A Bald eagle’s Prairie flight
Watching birds in flight is a source of great pleasure for me. Perhaps it’s the freedom I imagine they enjoy (written just as two ravens glided by my window, acrobatically playing on the air currents outside) or the grace that many of them carry into the sky. When I have the gift of watching them close to the ground, it gives a different perspective and one that I particularly enjoy photographing.
So when two of the four bald eagles that watched for quite a while on the weekend glided off of their tree perch and landed out on the field nearby, I was excited. I had hoped they may dive on the prairie dogs as they passed by. They did not, it seemed that an alert had gone up as the little creatures were nowhere to be seen at that moment, and they alighted in the short grass. They chirped a little at each other but it seemed like they were just enjoying the sunshine as they stood in their respective spots for close to ten minutes. The adolescent launched first – I wanted to blur the wings in flight so I dragged my shutter. I’m still evaluating those results – we’ll see another day if I think they are worth sharing.
When the mature eagle lifted off the Prairie, I kept the shutter speed fast to freeze the motion and panned with the beautiful bird as it powerfully drove past.
When it buzzed a magpie that had also been sitting in the field, that bird flew up and in front of the eagle for a short ways. The eagle’s eyes were on this diminutive cousin of the raven and the crow but it was undeterred as it flew back towards its small convocation.
As it gained a little altitude, I liked the way the elements in the background looked in soft focus.
At one moment during this short flight it did look down at the field at one point – again raising my hopes of a dive – but nothing like that came of it.
Both eagles rejoined the other two that had remained in the tree. They all remained there for an hour before hunting over the fields individually later.
Christopher Martin Photography 
beautiful love all of your photos
you are a great photographer thanks
September 18, 2016 at 2:29 pm
Thank you John. Very kind words which I deeply appreciate. Have a great day!
September 19, 2016 at 1:36 pm
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April 3, 2016 at 11:50 am
Beautiful Photos, Good For You
March 20, 2016 at 9:40 pm
Nice Photos Bro,good Luck
March 20, 2016 at 9:08 pm
Stunning photos!
March 19, 2016 at 3:15 pm
Love the comparison!
March 19, 2016 at 12:55 pm
QUE HERMOSAS TOMAS FOTOGRAFICAS, ME ENCANTAN LAS AGUILAS…SALUDOS…
March 18, 2016 at 12:32 pm
Wow, these are incredible!
March 18, 2016 at 11:34 am
It’s almost as though they were following your script … except for the dive.
March 18, 2016 at 11:29 am
Nice shots of a stunning bird. I really like the capture of the magpie in the shot.
March 18, 2016 at 11:11 am
Fantastic shots!
March 18, 2016 at 7:27 am
This is so amazing!!!.I like the shoot outs
March 18, 2016 at 7:24 am
Your photos are remarkable! If you have more wolf photos, I would love to see it! And by the way, please follow me and like and comment my posts! 🙂
March 18, 2016 at 5:02 am
Love following your Blog, thanks for sharing!
March 17, 2016 at 11:14 pm
Great Shots
March 17, 2016 at 10:11 pm
Nice Shots,, Good
March 17, 2016 at 9:32 pm
Wow,, Nice Shots, Like It
March 17, 2016 at 9:17 pm
In action shots! These look amazing!
March 17, 2016 at 9:03 pm
Very Good Photography, Thanks For Sharing
March 17, 2016 at 9:00 pm
Wow,, Great Photos,, Nice
March 17, 2016 at 8:31 pm
wow, what amazing shots. I enjoy your narrative with your photos too. Thanks!
March 17, 2016 at 7:58 pm
Awesome!
March 17, 2016 at 7:07 pm
Yey, beautiful….
March 17, 2016 at 7:05 pm
What amazing action shots, I adore watching birds in nature but I’ve yet to perfect catching them on film as you do. Wonderful work.
March 17, 2016 at 6:54 pm
Beautiful photographs. There is something so majestic about the large raptors in flight.
March 17, 2016 at 6:54 pm
Haunting images. Just wow.
March 17, 2016 at 6:18 pm