I almost didn’t go out yesterday, but it had been a while since I’d done any afternoon shooting, so I made myself go. As I was walking toward a tree, I could have sworn this bird was an owl at first. Its head was turned around and tucked down in just the right way to fool me. Once I got a little closer though, I realized it was actually a juvenile bald eagle.
I grabbed a few safety shots, then bumped up my shutter speed because I had a feeling it might take off as I got closer. Sure enough, less than five seconds later, it launched from the perch and I started firing away. I ended up catching this beautiful moment with its wings spread wide in that perfect late afternoon light, and with the blue sky behind it, everything came together just right.
After photographing the eagle, I spotted this little guy singing his heart out from a lone bare branch. As soon as I saw that background, I dropped down quickly and fired off a couple of bursts using pre-capture, hoping to catch him at just the right moment.
Then just as I was leaving I saw this great egret coming in for a landing!