THE YOUNG BALD EAGLE AND OTHER PHOTOS

click photos to enlarge


I am still experiencing some computer difficulties since the recovery from a bad virus that actually took over the computer.  Things are coming along nicely though and the blog will go on.


Today was hot!  High humidity combined with the heat made it a difficult time to be on the water.  The fishermen viewed it the same as I did because I only saw four boats in the area all day.  I'm glad I took the camera with me to take up the slack time.  I had seen the juvenile bald eagle every day for the past three days and I figured him out.  An educated guess about where he would be, based upon past experience with him, lead me to the opposite shoreline directly from my present position on the lake.  It was a good guess because he was perched high in a tree along the shoreline.  The boat was pointing directly toward him.  I cut the clanky engine and drifted slowly toward him.  The results are below:

I may have said previously that this eagle was probably 3 to 4 years old. I'll have to back off on that statement after getting a close look at him. I believe he's probably 2 to 2 1/2 years of age judging from the amount of solid black that remains on his plumage.

He grew tired of messing around with me and exited stage right. A 25 mile per hour wind was blowing and the young eagle flew straight into it and the power of his wings drove him forward without the slightest difficulty. What power he has!

I wasn't looking for ospreys as I already have a million pictures of them.  I would, however, like to photograph them hunting.  The osprey below just happened to show up and I took advantage of the privilege.

Ospreys always make a monumental production out of their leaps into flight.  Hollywood could never out-do their spectacular display of enthusiasm for boldly launching into space.

As I said earlier - I wasn't serious about photography today and just took advantage of any shot that made itself available.  A small deer walked slowly along the water.  Got him!

I had been on the water for four hours and a low back pain was setting in.  I needed to walk around on land for a while.  After beaching the boat I noticed the little rascal below creeping out onto a rock.  The following shots were accomplished with the 500 mm lens from the deck of the boat.  That little guy wouldn't sit still for macro photography under any circumstance.  I think the big lens did fairly well.

He is a 5 lined skink.  They are common in the forests of Tennessee and thrive anywhere there is moist vegetation and rotting wood.  A unique feature of this skink is that his tail is designed to break off if he is picked up by a predator.  The predator gets the tail while the skink scampers off at top speed to safety under a log or rock.  The tail will grow back rapidly.

I had a lot more photos but its taking forever to upload them.  I have posted these photos in a larger density format than usual and I think I'll revert back to my old methods.  Photography is fun and I love photographing wild creatures.  I like to develope methods of approaching them and entering their space without disturbing them.  Its an interesting vocation.  Hope you liked this post.  We'll see what tomorrow brings.