Posted January 6th, 2013

Portrait of a Young Eagle

In the Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve at Haines, Alaska the birds are quite accustomed to having groups of humans milling around, photographing and gawking at them and generally they seem comfortable in fairly close proximity to us. That often is especially true of juvenile eagles, perhaps the avian equivalent of fearless teens. This immature bald eagle alit low on the propped up trunk of a fallen tree almost right beside us and tolerated even closer approach by a procession of photographers. With a long lens on my camera, it was an opportunity to get some great head shots like this one. The ice clinging to the down on the eagle's head helped make it worth being out there working the camera on this cold November day.
Pentax K-5, Sigma 150-500mm f/5-6.3 APO DG OS HSM @ 500mm, 1/125sec @ f/8, ISO 800