Bald Eagle on Nest

Traveling by boat along the shoreline of Katmai National Park reveals the wild landscape and the creatures that live in this wilderness.  One never tires of the raw beauty of this locale.  

Eagles are common to the area and many nests are seen.  In many treeless areas, eagles build nests on the ground instead of in trees. From a vantage point where we were photographing a bear, we spotted an eagle nest where a pair of eagles tended their fledglings. We repositioned the boat and shot from the deck without disturbing the birds.

It was a dark day and not only did I want a shutter speed of 1/1000 of a second to stop action I also needed depth of field because at times I had two adult eagles in the frame.  I set my lens to F14 which gave me an ISO of 5000.  I knew I was pushing the limits with the high ISO and F-stop but the images turned out well. Due to some noise, this image probably isn’t one I would print oversized for the wall but something I can share and use in my photo books.

This image is a good example of what can be seen and photographed along the Katmai coast.  Bears, whales, seals, sea otters, puffins, and eagles, the whole ecosystem of coastal Alaska.

Embrace the journey!