was pretty far away. Circling around looking for prey, she could have easily flown my way. Of course, she didn't and disappeared off into the distance. But the encounter hastened my heart-rate a bit.
I continued walking for a while when I observed a bird coming directly at me which turned out to be a Northern Harrier and he flew by to give me a look.
I continued my walk for quite some time without seeing any raptors, and tried my luck unsucessfully on some extremely shy Western Blue Jays, and whatever else was in the trees. I didn't realize I'd shot a Northern Flicker until reviewing pictures a little later.
Just as I was returning towards my car, I spotted a Red Tail Hawk in the distance being harrased by a crow. They didn't get very close, but I managed to get off a couple of shots of the hawk before it too disappeared.
Not particulary pleased with my luck at this point, I decided to press on in the car and do some exploring up into the mountainside on a National Forest road. According to my GPS the road should do about a 10 mile loop up into the mountains, then double-back down to the main road to Flagstaff. There were a few inches of snow on the steep unmaintained road, but the sign said "Watch for Wildlife", and so I did. After a few miles, I took a side road that had no other tire tracks for a few miles. It was beautiful country, but I wondered where all the wildlife was. There weren't even any deer. So I doubled back to the main road, and was tooling along back in my snow tracks, and there he was in a tree maybe 50 yards ahead of me.
Scarely believing my eyes, I stopped and rolled down my window to get off a couple of shots before he flew away.
That was the last bit of wildlife I saw on my trip. The ride back down the mountain got a little interesting. I think the GPS maps probably haven't been updated since the 1800's, because the roads it kept trying to route me down didn't exist any more. Rather than double back, I pressed on for maybe 10 miles and came across another sign that indicated that I was going to be on these roads a bit longer than I'd thought.
Oh, yeah, and I shot a pano on the way out.
And that's my tale of woe for the weekend. It was a frustrating, but invigorating day just the same. I'll be back. But I'm definitely feeling like I need more lens. :cry Thanks for reading, if you actually read this, or for just looking at the lousy pictures just the same. :1drink
Happy Holiday,
-joel
The lake is 9 square miles and it turns out has been completely dry for quite some time. It's basically a huge meadow right now, and I wondered if there would be any eagles. I stopped at the marked viewpoint, but my eagle spotting instinct told me this was not the place to look for them.
So I drove along the lake for a while, pulled over in a little spur that went down by the "lake", and went for a hike in the 34 degree air. It's a big place and I had no idea where to start looking, so I starting walking along what would have been the shore if there had been any water. Suddenly I spotted a bird out in the meadow, peered into my telephoto, and this is what I saw.
As you can see, she was pretty far away. Circling around looking for prey, she could have easily flown my way. Of course, she didn't and disappeared off into the distance. But the encounter hastened my heart-rate a bit.
I continued walking for a while when I observed a bird coming directly at me which turned out to be a Northern Harrier and he flew by to give me a look.
I continued my walk for quite some time without seeing any raptors, and tried my luck unsucessfully on some extremely shy Western Blue Jays, and whatever else was in the trees. I didn't realize I'd shot a Northern Flicker until reviewing pictures a little later.
Just as I was returning towards my car, I spotted a Red Tail Hawk in the distance being harrased by a crow. They didn't get very close, but I managed to get off a couple of shots of the hawk before it too disappeared.
Not particulary pleased with my luck at this point, I decided to press on in the car and do some exploring up into the mountainside on a National Forest road. According to my GPS the road should do about a 10 mile loop up into the mountains, then double-back down to the main road to Flagstaff. There were a few inches of snow on the steep unmaintained road, but the sign said "Watch for Wildlife", and so I did. After a few miles, I took a side road that had no other tire tracks for a few miles. It was beautiful country, but I wondered where all the wildlife was. There weren't even any deer. So I doubled back to the main road, and was tooling along back in my snow tracks, and there he was in a tree maybe 50 yards ahead of me.
Scarely believing my eyes, I stopped and rolled down my window to get off a couple of shots before he flew away.
That was the last bit of wildlife I saw on my trip. The ride back down the mountain got a little interesting. I think the GPS maps probably haven't been updated since the 1800's, because the roads it kept trying to route me down didn't exist any more. Rather than double back, I pressed on for maybe 10 miles and came across another sign that indicated that I was going to be on these roads a bit longer than I'd thought.
Oh, yeah, and I shot a pano on the way out.
And that's my tale of woe for the weekend. It was a frustrating, but invigorating day just the same. I'll be back. But I'm definitely feeling like I need more lens. :cry Thanks for reading, if you actually read this, or for just looking at the lousy pictures just the same. :1drink
Happy Holiday,
-joel
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Comments
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In the right light, at the right time, everything is extraordinary. ~Aaron Rose
www.capture-the-pixel.com
And I'm glad you got to see some flying birds! The only placre I'll see an eagle in San Francisco is at a zoo! :-)
Enjoyed the snow covered lonely road! Had to chuckle over the GPS... my office mate rented a car with one of those. They came across a bridge out and the voice kept telling them to "turn around" when they had to backtrack!
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as for eagles.......i am in central minnesota and they seem to be everywhere. i have seen them about a half mile from my house, and living close to the mississippi river, i frequently see them at various spots......even so, they are still awesome to see.
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Dee - have you tried to find Eagles around San Francisco by looking here:
http://www.co.monterey.ca.us/parks/Eagle_Tours.htm
Lake San Antonio is one of many places around the Bay Area that has eagles in the winter. Even better, the peak season hasn't quite hit yet...
That's in the southern part of Monterey County. You can find eagles closer if you prefer less driving. Some of Santa Clara County's parks claim to have eagles (not sure what time of year but I'd guess pretty much the same as Monterey...). If you want URL's for more info, let me know.
Thanks, Jen! Yeah, it's like what they say about fishing. Even a bad day taking pictures is better than a good day working.
-joel
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Thanks, Maestro. I'll look forward to seeing those Texan eagles. Go get 'em.
-joel
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Yeah, I've got a real love-hate relationship with my GPS. That thing has gotten me into more trouble. :bluduh
Cheers,
-joel
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Regards,
-joel
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Thanks, Thwack! Good to see you here. Post some more photos.
Regards,
-joel
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Dave
http://behret.smugmug.com/ NANPA member
How many photographers does it take to change a light bulb? 50. One to change the bulb, and forty-nine to say, "I could have done that better!"