Even though I knew it was going to be too cold, I decided to check on our bald eagle nesting pair anyway. When I arrived I was glad to find them both near the nest, guarding over their home for the next few months.
The temperature sensor in my jeep read -5 F and I was already shivering. I knew it was going to get colder as I drove upstream, but I was eager to see if there might be any more eagles along the banks of the South Platte. Plus I had my EOS-7 along, loaded with some Portra 160, just in case there was a beautiful scene along the frozen river.
The frozen river was beautiful indeed, but the results of the film photography will have to wait for another post, after I get the scans back from the lab.
As I suspected, the further I drove upstream, the more the temperature dropped. By the time I arrived at the dam, the mercury was reading -15 degrees. Unfortunately, the heater in my jeep is not exactly stellar, and my energy drink next to me was already half frozen.
Other than a few ducks, there was no life to be found in the canyon on my return trip, until the very end. As I rolled past the ridge on the west side, I spotted one of the pair high above, surveying the valley below. He was way to far away for a detailed image, but I put on my 2x tele and took the shot anyway, at least so I’d have a record of the encounter.
Just as I pulled up to the nest viewing area, the one returned from the ridge, and the other took off. I grabbed a shot of her flying away, but it was a poor shot of her back so I didn’t bother to keep it. Soon the remaining eagle hopped to a higher vantage point and fortunately I was ready with my 2x tele attached, and got the shot. This was one of the times I was actually stunned by what I can capture at a distance of probably over 200 yards!
By then the show was over and I was nearly hypothermic, so I decided to head on into Woodland Park for breakfast at my favorite morning restaurant. Grandmother’s Kitchen!. The Country Scramble and hot coffee warmed my bones for the rest of my projects 🙂
Soon the eagles will be ready to lay their eggs, and we will see a lot more of them at the nest. Also I expect I will finish my roll of Portra 160 this week, and will make a trip to the lab to have it developed. I have a new batch of my wildlife novels, Spirit of the Wolf, and Thundering Hooves arriving this week, so trip to Denver to work on a placement for them might be in order!
If you are interested in what life is like for Colorado’s raptors, and what it might take to capture nice photographs of them, my very first book, Seasons of the Raptor might make some fun winter reading! Follow the lives of the raptors and a couple of photographers through a full year of the circle of life! This book, along with all the others can be linked to from my Amazon Author Page!
Steven W. Krull is a renowned photographer and author who has been photographing and writing of the beauty and wildlife of the Colorado Rocky Mountains for over two decades. Please visit his website at S.W. Krull Imaging to view his work, including thousands of prints for sale, stock images for commercial use, and his library of published books.
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Colorado Photographer / Author / Wildlife Advocate | Steven W. Krull 