Camera worries

Well, almost a month ago, I did a silly thing by leaving my camera plugged in the usb port on the computer.  I ended up ripping out the port.  Oops.  So today I finally shipped it off to Canon to get fixed.  Hopefully it won't take long to get it back, and in the meantime, there will be no new photos.  Just a heads up for those that read.

A few good shots, but no bull elk

I went down to Boxley last weekend.  Forgot to update this until now, oops!  lol.  Just before the time of year that I go out to get my tons of eagle shots, at least attempt to, I go for tons of elk shots.  Again tempting to.  I drove down there, getting there before daylight as usual, only to find a few cow elk crossing the road...........

and a small herd of bulls at the 21/43 junction.  Nothing else at all around.  Another wasted trip for me on the elk side of things, but I did manage to get this shot of the moon.........

Also, got this shot I've been after for a LONG time of an eagle.  I had seen another shot of an eagle on the tip of this exact dead tree by Michael Dougherty, so I always kept my eye out for one on it.  Well, my patience finally paid off (the secret to ALL great shots IMO).  Here is the result.  Absolutely love it, and it takes a lot for me to impress myself.  It's probably a good thing, because it keeps me to where I'm always trying to do better.  Anyway, enough rambling, here is the eagle...........

Now on a sad note.  I crippled my 7d this last week.  I had plugged in the usb cable, and sat it down.  Well forgot about it, and started to get up, walking right through the cable, ripping out the port.  Oops.  Insurance is covering it.  Just got the check in the mail today for it.  But if this wasn't bad enough, I had done this before a few years ago with my 40d.  So sad the first time, STUPID the 2nd, lol.  It'll never ever happen again, I promise that, :)  Now I have to ship off the camera in prime eagle season.  Blah.  Better just get it over with though.  Probably ship it right after xmas.  It still works if I take out the card, and use a reader.  So that's good at least.  Everyone have a great day/night/weekend/week until I post again.  :)

Been a while (see that on a lot of blogs, lol)

Well, I went out yesterday for the first time in 2 weeks.  Ended up not getting any waterfalls because I worked during the week, and didn't want to waste gas not knowing if any falls were still flowing on the weekend.  Sooooo, first destination, my favorite eagle spot.  Only seen 4 there, all too far away for pictures........blah.  So I continued on the route, but since I had other things to do afterwards, I took the short route.  I almost make it to the highway, and seen the most bald eagles I've ever seen in one spot.  They were EVERYWHERE!  They would fight over the chicken that was obviously left for them.  One would fly, and drop it in it's frantic flying to get away, another would swoop down and pick it up just as it would a fish out of the water, without landing.  Too neat!  I took a video and got this

I then took this shot of these two.  Way cropped, but still a neat photo.....

As I drove off, about a 1/4 mile down the road, I seen this in the tree line.  Had to stop again just to take it.  

So even though there wasn't a lot of good closeup shots for the day, I think it was a major success due to the sheer numbers of eagles I seen.  I'm lucky to live in spot with so many eagles this time of year.  Now to figure out how to get closer to them, :)

Clouds.....and rain on the way

I didn't go out today because I didn't really want any blown out sky photos of the eagles.  So I just stayed home.  Plus looks like a whole lot of rain on the way. Maybe some waterfall pictures next week?  Let's hope.  Don't really have much to say other than that.  Everyone have a great day, :)

And Yet Another Slow Day

I went back to Beaver Dam today.  I first went down to Parker Bend (found out the name of it).  I get there, sit out on the sidewalk that goes out, and wait.  I am there about 30 minutes, and all of the sudden, an eagle, RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME takes off.  I'm like are you serious??  I didn't see it at all.  I can usually spot these guys 10 miles away.  Oh well, he didn't fly off far, I could see him.  I sat there another 30 minutes, hoping he would do some fishing, never did.  So I finally just left.  Sat below the dam a few minutes, then went to my favorite spot.  Seen a juvenile in the tree, snapped a few pictures, I REALLY like this first one. It's extremely sharp.

Then in another tree there was this one, not a great pic, but worthy of posting I suppose

So not too great of a day again, but I do really enjoy that first juvenile picture.  Until next time!

Another Slow Day

Started the day going to my favorite eagle spot.  Nothing close enough to get any photos of.  So I decided to go ahead and head to beaver dam to see what I could get there.  Right below the dam there was a juvenile, but too high up in the trees to get a shot.  I talked to a guy that said there were two flying up and down the river for about 30 minutes yesterday.  So I drove on down, still nothing down at the campground.  So I go back up, to what I believe is called hollow bend?  Not quite sure, but there is always a ton of people fishing there.  I get out, and this guy starts telling me that there were two eagles flying back and forth yesterday, confirmation :).  So I sat there a while, and managed to get a couple of shots of this weird creature.......

I leave after a while and head back to my favorite eagle spot.  This time, I seen a few right before I got there, and there was one right above the road in a tree.  I stop about 100 ft or so from it, and get this shot of it.....

Not too bad of a shot for clouds I suppose.  A guy stopped while I was waiting talking about how it won't be long til they show up heavy.  I agreed.   Then two other guys came down the road on mini dirtbikes.  They were pretty cool looking bikes.  They were seeing if there were any down there, because they hadn't seen any yet this year.  I told them where there were a few around the corner were.  They thanked me and went to investigate, and came back and said they seen one of them.

Seen only 7 today, but was still a fun day.  Think I'll go back to the dam in the morning after the kids head off to school.

Oh Cloudy Days........How I despise you

Thought I'd make a quick trip to the eagles this morning......against my better judgement.  I truly cannot stand a cloudy day when I'm trying to take a photo of a bald eagle.  White skies just don't cut it.  I did see 8 in one area today, but I went ahead and went home, hoping for clearing skies later today.  These are the few that I got.......

First off this hawk.  He was more curious it seemed than anything.......notice the white, blown out sky

Then we have an ok shot, sky doesn't look as white, but still, nothing in it.  I can't stand clear skies either, need a mixture, :)

Same eagle looking at me obviously.  I like it when an eagle stares right at the camera.  Have very piercing eyes.

The shot that could've, would've, didn't.  It looks ok this small, but his head must've been moving pretty good, because his tale and talons are perfectly sharp, and the head has a lot of motion blur going on.  Still a neat shot though

Looks like the weather isn't going to cooperate for me today, so I'll just try again tomorrow, hopefully.