Bald eagles flying around their dinner perch
Watching these two eagles for an hour back in March, I am convinced they are the pair who will occupy the large nest perched in these trees over a pond on a farm on the high prairie east of the Crowsnest Pass.
Both had no difficulty catching the ground squirrels in the fields surrounding the pond. When they did, they returned to this branch to eat – possibly for the company. It was very cool to be a stone’s throw away from the wonderful creatures. At close range, I was reminded how big these birds are.
Other eagles circled the water as well but none seemed paired up like these two which leads me to believe they “own” the nest. I’ll get back there soon and see where things stand now!
There were a lot of fun shots to choose from which I whittled down to these few here. It was, obviously, a well spent afternoon by my standards.
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Flying low over the Prairies
The Bald eagles in the Livingstone area have held my attention for more than a full day and I’m looking forward to getting back there soon. I am wanting to catch one of their attacks on the Richardson ground squirrels that blanket the fields. The last time I went out, this immature eagle flew in front of me and I thought it might find one. It didn’t happen then but the opportunity for in-flight photographs was wonderful.
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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.
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A few more of the Burmis pine tree
When I photographed the Burmis tree, a limber pine that was between 600 and 750 years old when it died in the 1970s, I circled it a couple of times. It presented very different looks as I moved around which was great fun to photograph. I wanted to share a few of the ones I liked from this stop on the edge of the Crowsnest Pass.
Please note: those familiar with the Burmis tree will note that in three of images, and the image in the previous post, I have removed the metal pole that supports the long lower branch that extends away perpendicularly from the main trunk. I rarely edit out things in my landscape photographs but I find that pole to be quite distracting. It is necessary given that someone cut the branch in 2004 and nearby residents re-attached the limb and needed the pole to support the weight. I am grateful they did this work but used some artistic license to create the final images as I imagined them.
Clouds from the west slowly advanced as I scrambled around, at first only hiding the stars but then dragging rain into the scene. Sometimes that can make things more interesting photographically but at that late hour and with the wind picking up sharply, I soon packed up and carried on to Fernie. I did have almost as much time as I wanted there so the weather’s turn was a nice push to get moving.
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The Burmis Tree
I have driven by the Burmis Tree, an Alberta icon, many times while traveling through the Crowsnest Pass on my between British Columbia and Alberta. It stands out on a rocky outcrop just above Highway 3 where the road bends into the valley below Turtle Mountain. This limber pine catches many people’s eye as they travel past with its gorgeous lines and skeletal beauty. This weekend I drove past close to midnight and stopped for an hour to photograph the tree. This image is from the western side of the hill facing east. The limbs were backlit by the headlights of the oncoming traffic and the hill glowed red from their tail lights as they passed by.
Christopher Martin Photography 