Hi Guys,
I had a wonderful birding day by our local lake a couple of weeks ago. Although it isn't possible to convey fully with photographs I thought I should share at least some of the excitement with you guys.
Here is a series fom a stirr-up that a white-tailed eagle (Haliaetus albicilla) made amongst the waterfowl:
First, the eagle has come within sight of the geese and ducks and made them anxious:
"Goose or Duck?"
- "Let's see... who's in for dinner today? A goose or a duck?"
Second, the eagle seems to have decided to single-out a couple of greylag geese (Anser anser).
"OK - Goose!"
Grelag geese (Anser anser) water the beak...
The collective of waterfowl is stirred up and the eagle is loosing its focus (not me though) and is about to miss out on a nice goose for lunch:
"Confused"
- "Hey... what happened? Where did all those confusing geese come from?"
"A Fraction of Thousands"
Greylag geese blasting off to confuse the white-tailed eagle.
"Safe Together"
More confusing geese - I'm always impressed as ever when I get caught up in this "mess" .
Not all manage the long migration journey without injuries - which can be fatal:
"Death Shadow"
The white-tailed eagle lowers it self over a wounded Canada goose. Water sprays all over when it despereately tries to get airborne - to the safety of chaos.
"The Final Strike"
Greylag geese are watching and wigeons and gadwalls swirl in panic while the eagle finishes off the Canada goose.
I hope you sense a bit of the drama!
As usual, any comments, suggestions, and critiques are very welcome and I'll try to answer any questions you may have.
Cheers, Jens.
Technical:
E-3, Tokina AT-X 300/2.8 + EC-20 = 600 mm handheld, manual focus, manual exposure set to: ISO 800, f/5.6, 1/2000 sec. Slight crop to ~3000 pixels width and resized to 1024 px by SmugMug.