Best places to photograph bald eagles?
- Thread starter Dylan777
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Eagles congregate where there is food. We even had a bunch in town this year (Northern Colorado). Not very scenic but less than a mile away from work so I could go out at lunch. The larger population visits a nearby reservoir every year.
Lakes in northern Idaho are a popular spot. And very scenic. I visit Coeur d'Alene in summers when osprey are nesting but have wanted to go back in winter for the eagle watch. Here's a few recent items from a search for "eagle watch idaho".
http://www.blm.gov/id/st/en/environmental_education/BLM-Idaho_nature/Mineral_Ridge-_Wolf_Lodge_Bay.html
http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2014/dec/19/bald-eagles-crowd-lake-pend-oreille/
Lakes in northern Idaho are a popular spot. And very scenic. I visit Coeur d'Alene in summers when osprey are nesting but have wanted to go back in winter for the eagle watch. Here's a few recent items from a search for "eagle watch idaho".
http://www.blm.gov/id/st/en/environmental_education/BLM-Idaho_nature/Mineral_Ridge-_Wolf_Lodge_Bay.html
http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2014/dec/19/bald-eagles-crowd-lake-pend-oreille/
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Not in the lower 48, but closer than Alaska. The World Eagle Capital Brackendale, BC
http://www.venturevancouver.com/brackendale-eagle-viewing-squamish
http://www.venturevancouver.com/brackendale-eagle-viewing-squamish
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If you can get to Haines, Alaska, there is the Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve. I had the chance some years ago to visit. There were literally hundreds of birds everywhere I looked. Some day I'll go back with something better than the 110 film camera I had at the time (told you it was a while back :
). We were there in July.
). We were there in July.
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There are huge numbers in the Spokane area, we have to watch out for them, they like to sit in a nearby tree and eye our chickens. We lost a chicken earlier this year.
Osprey are even more common. Tall poles with nesting platforms are commonly put up to keep them off the power poles. Coeur d'Alene, Idaho ID is just a few miles away, and they gather there to feast on fish runs in the winter.
I tried to capture one that was in the top of a nearby tree with a SX-50 in January, but it definitely a challenge for that camera.
Here is one of the poles with some Osprey Chicks on it next to a Costco parking lot in Spokane.
Osprey are even more common. Tall poles with nesting platforms are commonly put up to keep them off the power poles. Coeur d'Alene, Idaho ID is just a few miles away, and they gather there to feast on fish runs in the winter.
I tried to capture one that was in the top of a nearby tree with a SX-50 in January, but it definitely a challenge for that camera.
Here is one of the poles with some Osprey Chicks on it next to a Costco parking lot in Spokane.
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Talking to a fellow photographer who told me about Le Claire, Iowa being a great area to photograph eagles. Around January and February is the best time to check them out. Just watch out for your fellow photographer...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4rdIYJmJfY
*Don't know if you can embed a video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4rdIYJmJfY
*Don't know if you can embed a video.
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The general answer to your question is the northern Pacific coast. I have never been to Alaska, but from what I hear they have very high populations. I live in the Pacific NW, near Seattle, and they are very common for us. The real question you need to ask, however, is when. While I can photograph eagles easily year round, if I truly want an interesting shot - of an eagle fishing - then I need to photograph at the Nooksack river at the end of December. This is when they release the salmon. Basically many eagles follow the salmon on the way down - so for example a colleague of mine photographs them a few months later in northern California. There are great places to view the feeding not only on the Noosack in late December, but in BC, Oregon, and California at other times.
If you really want to photograph eagles, plan to meet them at ones of these places + times but definitely do not plan on being alone. At other times of the year we have eagles - especially at Magnuson and Lake Union parks in Seattle and even more around the Skagit lowlands - but it is much tougher for an interesting shot.
The following are some shots taken this December.
Perched by CalevPhoto, on Flickr
Guardian by CalevPhoto, on Flickr
He's...Safe! by CalevPhoto, on Flickr
Eagle Caucus by CalevPhoto, on Flickr
If you really want to photograph eagles, plan to meet them at ones of these places + times but definitely do not plan on being alone. At other times of the year we have eagles - especially at Magnuson and Lake Union parks in Seattle and even more around the Skagit lowlands - but it is much tougher for an interesting shot.
The following are some shots taken this December.
Perched by CalevPhoto, on FlickrGuardian by CalevPhoto, on FlickrHe's...Safe! by CalevPhoto, on FlickrEagle Caucus by CalevPhoto, on Flickr
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We have some Ospreys that I see every time I drive into Spokane. They have build a fabulous nest right into the top of a big transmission line tower. They moved the nest from a adjacent tower about 10 years ago, the new one is at least 5 ft deep, and being braced by the tower structure has withstood even the toronado like winds we had last fall that caused huge amounts of damage in the area. They do understand how to build!
I've never photographed the tower. It is very high, and I suspect that even 1200mm is not enough to get a good image without cropping to nothing. Its just off the road, or it looks that way, I might try this week. Some days, the parents are sitting on the tower, and occasionally hunting nearby.
Eagles seem to be everywhere, but, as noted, they congregate along rivers in the winter when large fish are moving up rivers to spawn. I'm getting old, and suffer from the cold, so I have become a fair weather photographer.
I've never photographed the tower. It is very high, and I suspect that even 1200mm is not enough to get a good image without cropping to nothing. Its just off the road, or it looks that way, I might try this week. Some days, the parents are sitting on the tower, and occasionally hunting nearby.
Eagles seem to be everywhere, but, as noted, they congregate along rivers in the winter when large fish are moving up rivers to spawn. I'm getting old, and suffer from the cold, so I have become a fair weather photographer.
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Seabeck, WA if you are in the area. Great background with the Olympic Mountains. Always see a few big white teles shooting as well. I once saw 12 in a tree near there. They all took off at once and showered crap all over the place. It was like an explosion of feces.
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when it gets very cold the midwest freezes and lots of eagle congregate around the lock and dams along the Mississippi.
Probably not the "best" place to shoot, but if you are in the area, this is a good place
Probably not the "best" place to shoot, but if you are in the area, this is a good place
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Alaska is better, but if you live in the Midwest, there are plenty. Bald eagles strongly prefer fish, and are to be found near water. They are opportunists. You can spot them in winter, anywhere along the upper Mississippi River just south of a dam - fish are dazed by the massive turbulence in the dam gate, and are easy to catch when they emerge on the downstream side. Imagine being inside a front-load washing machine - that's what the fish experience. The further north, the better, but we do see small numbers of eagles around the St. Louis-area locks and dams. I enjoyed watching about a dozen eagles congregating on a dead tree just south of the Winfield MO Mississippi River dam.
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A good spot on the east coast is Conowingo Dam in NE Maryland, about 80 miles north of Washington D.C. Eagles congregate there between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day. The birds do a lot of fishing and fighting over the water and the eagles eat their catch in trees right in the parking lot, so closeups are easy to get. Most of the activity is in the early morning until around noon, so you can make an easy half day trip of it and have the rest of the day for other sightseeing.
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Wisconsin is a great place to get eagle pics. We have residents here all year but in winter the birds from the north move as far south as they need to find open water which is below the hydro dams on the Wisconsin and Mississippi rivers.
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Dylan777 said:Hi guys,
Been talking with few friends about photographing bald eagles. Any good suggestion on locations, seasons and tour with the pros etc....? We prefer within US and no zoo
Thanks in advance
Dylan
Start a quest to save Middle Earth and when you're severely outnumbered and about to die, make sure to whip out your camera.
Looking like an ancient grey wizard also helps, as they seem to turn up with increasing frequency in the presence of those characters and may even respond to voice commands if they mistake you for one.
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