Two hours and three rolls of film later the excitement still had not abated. After just barely missing the poor seagull on the previous page baby's courage and stealth seemed to grow boundlessly. He flew once more over the beach and down over the waterline, scattering gulls and crows in his path. I had run down the beach a bit, and back now, to try to stay directly in his path. My scurrying paid off, as baby banked and started to return to his tree.
Not bothering to fly high as his parents do, he was directly overhead, and when I saw him coming I knelt down on the sand in order to keep the camera as steady as possible.
*snap* *snap* *snap*
Three shots later this is what I had.
Is it just me or does he look pissed off in the first one? haha
The second one gives me chills, for it's clarity and closeness. I have an 8x10 on my wall and it's pretty fantastic.
Now, this last one, unfortunately, is not great. I would have liked to have used my regular lens instead of the zoom (75 - 300mm) but, of course, there was no time to switch. But for this shot, I have to say, that I am POSITIVE that if I had stood up instead of staying down on one knee, the thing would have flown into my head. I kid you not. That's why it's out of focus, baby was too close to my lens.
My dissatisfaction is boundless. (I kid).
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At this stage my eagles left. It was almost September and they go for a couple of months to gorge on salmon, possibly up the Indian Arm, likely to Squamish. Later on the day of the previous page I thought I was actually losing my mind because I could hear baby calling. Now, I live close to the beach but not THAT close! I finally saw him, and mama, way way WAY up in the sky, above my favourite sand bar. He was calling and calling, but differently . . . eeeeeEEEEEeeee, eeeEEEEEEEEeee, circling with mama. Way too far up to photograph.
After that I didn't see my eagles for a couple of months, and baby not at all. Because when they came back they didn't bring him. They ditched him somewhere in the bush, where he is now making a life for himself.
