NW Olympic Peninsula Bald Eagles

[greenpea]

I haven’t posted any pictures on dgrin in a while (nearly 2 years :cry). I guess I've just had a long streak of not having any photos that I was excited enough about to want to share. That changed today when I got a chance to look at the pictures I took this last weekend during a day trip to the NW corner of the Olympic Peninsula. At the last minute my wife and I decided we needed to get the family out of town, if just for a day trip. For no reason other than I had never been there before I decided we would drive from Seattle to Cape Flattery, the most Northwestern point in the contiguous United States. On the way we made stops in the towns of Sekiu and Neah Bay. While visiting these tiny towns I was excited to find numerous Bald Eagles that more than happy to pose up close and personal for my camera. Here are a few of my favorites.

Here are a couple fighting for prime real estate
http://initialphotography.smugmug.com/photos/i-2kXr99M/1/XL/i-2kXr99M-XL.jpg

I can't say that I've ever been in a situation where a bird in flight was more than filling the frame with my cheap-o 70-300
http://initialphotography.smugmug.com/photos/i-3SFP687/1/XL/i-3SFP687-XL.jpg

It's the left over scraps from the fishing boats that the eagles came for
http://initialphotography.smugmug.com/photos/i-csmvBwK/1/XL/i-csmvBwK-XL.jpg

[Dick on Aruba]

Great find Andrew. The background of the last is soooooo much different than usual, that it became my favorite.

[greenpea]

Great find Andrew. The background of the last is soooooo much different than usual, that it became my favorite.

Thanks! Prior to this, I had never seen bald eagles (outside of a zoo) that were so willing to get close to people, but these eagles have figured out that the fishermen leave lots of free scraps for them to take.

With so many eagles flying around, there were really a lot of potential options for what to have in the background, I was just limited in how much time I could take with the pictures as my family was starting to get tired of waiting for me. I did manage to get one picture of an eagle flying with a US flag in the background but it didn't turn out as sharp as I would have liked. I will definitely have to make a trip back there.

[Harryb]

Good to see you posting again. I'm with Dick on the last capture. :thumb

[FlyNavy]

Wow, nice capture!