Shooting Eagles

[grizz1]

Been having Eagles come into my back yard the last week, most seen so far has been 5. I have not been able to get a real good shot yet, I've tried several methods, so far I declare they are hard to approach as my birds seem to be very wild. There is always something wrong with the setup and once they see me they won't return for about 2 hours but stay out in the tree tops in the ditch and watch my house from a safe distance. Shooting Eagles is proving to be a challenge but kind of fun.

[4Pointer]

WoW ,, Great pic's Steve ,,Only seen 2 birds in this area about 8 years ago ,, Keep them pic's coming ,,

[Kt29]

Having those eagles in your back yard Steve, is pretty darn nice. That would be fun for sure to hunt them with the canon. There is sure alot to learn about wildlife photography. Like you, it is a fun learning process though. A couple of your pics didn't come out to bad. To bad the one flying hadn't achieved better focus. That would have been a super shot. Birds in flight has pretty much eluded me so far. Haven't quite got the hang of keeping them in focus. Keep up the picture taking of those eagles. Hope they hangout there awhile yet. I get an occasional fly over, but nothing stopping.

[grizz1]

Here is another example of what I've been up against with the Eagles, another poor picture, just shoot as fast as possible to prove I saw something but not a good result.
I have a rib cage from a deer that they are coming to and I try to wait in the house until they show up then make my move around the garage. When I tried making my move on this Eagle on this day there were 2 Hawks, 4 Crows and 8 Turkey gobblers all in the same area, too many great eyes watching out for one another. Turned out I did not get a decent pic at all of any thing except a wood pecker later. Wow, I'm quite the big game hunter.
Forgot to say that this pic was in fog, thought that would be good with no glare, but the big lens shows big fog.

Terry, I know you know what I'm at least trying to do and here is what happens to me with the big lens. The birds in flight are hard to keep in the view finder at 500mm, hard to keep the auto focus on them so if I go manual this they are hard to keep up with so I'm practicing my technique and have none so far. My need for eye glasses for somethings is a problem as I do not need them for distance, so far it has been an uphill struggle to deal with my eye sight, focusing, keeping on the birds and having the right light as it too changes against the background in seconds. Sometimes I think I'm in focus only to find I was wrong when I get the pics onto the computer. Oh well, I'm going to keep shooting the Canon, it is too much fun to give up now.

[Kt29]

Thats pretty fun Steve to have all those critters around the ribcage. I think I would go crazy trying to figure out what to take a pic of.
I feel your pain about being able to focus on birds in flight. I tried the manuel focus route also. Besides being a real hassle, wasn't anymore effective. Since that I've got into trying the backbutton focusing in AI Servo mode with manuel control. With some practice, it has made focusing alittle easier, but still light years away from what the big boys are able to do. Everyone says practice, practice, practice, and in this situation it is most appropriate. Juct keep hanging in there. Hopefully someday it will all come together for us. Those eagle still hanging around?

[grizz1]

Well the Eagles have picked the ribs clean and have moved onto the Ranch across the road, they have a new and larger food supply. They are staying North of my house for some reason and fly over of a morning, they go by very fast unless facing a wind then they circle high in the air working their way South. I can go after them on the Ranch, waiting for a good time. If they hang around all winter I may set up a blind and try that. There is a 600 acre Lake a mile South of me too, they like sitting around it in tree tops but are even harder to get close to.