Bald Eagles on the Kenai River, Alaska

I spent an unbelievable day photographing Bald Eagles on the Upper Kenai River today. I took over a hundred pictures and got a few good shots I'll share.

Open water was limited to the first few miles of river, down stream from Kenai Lake. So there is a heavy concentration of Eagles in a few miles. I took two dozen pictures of this Eagle on a rock in the river. The bird is in a different position in every shot.

Eyes closed screaming at the top of his lungs.

Just a passing dispute.

The Eagle at the edge of the water has spotted a late season salmon carcass washing a shore. The Eagle had to struggle pulling the salmon up on the bank.

The first flop of the wings yanks the salmon carcass out of the water.

Maybe it is going to take a little more effort.

Whoops he lost his grip.

Finally, the carcass is on the bank.

Two adults and a young bird.

Getting a little wet.

The Eagle was moving so fast, the next click of the shutter took a picture of only the back half. I had the camera set for a three shot sequence.

Outstanding shots Gras!!! I love them all. Thanks for sharing them with us!

That's like having a backyard studio ..... Great photos !!!!

Wow....are they the most incredible birds. Thanks so much for posting.

Marvelous, Gras!

Hey, now, maybe it's not so bad not having any flowers yet.
;-)

Ä few good shots???" ~They are excellent! Enjoyed viewing them, Thanks for posting! ~All are great!! But really love that first picture!

This message was edited Apr 1, 2007 9:27 PM

Thanks for the nice comments everyone. It's not exactly a backyard studio though. It is over a 100 mile drive each way from Anchorage to the Kenai River. To help make up for the long drive, it is all posted as "Scenic Highway".

Here is one more shot from yesterday.

Gary

wow I just discovered this forum. What a gem. Your photos are spectacular.

steph

I'm still sorting yesterdays pictures. I like the action in this one.

Worth the drive to be sure. What great majestic birds these are. Wonderful pictures. Thanks for sharing.

Love this last shot!

What GREAT SHOTS!!!!!!!!
Thanks so much for sharing
A

Gary,

I loved every single shot that you posted and the narration to go along with it. That first photo though..... Man.... That oughta be on a US coin!!! Man oh Man what an incredible photo! You can see the gleam in his eye and just about "touch" his soft feathers!

The shots along the water were magnificent! Your photography is just breathtaking! Thank you ever so much for "taking us with you" to see them.

Janet

Gary, ditto! How wonderful that you rewarded after a 100 mile trip (coming from a birder who often sees nothing after a long trip). How close were you for the first one? Who is that B&W bird in the middle of the 11:27 shot? Long tail-is it a black-billed magpie? I see in my book that they are in AK.

What beautiful, majestic birds. Your photos are unbelievable!!! Thank you so much for sharing.

OMG! That is just way too cool!! DH & I have always dreamed of going to Alaska....

This is another head shot of the same bird as the first picture, but from a different angle. I took 35 pictures of this bird from a distance of 15 to 20 feet. It was perched very low in a tree between the road and the river. It's an old winding road with no shoulders and a rather steep bank down to the water. If I had slipped on the packed snow and ice, I would have gone into the water. The Eagle didn't respond to anything I did. I moved around freely, but it was difficult to shoot through the tangled limbs. As I finished taking pictures, a school bus taking a ball teem to an out of town game, stopped in the road way and a dozen cameras took picture out of the open bus window.

This is the view from under the Eagle in the above picture. I kept moving around trying to find unobstructed shots. The best I could do was crop the heads out of some of the best shots.

This is another action shot. The Eagle with its back to the camera was mock challenged a few minutes earlier, shown in a previous picture.

Resin, that is one possibility. There is a second possibility also. This stretch of the Kenai River is a world class trophy fishing stream for Rainbow Trout. This section of the river valley is a tourist district. During the summer people are literally everywhere. In this particular area, some Eagles have become acclimated to human activity.
The plumage looked good and the bird didn't act distressed, just indifferent. There was a lot of traffic on the road, and the Eagle seemed to watch the traffic more than it watched me.

Gary

Thanks for filing me in on the distance and your cropping. I seem to always have bad luck shooting birds because of the light (they are blurry hand held). But that is an issue for another forum! Anyway, great shots! I'm enjoying them. BTW, I think beak health often has to do with nutrition which doesn't mean injury, just vitamin deficiency. I think.

The last head shot was incredible. Sometimes I found that they don't care that you are there. But they sure keep an eye on you. What a wonderful day you had!!!!!
Digital cameras, I think, have been the best invention sence the electricity.

It can be pretty scarry at times when trying to get good shots, I'm glad that you got them and did it without any mishaps!
Great photo's once again!! Just love those head shots you got of the eagle, Very outstanding!!!

Gras, just when I think they couldn't get any better . . . they do. Those are by far the most awesome eagle images I have ever seen - congratulations!

Grasmussen you have some stunning wildlife pictures for everyone to enjoy. I really like the eagle pictures with those wings open working on that fish. We enjoy the eagles during the fall and winter here as they tend to stay near the waterfowl concentrations to hunt their food. Their numbers here build up with the increase of waterfowl numbers. They are an amazing sight to see as they perch or glide about looking for food. Their eye sight amazes me too.

Cuckoo

Heh, heh! If that eagle lowers it's front and raises the backside while you are under it, get out of there! It's getting ready to let "it" fly!

Great shooting!

Tiger, is this the position you were visualizing?
Oh, it just flew.