Today I got close. Excited and had to post. "Pic heavy"

[Bonhomme Richard]

Now I can move on.
What you see in the background of the second photo are the wings of a gull that flew up behind. I will clean that up when I get the chance.


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[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. These are just STUNNING!

You sure were close, my gawd!

Well done!

And..........congrats.

[Bonhomme Richard]

2. Thanks. My wife thought I was nuts....

taking my camera out in the kayak (especially after a couple of beers) and risking getting attacked..LOL There were young in the nearby nest.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

3. You probably should have skipped the beers...

But that doesn't change how good these are!

[Bonhomme Richard]

6. Liquid courage. n/t

[Locut0s]

16. I'm going canoeing / kayaking on my coming camping trip...

Don't think I'll have the courage you had to bring my camera in the boat. For one thing I have very little experience canoeing. I'm not worried cause I'm a strong swimmer, but my camera isn't

[NV Whino]

4. Great shots!

Osprey as so shy. You did good!

[petronius]

5. Congrats, those are really fantastic!

And very sharp to be shot from a kayak - what were you using to keep the camera steady, and what distance is meant by "close"?

[Bonhomme Richard]

7. I hand held my........

D-300 with a Nikon 70-300mm lens. Around 30 or 40 feet. I'm not sure as I was drifting toward and away from him.
You know...shoot...use paddle...shoot....curse...shoot..etc.

[trusty elf]

8. Superb!

Thanks for sharing them.

[rhett o rick]

9. Very cool. THanks for posting. nm

[Bonhomme Richard]

10. I have to say about the third one.

I tried to work with the filter addition in Lightroom to add blue....lousy job. I certainly need to work with that editing option. White background would have been better...live and learn.

[BuddhaGirl]

11. Simply beautiful and amazing shots!!

What a beautiful creature...thanks for sharing

[rdking647]

12. awesome

absolutely awesome

[Mira]

13. utterly phenomenal

one better than the next. I think you are rightfully very proud of the achievement.
How do you make sure your camera is safe in a Kayak?

[Bonhomme Richard]

14. Camera safe? It isn't.

I actually have a pelican case that I used when I used a shorter lens but with the new lens it doesn't fit anymore.
Having said that, I am very comfortable in my kayak and, no matter what case I had, the camera would be out and vulnerable when the action is happening.
I guess it is up to the Gods.

[Locut0s]

15. Wow very nice. How close did you manage to get?...

We have bald eagles here on the west coast and I've seen a lot of them but I don't think they would let you get close enough to take this kind of shot. Very nice and detailed. What lens did you use for these?

[Bonhomme Richard]

20. I used a 70-300mm lens.

I was probably 30 to 550 feet away depending on the drift of the kayak.

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

17. These are great Richard!

Wow!

[Mz Pip]

18. Wow

These are awesome. You got so close you can almost read their minds.

[KC]

19. Those

are amazing photos. It's hard to pick a favorite one!

[CrispyQ]

21. These are stunning shots!

What an incredibly beautiful bird!

[a la izquierda]

22. Woah! Stunning!

Keep that birdie away from my Chihuahua

[nadinbrzezinski]

23. Fantastic shots...sharing the home with two parrots

The first one is my fav

[Bonhomme Richard]

24. Mine too. n/t

[Johnny Noshoes]

25. Beautiful

Nicely done. What great birds.

[MuseRider]

26. Oh those take my breath away!

So beautiful!

Someday I hope to be able to come somewhere close to this.

Outstanding.

[Bonhomme Richard]

27. Thanks again to everyone. n/t