The snowfall has not kindly aligned with the weekends this winter, so I have not had a chance to get out with my camera while the snow is falling. This weekend proved to be no different. Then again, it was sunny (which is a rarity) so I decided to take advantage and try something a little different: creating images of bald eagles at Onondaga Lake.
Last year, I took the kids to the parking lot at Destiny mall so they could have a chance to see a few in the trees. We also walked along Onondaga Creek and had a chance to watch one eat a fish in a tree across the creek. It wasn’t terribly close, but the kids got to watch the eagle with their binoculars and had fun doing so.
This year, I had read that the creekwalk was open (last year, the shore of the lake was closed off due to construction), but – instead – I decided to walk to the pedestrian bridge further south, where I had read there were some very nice opportunities to see the birds in flight.
The view of the lake from the bridge was very nice and I could see a considerable distance. It seems that my location was a better elevation for birds in flight, but a little farther away from their primary feeding zone. The bridge is also best suited for evening light as the sun was setting at my back when I was looking at the lake. In contrast, the creekwalk seems that it would be best suited for the mornings and if someone has hopes of seeing the eagles fishing in the water.
I have read reports that count 50 different eagles at the lake at any given time, but I never saw more than 5 at once.
Even so, there were 3 occasions when an eagle flew close enough for me to have a chance of capturing a decent image.
After trying to use the continuous focus on the camera for the first eagle that flew by, I quickly abandoned the camera’s auto-focus for manual focus. I spent another 45 minutes practicing my manual focus technique on any birds that would fly by including …
… geese …
… crows …
… and ducks.
And don’t mistake me, my hit rate was still less than 50%, but it remained an improvement from the near 0% success rate that I experienced with the poor continuous auto-focus and slow glass on my camera (my EM5mii with the cheap 75-300mm is not exactly a birder’s dream kit).
And while the skies were clear and the sun was shining, the air was certainly cold. The temps were only in the mid-20s and wind gusts were bringing the windchill temperatures to less than 10 degrees, so it proved to be a cold wait while I wondered if any of the more photogenic birds were ever going to fly my way. Lucky for me, 2 of them did, and I was able to create a few images that were satisfying to me:
After the above juvenile flew by and out of sight, I decided that it was time to go home. My toes were cold, the kids would soon want to eat dinner, and I had accomplished what I had set out to do. When I had left the house in the mid-afternoon, I had departed with hopes of proving to myself that I could make some pictures of these majestic birds. I did, and I am confident that if I were there longer and for more days, I could come away with images that would rival some of the nicer pictures that I have seen shared on Facebook … but I wouldn’t want to.
I want to go back again, but it doesn’t need to be sunny and the conditions don’t need to be perfect, especially if I am only using binoculars. I want to appreciate these beautiful birds in flight, not struggle to manually focus with digital focus peaking through and EVF that is blacking-out with each press of the shutter.
I have nothing to prove, only an experience to enjoy.