Good wishes for a great 2008 and a thank you. (An eagle thread)

[Maestro]

I wish to thank DU admins and everyone else who has allowed me to indulge the Lounge with my bird photography. It's about the only way for me to stay sane considering all the gnashing of teeth and exploding heads in GD and GD Politics lately plus my career as a school administrator. To that end, I got up early last Sunday and drove to the Texas Hill Country where I was able to photograph one of the most majestic birds of prey, a bald eagle; actually two. :) It's funny. If it only knew how the country it represents has been acting over the past 7 years, it probably would resign its duties as our national symbol. Anyhow, I hope you enjoy the pics. I just had a grand time observing and taking pictures while talking to other birders and photographers over a nine hour period outside on a beautifully warm day.

Within about 30 minutes of arriving I was treated to this nice perch in good, amber light.



Here the baldie is on a different perch in front of its nest calling out. I do not know if you know this, but bald eagles have a rather wimpy little call. If you hear a sound byte of a raptor call on the radio or on TV, 9 times out of 10, what you are hearing is the call of a red tailed hawk.



While on the same perch, I got a nice front view of the baldie, but the shadow could not have been in a worse place. :rofl: Still I like the image.



It did turn for me though so I did get a good side view of the face.



I have some of the nest, but I will wait and post that in another thread. I don't want to overwhelm this thread. Those on dial-up are already going to have a tough time as it is.

By afternoon the sun had shifted the light was not as favorable no matter where I positioned myself. But, I got a few usable images.



Looking down, probably at a squirrel that was running around the tree. That squirrel had some cojones! But I suppose the river behind the nest kept the eagles well fed so there was no need to worry about the squirrel, at least for now.






I have more to post but I will leave you with this little diddy. As a big 4X4 pulled up from a day of hunting, I noticed a Bush/Cheney 04 sticker on the back. About that same time, I heard some of the photographers start to snicker. I look through my viewfinder to pull off this quick snapshot, not well exposed, but it doesn't need to be.



You have to wonder if the eagle saw the sticker as well. ;)

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. My dear Maestro!

Well, you know, these are wonderful!

I certainly agree that it would resign its duties as our national bird if it knew what our government had been up to...:eyes:

I love your little story too!

Great pics, and of course, keep 'em coming!

Happy New Year!

:hi:

[Maestro]

4. Thanks Peggy.

I have some nest shots coming next. Stay tuned. :hi:

[lost-in-nj]

2. Magnificent shots, beautiful bird....

and I LOVE to see your pictures....

Keep it up!!!!


lost

[Maestro]

9. Thank you so much Lost!

I sure have fun with it; frustrating at times, but that makes those good shots even more exhilarating!

[MrScorpio]

3. Cue America the Beautiful

http://www.prairiefrontier.com/pfcards1/music/patriotic/america.mid

[Maestro]

10. Thanks Mr. Scorpio.

I need to use that music in some sort of slideshow presentation. :)

[BarenakedLady]

5. Wonderful pictures!

I love them. :D

[Maestro]

11. Thanks Barenakedlady.

I need to get up to Homer, Alaska to watch them and take pictures of them there as well. I'd have many more opportunities. :hi:

[tigereye]

6. it's always a pleasure to see your photos, Maestro!

[Maestro]

12. Thanks Tigereye!

In looking at some of those later pics, I seemed to have been colorblind or something. They seem washed out so I am going to go back to the digital negative and reprocess these. Ugh! Oh well. Live and learn. Thanks so much again for the comments.

[TZ]

7. My personal favorite bird, the Bald Eagle

(although the one Golden I have seen was impressive too). Great pics although I have to say pics just don't do this majestic bird justice..nothing like seeing that impressive beak and talons in action (I have gotten to watch them fish...very cool). You are right about their call-- more like a squeak..The only bird with a more surprising call is the Great Blue Heron, IMO

[Maestro]

13. Thanks turtlensue

I need to get down to the Big Bend region of Texas. They have goldens there. Curiously, though, when I was taking these shots, several people from a local reservoir stopped by to say that while they not only saw bald eagles on the lake, there was a sighting of one golden eagle which seems too far east and north for their range, but anything with wings can show up anywhere. :)

[Mrs.Matcom]

8. BRAVO!

:applause:

Wonderful, thank you for sharing!!

Have you sent any in to 'Birds and Blooms' magazine yet??

[Maestro]

14. Thanks Mrs, Matcom.

I haven't sent any to 'Birds and Blooms' but I have sent several pics to 'Birder's World' magazine. :) I have some more that I will post later.

[blondie58]

15. awesome pictures, Maestro!

and I for one, appreciate what you call your therapy- you have a gift. Just a question of curiosity- how far away were you? Ah, bald eagles- the kings of the skies....

[Maestro]

18. Thanks so much Blondie58

I went back and reprocessed a few of the pics above. I wasn't satisfied with the way they looked. What do you think of this one now?

[Inchworm]

16. Thanks you Maestro

Keep 'em coming.

:yourock:

[Maestro]

19. Thanks Inchworm

As you can see from above I am already redoing some of the images. I just wasn't safisfied. Here is a better image of one of them.

[Inchworm]

20. Cool- I guess I have learnt

hehe.. I see what you did.

awesome!

:)

[Maestro]

21. I basically adjusted a bit more the Shadows and Highlights

in Photoshop and cropped it a bit tighter. I think it is an improvement.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

17. These pictures have a way of restoring my patriotic faith in my

country. :loveya: I honestly think this needs to be posted in GD. :think: Our national symbol should have a chance at the Greatest Page, especially today.:patriot: Thanks for sharing.:hug:

[Maestro]

22. Thanks Tuesday Afternoon

I don't know if it is GD material but the eagle certainly is a patriotic symbol, overused by many faux patriots I believe. Here is a pic from above that I slightly modified a bit.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

23. So Regal and Majestic. Lovely. Thanks

Really wonderful. GD doesn't know what they are missing:D

[GenDem]

24. Thank you, Maestro.

I don't always post my appreciation, but if I'm on and I see a bird photo thread I always take a look. They are always magnificent!

[Maestro]

25. Thank you GenDem

I am glad you like them. I appreciate you taking the time to post here.