White tailed eagle - Haliaeetus albicilla
Canon 100-400mm @ 400mm f5.6 for 1/800th @ iso800
I was at the kitchen sink putting water into the kettle for a cup of coffee when a large bird accompanied by several noisy gulls caught my attention out of the window. Out at the end of the field that borders the house and Loch was the unmistakable shape and size of a White tailed eagle being mobbed by a couple of gulls.
Coffee put on hold I thought I would wander down the beach more in hope that the eagle would come back the way it had flown, following the line of gorse bushes which I have seen them do on previous occasions. Grabbing the camera with the 100-400mm lens in the expectation of a potential flight shot, Tom and I wandered along the shingle beach - there was no rush for us as I had made the assumption that the bird had flown on up the Loch as the gulls were now silent and there was no sign of the eagle.
We reached the end of the beach and the left turn taking us North, where the beach continues for a short distance before ending in a large inlet.
There on the remains of an old ship now well rotted, sat the eagle - it was too far back to the house and too much of a risk to go back for the 800mm which would have been perfect for this situation, but how long would the Eagle stay there - so it was the 400mm or nothing.
I took a few shots the eagle was not phased as the Canon 1DX rattled off frames, it was not inclined to move nor did it seem bothered by our presence.
We closed the gap between ourselves and the bird taking a few shots each time we moved. The photo is at 400mm and was as close as we got - Tom using his best 8 year old stealth mode !
Whilst I / we considered our next course of action in terms of getting that bit closer a combination of perhaps us or a lone gull who had decided to dive bomb the eagle, the bird lazily stretched its wings flew past us back the way we had just walked and went off to perch in trees alongside the road of the Loch and that was the last time we saw it that day.
I was at the kitchen sink putting water into the kettle for a cup of coffee when a large bird accompanied by several noisy gulls caught my attention out of the window. Out at the end of the field that borders the house and Loch was the unmistakable shape and size of a White tailed eagle being mobbed by a couple of gulls.
Coffee put on hold I thought I would wander down the beach more in hope that the eagle would come back the way it had flown, following the line of gorse bushes which I have seen them do on previous occasions. Grabbing the camera with the 100-400mm lens in the expectation of a potential flight shot, Tom and I wandered along the shingle beach - there was no rush for us as I had made the assumption that the bird had flown on up the Loch as the gulls were now silent and there was no sign of the eagle.
We reached the end of the beach and the left turn taking us North, where the beach continues for a short distance before ending in a large inlet.
There on the remains of an old ship now well rotted, sat the eagle - it was too far back to the house and too much of a risk to go back for the 800mm which would have been perfect for this situation, but how long would the Eagle stay there - so it was the 400mm or nothing.
I took a few shots the eagle was not phased as the Canon 1DX rattled off frames, it was not inclined to move nor did it seem bothered by our presence.
We closed the gap between ourselves and the bird taking a few shots each time we moved. The photo is at 400mm and was as close as we got - Tom using his best 8 year old stealth mode !
Whilst I / we considered our next course of action in terms of getting that bit closer a combination of perhaps us or a lone gull who had decided to dive bomb the eagle, the bird lazily stretched its wings flew past us back the way we had just walked and went off to perch in trees alongside the road of the Loch and that was the last time we saw it that day.