{"id":450,"date":"2012-11-15T16:56:14","date_gmt":"2012-11-15T23:56:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/arihazeghiphotography.com\/blog\/?p=450"},"modified":"2012-12-14T20:28:22","modified_gmt":"2012-12-15T03:28:22","slug":"bald-eagles-a-trip-to-haines-ak","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arihazeghiphotography.com\/blog\/bald-eagles-a-trip-to-haines-ak\/","title":{"rendered":"Bald eagles, a trip to Haines, AK."},"content":{"rendered":"

\nEarlier this month I flew to Alaska to photograph bald eagles with my friend Jim Neiger<\/a>, like myself Jim specializes in handhold flight photography and this was a new location and opportunity for both of us. We flew to Juneau, AK. From there we took the ferry to the small town of Haines (population about 1800). It was pretty cold up there and with the tourist season now over, there were few options for dining\/entertainment so we spent most of our relatively short daylight hours with the eagles. <\/p>\n

\"Haines,<\/a>

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View of Chilkat river valley in Alaska Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve, AK. Click to here<\/a> view the full resolution panorama (very large file). \u00a92012 Arash Hazeghi, all rights reserved.<\/div>\n

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We spent the first afternoon scouting, finding the spots which appeared to have the best angles, backgrounds and a higher chance of activity. The eagles prey on salmon in shallow water by dragging them to the river bank. The locations where the river becomes shallow and narrow are best since most salmon seem to converge and then get stock in shallow waters. We saw eagles mostly dragged dead and dying fish which require least amount of effort!<\/p>\n

It was overcast with mild rain which turned into heavier snow further down highway 7 towards the Canadian border. The overcast conditions are ideal for photographing eagles. In direct sunlight is is difficult to maintain great detail in both head whites (which is a pure white for adult birds) and the dark plumage. Furthermore, the road is located north of the river through most of the preserve this means you will be shooting against the sun if the skies are clear, it can ruin the entire shoot. Fortunately the chances of having overcast skies is much higher than clear skies during this time of the year. <\/p>\n

It is quite impressive to see an eagle up close for the first time. Thanks to plenty of salmon in the river, most eagles looked fat and happy! There were occasional skirmishes with gulls and crows but most action was later in the afternoon when the eagles would buzz each other. It is easier for larger birds to just bully the juveniles and smaller birds in order to grab their salmon as opposed to drag one out of the river. This lead to some spectacular scenes at times. <\/p>\n

\"Bald<\/a>

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Adult bald eagle with salmon. EOS 1D4 600mm f\/4.5 1\/2000sec ISO 800 handheld. Click here<\/a> to see an HD image. ©2012 Arash Hazeghi, all rights reserved.<\/div>\n

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\"Bald<\/a>

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Bald eagles calling. 1D4 840mm f\/5.6 1\/1250sec ISO 1600 handheld. \u00a92012 Arash Hazeghi, all rights reserved.<\/div>\n

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There were plenty of seagulls, magpies and crows waiting for their opportunity to grab a bite off the fresh and sometimes frozen salmon. They were quite aggressive although they would bail out quickly once the eagles were agitated too much. <\/p>\n

\"I<\/a>

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I workout! Bald eagle displaying her might to command respect from crows and gulls. 1D4 600mm f\/4 1\/1600sec ISO 1600 handheld. ©2012 Arash Hazeghi, all rights reserved.<\/div>\n

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Sometimes the eagles would grab and fly off with salmon leftovers, taking them to the trees where they can snack without having to deal with the scavengers. <\/p>\n

\"Bald<\/a>

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Bald eagle taking off with his prize. 1D4 600mm ISO 800 1\/2000sec f\/5 handheld. Click here<\/a> for an HD file. ©2012 Arash Hazeghi, all rights reserved.<\/div>\n

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Most salmon were quite large, perhaps more than 8 lbs. We saw eagles fly with parts of fish and leftovers only. <\/p>\n

\"Bald<\/a>

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Bald eagle with salmon piece. 1D4 600mm f\/4.5 1\/2000sec ISO 800 handheld. Click here<\/a> to see an HD file. \u00a92012 Arash Hazeghi, all rights reserved. <\/div>\n

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\"Bald<\/a>

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Bald eagle with salmon leftover. 1D4 600mm f\/4 1\/1600sec ISO 640 handheld. Click here<\/a> to see an HD file. \u00a92012 Arash Hazeghi, all rights reserved.<\/div>\n

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\nOne of the advantages of shooting in Haines, AK is the natural setting and ambiance. The combination of clouds, snow covered mountains as well as the trees combined with soft diffused light provides the photographer with the opportunity to depict the winter ambiance as well as the cold Alaskan landscape where eagles live. High ISO is a necessity to shoot in these environment, I was shooting at ISO 1600 most of the time. Therefore, I recommend using a pro body and a fast super-telephoto lens to handle these conditions. My EOS 1D MKIV produces very nice files up to ISO 3200, I used my processing and noise reduction flow described in my guide<\/a> to produce these images. I used EF 600mm f\/4 IS II <\/a>with and without the 1.4X Extender III for all of these photos. All of the photographs were made handheld which is essential in getting flight and action shots that happen in a split second. <\/p>\n

\"Incoming<\/a>

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Incoming bald eagle against snow covered mountains, a common feature of Alaskan landscape. 1D4, 600mm f\/4 1\/1600sec ISO 1000 handheld. \u00a92012 Arash Hazeghi, all rights reserved.<\/div>\n

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The ground is mostly covered with snow at this time of the year which is a plus for photographing eagles, the reflected light from snow provides uniform soft illumination. With proper exposure nice detail can be rendered in the darker plumage, which is often a difficult task in direct sunlight. A useful tip: Use manual exposure for best results. Especially if you are interested in photographing eagles in flight against varied backgrounds. It is best not to rely on camera’s meter since it will be fooled by the bright (snow or clouds) and the dark (mountains or trees) backgrounds as the photographer tracks the flying eagle against such backgrounds. In the former case, the eagle will be underexposed severely leaving no detail in the darks, while in the latter scenario the eagles will be overexposed with the head\/tail whites blown beyond recovery. Always check your histogram carefully and try to set the exposure accurately, with high ISOs and low light there isn’t much headroom for error. All of the photographs presented here were metered manually. <\/p>\n

\"bald<\/a>

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Bald eagle diving to attack the scavengers and reclaim his salmon. 1D4 600mm f\/4 1\/1250sec ISO 1600 handheld. (manual exposure). The reflection from the snow provides even illumination of the underwings. Click here<\/a> to see an HD file. \u00a92012 Arash Hazeghi, all rights reserved. <\/div>\n

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\"Bald<\/a>

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Bald eagle topside view. Background is the tree line and mountains. 1D4 840mm f\/5.6 1\/1600sec ISO 1000 handheld. \u00a92012 Arash Hazeghi, all rights reserved. <\/div>\n

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Juvenile eagles have darker plumage compared to the adults. They can be aged by noting the white patches that start to dominate in the head\/tail area until it becomes completely bald in adult birds. The exposure is a bit different for juveniles, remember to change your exposure if you go back and forth between adult and juvenile birds. Always watch for changing light conditions!<\/p>\n

\"Juvenile<\/a>

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Juvenile bald eagle landing. 1D4 600mm f\/4 1\/1600sec ISO 1600 handheld. \u00a92012 Arash Hazeghi, all rights reserved.<\/div>\n

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It is quite cold in the Haines valley in this season, remember to bring hand warmers so you can keep your hands warm when waiting for action. It is quite possible to miss a great frame if your fingers become numb and fail to depress the shutter button quickly. This happened to me a few times! <\/p>\n

\"Bald<\/a>

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Bald eagle against mountain and sky. 1D4 600mm f\/4 1\/1250sec ISO 1600 handheld. \u00a92012 Arash Hazeghi, all rights reserved.<\/div>\n

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Eagles stand out against the dark background nicely. <\/p>\n

\"Eagle<\/a>

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Adult bald eagle against dark background. 1D4 840mm f\/5.6 1\/1000sec ISO 800 handheld. \u00a92012 Arash Hazeghi, all rights reserved.<\/div>\n

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\"Eagle<\/a>

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Adult bald eagle after feeding on salmon. 1D4 600mm f\/4 1\/1250sec ISO 1600 handheld. \u00a92012 Arash Hazeghi, all rights reserved.<\/div>\n

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My main goal in this trip was to photograph interaction between bald eagles. Despite the abundance of salmon and relative reluctance of birds for confrontation, we did observe some spectacular scenes with multiple birds engaged in aerial chase and battles. Action usually happened later in the afternoon. Given that the effective light was gone by 3:30PM we had only a 30min window to attempt photographing the interaction. One particular interesting behavior is when an eagle buzzes another bird on the ground, either to try to bully them and claim their fish or just to play. In a split second the incoming bird extends his talons while the standing bird jumps up in the air, extending his talons in an inverted position and tries to fend off the attacker. This symmetrical position is quite impressive. Of course it is a challenge to capture this behavior as many things have to be in the right place at the same time. Most of the time the vantage point allows for eye contact from one bird only with the other facing away from the camera or in a non-ideal position. With a wingspan of more than 6ft, it is often very difficult to get both birds in sharp focus at the same time unless action happens in plane parallel to the back of the camera. The other challenge is the sheer speed of action. In fact, I observed this behavior in my finder a few times but it happened so fast that the camera’s 10fps shooting speed was not fast enough to capture the right moment. I ended up with the frames before and after the peak-of-action, which were dramatically different to what I had hoped for. After many unsuccessful trials for the reasons mentioned, I had a moment of joy and relief when I saw this frame on the cemera’s LCD. I am happy to present it to you.<\/p>\n

\"Eagle<\/a>

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Boxing, bald eagle style. Incoming bald eagle buzzes the standing bird which has turned upside down trying to use his talons to defend against the aggressor. 1D4 600mm f\/4 1\/1600sec ISO 1600 handheld. Click here<\/a> to see an HD file. \u00a92012 Arash Hazeghi, all rights reserved.<\/div>\n

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Sometimes the eagles engaged in battles even without a salmon at stake, although this was less frequent<\/p>\n

\"I

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Bald eagles, the hind bird is chasing the front bird. 1D4 600mm f\/4.5 ISO 800 1\/2000sec handheld. \u00a92012 Arash Hazeghi, all rights reserved.<\/div>\n

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\"Eagle<\/a>

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Bald eagles chasing. The eagle on the right is morphing into full adult plumage with some dark patches remaining in the head\/tail areas. 1D4 600mm f\/4 1\/1600sec ISO 2000 handheld. \u00a92012 Arash Hazeghi, all rights reserved.<\/div>\n

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During the last day of the shoot we witnessed a dramatic aerial chase between two eagles. The bird who had the fish flew with it as fast as he could while the chasing bird was able to reach him from behind and grab a chunk of his salmon in flight. I am including three frames from the action sequence, the 2nd frame was my personal favorite of the trip. I hope you enjoy these images. <\/p>\n

\"Aerial<\/a>

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Bald eagle aerial battle. The holder doesn’t want to lose his salmon. 1D4 600mm f\/4 1\/1250sec ISO 1600 handheld. \u00a92012 Arash Hazeghi, all rights reserved.<\/div>\n

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\"Combat<\/a>

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Combat in the skies, Bald eagles are battling over salmon in mid air at high speed. The holder tries to fly as fast as they can to save the fish, the aggressor has to fly faster snatching the fish from behind and then dive below the holder. 1D4 600mm f\/4 1\/1250sec ISO 1600 handheld. Click here<\/a> to see an HD file. \u00a92012 Arash Hazeghi, all rights reserved. <\/div>\n

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\"Combat<\/a>

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Bald eagles aerial battle, neither eagle can let go of salmon. 1D4 600mm f\/4 1\/1250sec ISO 1600 handheld. \u00a92012 Arash Hazeghi, all rights reserved.<\/div>\n

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I hope you have enjoyed viewing the photos, if you would like to see more please visit the bald eagle gallery<\/a> on my website. Please check back for more news, stories, tips and equipment reviews. <\/p>\n

< < Previous Page<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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