Sunday Eagle
On Sunday morning we saw a bald eagle fly across the marsh and land in a pine tree in the distance. We had a general idea of where he’d gone and decided to see if we could find the exact tree so we could set up nearby in hopes of getting a flight shot if he took off. Well…we managed to locate the eagle and had a pretty good vantage point for taking photos. At one point he seemed to be calling for one of his friends, but…no one showed up. This may have given him the idea to go off in search of his friend because he abruptly left the pine tree and took a low swoop right at us and almost directly over my head! What an amazing sight on a beautiful Sunday morning!
Phil Lanoue Photography 
Awesome. The photo sequence made me feel that I was there.
Hey glad you enjoyed the bald eagle photos!
Wow – those are amazing shots!!!
I appreciate you checking these out and I’m happy you liked them! 🙂
Oh, Phil, you outdid yourself on these! How fantastic it must feel to have him flying right at you and to also get great shots of the action!! I’m quite impressed!
Wow Molly, thank you very much for the kind complements. We had fun watching this guy and I’m glad you like the photos!
It looks like this eagle’s head has not yet turned completely white so I am thinking maybe a fourth year bird?
Thanks as always for looking!
What an amazing shot, just as the eagle takes flight. Fabulous photographs Phil but number four is just stunning! 🙂
Hey thanks a bunch for looking and I’m so happy you enjoyed the eagle pics!
Amazing shots Phil.
Thanks very much Jan!
I just kept scrolling up and down. These are too amazing, Phil. I love the next to the last one……… a feathered plane with the landing gear neatly tucked away. 🙂
Thank you for the very nice words Sylvia and I always truly appreciate your visits! 🙂
And the eagles sure do tuck away those skyhooks when flying don’t they?!
Really a majestic bird. The fourth pic is absolutely fantastic.
Thanks very much, glad you especially liked pic #4!
What a magnificent fellow!
Thanks, glad you liked the baldy!
Phil, you knocked it out of the park with this series! Holy cow!
Well I appreciate the kind comment, thanks!
wow cool an eagle taking off and flying on voting day that made me smile real big
Glad that made you smile, gotta love the bald eagle!
These are fantastic Phil ! What were your camera settings on this series..lens? Funny as I had Bald Eagles on my mind today. Planning on heading up to Conowingo Dam soon to see the huge gathering of balds there.
Thanks a million Bella, so happy you like the baldy shots!
I was shooting in all manual and switching settings from the stationary with a slower shutter speed, to anticipation of flight where I upped the shutter to 800-1000 and the ISO.
I had on a Canon 300 4 with a 1.4 extender making it a 420.
Best of luck on your bald eagle trip, hope you see many and get terrific shots. We feel fortunate to see one or two on occassion.
Last year I went just one morning and there were 50 balds young and old alike. Plenty of GBH as well. I’m so excited. I’ll take my 100-400mm. I’m assuming you had the lens wide open? You would be in bald heaven if you visited Conowingo
For the shots where the eagle was jumping off the branch I had the lens at f8 to get more DOF.
I actually rarely shoot wide open. I’m mostly at 6.3 or 7.1. I like the images a bit more fluffy if possible.
Ahh..the true secret of a superb bird photographer. Thank you so much ! I do see that the pics are softer wide open and finding 7.1 a sweet place to be.
Phil your shots are breath taking, you’re very fortunate to have seen one of these majestic birds.
Thank you Katie! I continue to be thrilled at every eagle sighting. Even when no pics are possible they are always a treat to see!
Your work is amazing, Phil. As another poster stated, I felt Like I was there with you looking at these. I have seen a pair of eagles at HBSP and I bet this is one of that pair. I just could not get shots like these!
Thanks very much for your visit here and kind words Patricia! I’m very happy that you enjoyed these eagle photos!
Oh my word, he is beautiful and so very majestic too 🙂
*Hugs*
Well I’m very happy you like the eagle!
Great series
Thanks for looking I appreciate it.
Phil—what a great series and a thrilling moment to cap it off. Bald Eagles are special — you did a great job with this.
Hopefully ours will return come December, until then I’ll just keep enjoying yours.
Thanks very much Larry for checking out these eagle photos and I’m so glad you like them. It is always a thrill to see these wonderful birds and I never grow tired of seeing and hopefully photographing them.
Just amazing… And WHAT a close-up!!! Such amazing raptors. How lucky for you to even spy one, let alone capture such wonderful portraits.
Thank you so much! I feel exactly that way, I do feel quite fortunate to have an opportunity to view and photograph a terrific bird such as this eagle! Thanks for looking!
WOW!!!!!! Awesome shots Phil…
Thanks Coreen I appreciate it!
I seem to have arrived a bit late to come up with anything original to add to the previous comments, but this series is truly spectacular. Utterly incredible and Wow and all the rest of the superlatives…. I don’t even miss the alligators. 😉
Thanks a million for your very kind comments about the eagle photos Gunta! So glad you enjoyed seeing them.
Oh, and we got alligators! 😀
Absolutely incredible!
Thanks very much for checking these out Jen! 😀
Cool Photo Op. Great close up shots and tree shots! :+) I’m very good at panicking when I see an eagle too excited to get a decent photo.
Ha, I can’t believe you mentioned that about getting excited and missing eagle pics. That has happened to me on several occassions. 😯 Glad you liked these!
I think that is one of the challenges of wildlife photography is keeping your cool becaue a lot of the time the window of opprotunity is so small and a moving eagle I know is a tough one! :+) A slow moose is a lot easier. :+)
Sometimes after a few hours of tracking small, fast flying birds, I believe I would really enjoy a nice big, slow moose. 😀 Guess the next closest thing we have is a fat alligator. 😛 🙂
Funny :+) Yes it is a true art ,being able to photograph birds. Navar and I were just out taking photos 8* degrees out this morning, very cold. I was taking some photo’s of old farm machines and trucks in the snow. A large flock of geese flew over me I quickly tried to get a photo at that point my hand was freezing from being out of the glove taking pictures. The photo looked like a group of small dots! :+) Oh well. I’m glad you take such wonderful bird photos so that I can enjoy them on your blog!
WOW! I felt his wings above my head 🙂 amazing shots. Thank you, dear Phil. Love, nia
Thank you so much Nia, I am happy you enjoyed these photos!
Fabulous shots (and story), as usual, Phil! I find myself downright excited to be seeing a red-breasted nuthatch numerous times this week (I hadn’t seen these guys before) – and it’s aaaalmost as satisfying to see these magnificent photos of this magnificent eagle. Have a great weekend.
Hi Sid, thanks very much for looking at these eagle photos and I’m glad you enjoyed them! I’m happy that you are seeing some interesting birds in your area. We had red headed woodpeckers in our area for months but they have apparently all moved on. Guess I will have to continue to stalk the herons. 😀
Hi Phil and Alyce – Well, once again, you outdid yourself!! AWESOME PICS!! I’m telling you, I need to stalk you the next time you go to Huntington!! LOL!! You definitely need to ‘watermark’ your pics so no one claims them as their own!! Anyways, again FANTASTIC pics!!
On another note…Ralph retired and is here full-time. We definitely should plan for the four of us to get together. Tell Alyce I will be in touch!!
Thanks for sharing your beautiful pics with us!!
Chat again!!
Hey great hearing from you Connie and thanks much for your visit here and your very kind comments! I’m glad you enjoyed these eagle photos, it’s always a treat for us to see such a cool bird.
Hope you have a terrific weekend and talk soon! 😀
I love how his feet are tucked up so neatly right against his tail 🙂
Yes they have the feet tucked back method perfected! They can be *very* high flyers too. 🙂
Great shots and very cool! We have bald eagles here, but I’ve never been able to see one in the wild this close, even with a zoom lens.
We got kind of lucky this time finding it in a tree where we could get a halfway decent look at it.
Thanks very much for your kind comments!