Crazy Day With Eagles

It was a crazy day with eagles in Eleven Mile Canyon yesterday. I had a feeling it was going to be a good day to go! It was relatively warm for a February day in Colorado, the sun was shining and I thought the raptors might be hungry after our long cold spell!

Early Success

I was blessed with success on my first pass up the canyon. I was not even halfway in when I spotted a white head in a tree along the river. When I arrived I could hear a lot of chatter and then I realized there were three eagles in the tree. Two adults and one juvenile further down. I couldn’t get them all in one frame but I was able to get a portrait of each of them before they started flying away. One of them flew right at me, giving  me the opportunity for a great flight sequence right off the bat!

There is a shutter setting available to the Canon R7 called Electronic First Curtain that I have been eager to try out and the sharpness of the eyes in this shot even at very high ISO proves it’s usefulness in limiting shutter shake! I love it when I know I have “the shot” early in the day. Anything good after that is a bonus!

Eagles All Over the Place

I know I saw at least five individual eagles in the canyon but it seemed like there might be more. Perhaps a few extra have settled in for the annual migration. Sometimes I get only one or two opportunities in the whole outing for good pictures, but yesterday it seemed there was an eagle perched in a tree every quarter mile or so. I think it would be great  if a couple more migrating eagles decided to make the canyon home! I would also be happy if a few more osprey would decide to stay as well, but that time is yet a couple months away.

More On the First Curtain Shutter

First curtain electronic shutter solves a few problems, shutter shake and rolling shutter for example.  But even with the new technology, a problem from the old DLSR days remains. That is the viewfinder blackout. The DSLR problem was caused by the mirror and the mirrorless problem is caused by the shutter blocking the sensor as it passes by. As the mechanical rear curtain actuates there is a short blackout in the viewfinder which doesn’t help with tracking a flying bird. At 15 frames per second, there is quite a bit of blackout flutter going on and after so much shooting my eyes were getting tired. Full electronic mode risks a little rolling shutter but I decided to try it anyway. On my last eagle of the day I was lucky to have one of the eagles fly almost right at me and I don’t see any ill effects from the most modern technology!

A Few More From a Great Day

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