Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve - Part 6
/Here I present more photos from the November 2017 trip to Haines Alaska and the nearby Alaska Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve. The Chilkat Preserve is the site of the largest concentration of Bald Eagles in the world. They gather here to feed on chum salmon when they make their late spawning run from November through January.
This is yet another eagle flight sequence. It is not a landing sequence because I did not capture the talons touching the ground or a perch. I will call it a descending sequence with 7 frames.
Click on the images to see a larger version.
Bald Eagle, Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve near Haines, AK - Nov. 2017
Nikon D500 and 500mm f/4 lens
1/2000 sec at f/5.6, ISO 1600
The light was dim and relatively high ISOs were required to allow shutter speeds that would freeze the motion. Some sharpness of the images was lost when I made adjustments to reduce the color and luminosity noise.
Bald Eagle, Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve near Haines, AK - Nov. 2017
Nikon D500 and 500mm f/4 lens
1/2000 sec at f/5.6, ISO 1600
I was shooting in manual mode (I selected shutter speed and aperture) with auto ISO activated. The camera selected the ISO setting within limits that I chose. Note that ISO was changing even during the burst of 7 shots at 10 frames per second.
Bald Eagle, Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve near Haines, AK - Nov. 2017
Nikon D500 and 500mm f/4 lens
1/2000 sec at f/5.6, ISO 1800
One day we met Joe Ordonez (photographer, local guide and naturalist, and author of Where Eagles Gather, the Story of the Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve). I purchased his book after the trip. The book provides lots of information about how the Preserve was established, the geographical features of the area and the wildlife that visits or lives in the Preserve. A factoid from the book: "One study counted 7,192 feathers on a single bald eagle."
Bald Eagle, Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve near Haines, AK - Nov. 2017
Nikon D500 and 500mm f/4 lens
1/2000 sec at f/5.6, ISO 1800
Another quote from Where Eagles Gather by Joe Ordonez - "Only 1 in 10 eaglets that leave the nest in September will survive the 5 years required to attain adult plumage."
Bald Eagle, Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve near Haines, AK - Nov. 2017
Nikon D500 and 500mm f/4 lens
1/2000 sec at f/5.6, ISO 2200
Bald Eagle, Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve near Haines, AK - Nov. 2017
Nikon D500 and 500mm f/4 lens
1/2000 sec at f/5.6, ISO 2500
I added a little canvas at the bottom of this image. Out of the camera the tail feathers were almost touching the bottom edge of the frame. This is almost too easy to do using "content aware" autofill in Photoshop. It is tempting to make similar modifications on images that are just O.K. but I try to avoid doing so in order to claim that this is my photo rather than Adobe's. As more artificial intelligence is build into camera software, the engineers may have a legitimate claim to share the copyright of images!
Bald Eagle, Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve near Haines, AK - Nov. 2017