I was recently in Southwest Alaska scouting a location and also doing a corporate photo shoot. I saw this bald eagle on this grassy perch shortly after I first arrived. I was ECSTATIC that it was in the fireweed and the fireweed were at their peak color. Too cool!! When I first arrive and approached, the bird stayed for a decent amount of time. But me, not being prepared had to fumble with my gear long enough that it got impatient and flew off. Lesson learned AGAIN… go into it prepared to shoot! I got no photo, but I could tell, from the worn grass that it looked like the eagle used this perch a lot. Over the next 5 hours I came back to the same place 4 more times as I explored the countryside, hoping it would be back. I saw the bird, but it was in a different location further away and not in fireweed. As it got later in the day, on my fifth trip back to this spot, there it was. Perfect. I was ready this time with a Canon 7D Mark II with a 100-400mm f 4/5.6 lens. My first vantage point proved to be not so good, in that the eagle was hid by one of the stalks of Fireweed when it moved it’s head to the left. I did not want to make any sudden moves, so I slowly moved just 5 feet to my left and got down about 3 feet lower. I did not take the time to fumble or make noise with a tripod. Shot this handheld at 400mm (effective 640mm on the 1.6 crop sensor), ISO 800 at f5.6 1/2000th second. I’m thinking maybe 2018 Calendar?
