# Wings of Eagles



## jtee (Feb 1, 2010)

Captured these Sunday on the Mississippi River.


----------



## Antarctican (Feb 1, 2010)

Whoa! Lookit the wingspan on that one! Excellent shots, with tons of detail, good clarity, and lots of 'action'.  :thumbup:


----------



## C-Towner (Feb 1, 2010)

Wow, those are some fantastc captures of a majestic eagle! I especially like the second and last shots.


----------



## jtee (Feb 1, 2010)

Antarctican said:


> Whoa! Lookit the wingspan on that one! Excellent shots, with tons of detail, good clarity, and lots of 'action'.  :thumbup:





C-Towner said:


> Wow, those are some fantastc captures of a majestic eagle! I especially like the second and last shots.



 Thank you much guys ,yeah its pretty awesome to get these shots such power and grace.... totally unbelievable. here is another soaring shot .


----------



## Big (Feb 1, 2010)

Which one of your amazing lenses did you take that with!


----------



## jtee (Feb 1, 2010)

Big said:


> Which one of your amazing lenses did you take that with!



 LOL ..... The 500 F.4 IS USM is all thats needed..... A great piece of Glass.


----------



## Big (Feb 1, 2010)

jtee said:


> Big said:
> 
> 
> > Which one of your amazing lenses did you take that with!
> ...


Mind if I borrow it sometime?


----------



## Hardrock (Feb 1, 2010)

#2 is Amazing!


----------



## wfduncan (Feb 1, 2010)

Is it just me or are Bald eagles particularly fond of catfish?


----------



## HikinMike (Feb 1, 2010)

Nice captures!


----------



## fokker (Feb 1, 2010)

Very impressive! Even with that quality of lens it can't have been easy.


----------



## jtee (Feb 2, 2010)

Hardrock said:


> #2 is Amazing!



 Thank you  these birds are Amazing.



wfduncan said:


> Is it just me or are Bald eagles particularly fond of catfish?



 No Catfish here, either Gizzard Shad or Sheepshead or Perch depending on your locale



HikinMike said:


> Nice captures!



 Thank you Mike coming from you i appreciate that .



fokker said:


> Very impressive! Even with that quality of lens it can't have been easy.



 Thank you its a workout for sure  but well worth it when you can get decent results.


----------



## melrose09 (Feb 2, 2010)

absolutely amazing!  I'm actually looking to start photographing these birds (there are a lot of them here on Whidbey Island in WA.  Right now, I just have a kit lens, but I want to buy a lens specifically for this purpose, but my budget is under $300....any suggestions?


----------



## wfduncan (Feb 2, 2010)

Aint no sheepshead in the mississipi... unless thats a local name for something.  Or you are in the salt.   I've seen them catch flounder too.  Have you ever seen them steal from other raptors?  I saw one attack an osprey once in midair . It was really cool.


----------



## jtee (Feb 2, 2010)

melrose09 said:


> absolutely amazing!  I'm actually looking to start photographing these birds (there are a lot of them here on Whidbey Island in WA.  Right now, I just have a kit lens, but I want to buy a lens specifically for this purpose, but my budget is under $300....any suggestions?



 Wow Whidbey island would be a great location to shoot eagles. Thats gonna be kinda hard to something decent for only 300. 



wfduncan said:


> Aint no sheepshead in the mississipi... unless thats a local name for something.  Or you are in the salt.   I've seen them catch flounder too.  Have you ever seen them steal from other raptors?  I saw one attack an osprey once in midair . It was really cool.



 Well thats what the commercial fisherman call em up here and the Mississippi surely isnt salt, specially way up here in Illinois ... They do steal each others catches here and its quite fun to watch , sometimes you'll get 3 or 4 birds chasing another for its fish, I have even seen mid air collisions causing the birds to hit the water like a crashing airplane.Right now they are in their pre mating rituals which they lock Talons and tumble in the sky which is another very cool thing to watch.


----------



## Formatted (Feb 2, 2010)

Last one is a winner!


----------



## Big (Feb 2, 2010)

melrose09 said:


> absolutely amazing!  I'm actually looking to start photographing these birds (there are a lot of them here on Whidbey Island in WA.  Right now, I just have a kit lens, but I want to buy a lens specifically for this purpose, but my budget is under $300....any suggestions?


I don't think you can even get a decent kit lens for that... at least one with a focal length worthy of shooting eagles.


----------



## wfduncan (Feb 2, 2010)

Yeah I wish I had better lense.  I cant get very good pictures with my 55-200 unless I'm super sneaky.


----------



## jtee (Feb 2, 2010)

Big said:


> melrose09 said:
> 
> 
> > absolutely amazing!  I'm actually looking to start photographing these birds (there are a lot of them here on Whidbey Island in WA.  Right now, I just have a kit lens, but I want to buy a lens specifically for this purpose, but my budget is under $300....any suggestions?
> ...





wfduncan said:


> Yeah I wish I had better lense.  I cant get very good pictures with my 55-200 unless I'm super sneaky.



 Kit lenses and what Canon throws in on purchases of bodies are decent lenses but what they lack is speed they just dont focus  very fast thats what separates  these lenses from L lenses they are very expensive but worth every penny. If your serious about photography then I say get the best that you can cause thats what makes the images is the glass bodies come and go but lenses are the key .


----------



## USM IS (Feb 3, 2010)

Was gonna buy a 500 L, bought a EOS 1d Mark III, shoulda got the 500, now I'm broke.......After seeing those pics, I'm kicking myself. My Eagle pics are to far away for my 300 F2.8 L.....Keep up the fantastic work.....Mike


----------



## sabbath999 (Feb 4, 2010)

Nice. I see you are in Illinois, where you shooting at? I generally shoot my river shots at Canton, MO, which is the lock north of Quincy, IL


----------



## jtee (Feb 4, 2010)

USM IS said:


> Was gonna buy a 500 L, bought a EOS 1d Mark III, shoulda got the 500, now I'm broke.......After seeing those pics, I'm kicking myself. My Eagle pics are to far away for my 300 F2.8 L.....Keep up the fantastic work.....Mike



 Thank you Mike
 Its a big price tag but worth it , one of my fellow photog buddies had a 300MM 2.8 (which is a great lens in its own right) and he was slapping a 2X Extender on it thinking he would get great shots like the 500MM delivers , ...well he just traded his 1 year old 300MM and 1600.00$ for a 2 year old  500MM



sabbath999 said:


> Nice. I see you are in Illinois, where you shooting at? I generally shoot my river shots at Canton, MO, which is the lock north of Quincy, IL



Thank you , these shots were taken at L/D # 14 in Le Claire IA just south of  I-80 in my opinion its the best place around to photograph Eagles,its an afternoon shoot  with the best light from 1:30 till dusk.


----------



## USM IS (Feb 4, 2010)

> Thank you Mike
> Its a big price tag but worth it , one of my fellow photog buddies had a 300MM 2.8 (which is a great lens in its own right) and he was slapping a 2X Extender on it thinking he would get great shots like the 500MM delivers , ...well he just traded his 1 year old 300MM and 1600.00$ for a 2 year old  500MM
> 
> 
> ...


----------



## jtee (Feb 4, 2010)

USM IS said:


> > If I could find someone who would trade a 500mm F5.6 USM IS L, in REAL good shape,  for a EOS 1d Mark III in REAL good shape. And a LITTLE cash, I think I would be REAL tempted!!!!!!!!......Mike
> 
> 
> 
> I believe the 500MM  F 5.6 is the older version. The newer version is the F4.  Canon wont even service the older model 500's anymore ..something to think about if looking into buying one .


----------



## sparetime (Feb 5, 2010)

The 4th one is my favorite - but they are ALL beautiful - Great shots!!


----------



## TCimages (Feb 5, 2010)

these are fabulous shots, but one thing bugs me - I wish they were a little brighter.  Maybe it's just my monitor.  If they were brighter, the beautiful white feathers would pop.


----------



## jtee (Feb 5, 2010)

TCimages said:


> these are fabulous shots, but one thing bugs me - I wish they were a little brighter.  Maybe it's just my monitor.  If they were brighter, the beautiful white feathers would pop.




 Thank you ,I had to shoot these for most of the day -1 EC ,so I would not blow out the whites till later in the day then I go to either -2/3  or -1/3. I dont post High Res images on here they seem to pop a bit more in my High Res images here at home,I will look into seeing what I can do ....Thank you again.


----------



## ClarkKent (Feb 6, 2010)

Amazing.


----------



## marmots (Feb 6, 2010)

the one thing i don't like about pictures of eagles is that you can never really get a good feel for the wingspan 
i want to see  one of those next to something easy to compare it with 
i can always see a number but can't really put that into perspective


----------



## lelo (Feb 7, 2010)

i like #4,  its a great shot, keep it up


----------



## USM IS (Feb 7, 2010)

jtee said:


> USM IS said:
> 
> 
> > > If I could find someone who would trade a 500mm F5.6 USM IS L, in REAL good shape,  for a EOS 1d Mark III in REAL good shape. And a LITTLE cash, I think I would be REAL tempted!!!!!!!!......Mike
> ...


----------



## lvcrtrs (Feb 8, 2010)

Love the wing position in #4.


----------

