-21 Centigrade this morning and I'm out watching eagles. Couldn't I pick a
warmer morning?
Yes, folks, it's that time of year again. I've moved to another state, but
the eagles are present here too. I went down to the Red Rock Dam this
morning at Pella, Iowa to photograph eagles. One tree alone had over forty
eagles perched in it. I shot a roll of Tri-X and was greated with a
fantastic sunrise. The mist rising off the river turned red with the sun's
first light and the eagles and seagulls (cats with wings) wheeled and
glided their way over the turmult of water, waves and fishes.
My lone presence instigated a caution among the wary birds and they seemed
content to wait for my eventual departure from the riverbank. Didn't take
too long--my feet, although shod with multiple layers of thermal protection
urged me to direct my steps toward the nearby restroom for a brief moment
of comfort.
Eventually, the OM-1, winder and 200mm lens became cold soaked and proved
rather numbing to hold despite the dual layers of gloves. This reminder
that my ski gloves are getting old was somewhat offset by the warmth
generated by my new winter coat. Once in a while I'd make the mistake of
breathing. I was wearing a scarf across my face and my breath would take
more than a few seconds to escape the synthetic wool (comes from faux sheep
grazed on BLM land, of course) which proceeded to fog the viewfinder.
Grrr. Nothing that a swipe from a bared finger didn't take care of, but it
did mean additional movements to make the flying creatures wary. A set of
freshly charged nicads kept the winder grinding away at maximum throughput.
The focusing of my lens got pretty stiff and it was getting harder to
track the birds so I headed back to the Jeep (manditory S*V content) and
thawed out.
The majority of the eagles at Red Rock were males. I did see a few
females, bit interestingly enough, 750f them were male. I went up and
down the river a kilometer or two and didn't do a headcount but would
estimate that there were over 100 eagles this morning. I'm told that this
small stretch of river had 200-300 last year. Can you get close? I did my
shots with a 200mm lens handheld and tracked a couple eagles close enough
that they were nearly frame filling. While perched, you can approach in
your vehicle (on the campground roads) to within 20-30 meters.
I'll return there (25 minutes away) a couple times this winter, but I
should use a blind (hide) as there is a couple terrific spots on the
narrowest, most active stretch of water to photograph from, but the eagles
are a little timid of a human standing there with this shoulderstock thing
aimed at them. The river at that point, right off the tailwater is about
50 meters across.
Oh, and upcoming travel plans for those potentially in the areas wishing
for face-to-face olylist contact: Bend, Oregon--December 28-30 (maybe, Y2K
emergency fixit trip isn't finalized yet), Oxford, Mississippi--Jan 3-7.
Ken Norton
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