Eagle has dinner (close-up)

pthorpe

I spent 4 hrs in Red Wing, MN capturing the wintering Eagles in Colvill Park on the Mississippi River.

This close up of the Eagle eating the fish was the thrill of a life time. It let me stand with-in 10 yards for almost 5 minutes before some guys dog barked and scared him off.

Some of them dove-in and came up with a fish ... they would keep hold of it and thrash around in the water till they had to give up because the fish was way too big to fly with!

Often one Eagle would snatch a fish and get attacked by another more aggressive bird. I actually caught this behavior in one of the shots.
Well, enjoy the other pictures here if you are so inclined http://pthorpe.smugmug.com/gallery/4349735_8vGig/1/255217955_U7GCq

dbaker1221

sweet shot:ivar it's always a thrill to be able to watch eagles

Maestro

Wow! If only I could get that close in the wild!

pthorpe

Thanks to you both. "Getting close" was not that hard because there were about 25 of them in this backwater area. I saw this one from 150 yards off and just kept a steady pace and walked right up to the tree he was in. So it did not seem hard at the time. The rest of the shots were taken when they came to me, there were so many of them . . . great fun!

davev

Nice shots Pete.
Colvill Park can be a challenge.

grimace

Nice capture!!

Harryb

Good capture, its greta to be able to get that close to an eagle.

raptorcaptor

Nice one!