Photographing the American Bald Eagle

In my opinion the American Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) is the most majestic bird to be photographed.  Every year hundreds of photographers, most of whom have spent a significant amount of money on advanced and specialized equipment flock to various areas to photograph this bird, and I am one of them.  I can never get enough of it.

Eagle Biology

Male Bald eagles’ weight may range from 6 to 9 pounds, with females’ weights usually 20 to 30 percent greater. Alaskan females reach up to 15 pounds. Florida males may weigh only 6 pounds. The average female Bald Eagle is 35 to 38 inches. The wingspan varies from 6 to 8 feet. The “bald” eagle got its name from the old English word “balde” which means white-headed (not hairless!). The life span of eagles in the wild is generally around 30 years. The longest that any Bald Eagle has been known to live in the wild is 39 years.  Typically, Bald Eagles mate for life, though there are factors that influence that.

In a Bald Eagle, approximately 35 days are required for the embryo to develop into a fully-developed eaglet once incubation begins. The eggs are rolled over by either parent about every hour to 2 hours during the incubation period. The purpose of this roll is to make sure that the lighter yolk does not rise to the egg surface and the delicate blood vessels that cover the yolk touch and stick to the shell surface, killing the developing chick. The eaglets grow rapidly, they add about a half pound to a pound of body weight every week until they are about 9-10 weeks old, depending on if the eaglet is a male or female.

At about three weeks they are 1 foot high and their feet and beaks are very nearly adult size.

At about eight weeks, the appetites of the eaglets is at its greatest. The parents will hunt almost continuous to feed them, meanwhile at the nest the eaglets are beginning to stretch their wings in response to gusts of wind and they may even hover for short periods.  Around ten to fourteen weeks, the eaglets will fledge, or fly away from, the nest.

Nestling = eaglet still in nest

Eaglet = all of the above

Fledgling = eaglet that has taken flight

Juvie = fledgling in first year

Immature = eagle 2-4yrs old

Sub-adult = 4 yr old (or when eagle has shown considerable mature plumage change)

Mature = 5 yr  (Source:  eagles.org)

Male vs. Female Identification

Males tend to be leaner and more streamlined through the head, shoulders and chest.  Males are about 30% smaller than females.  Male’s talons about the same length except the hallux will be slightly longer (1.25”).  Males tend to be more skittish than females and will often launch off the perch if they feel like you have come too close.  Females typically have larger head and are broader across the chest and shoulders.  Females have a substantially longer hallux talon (2.0”).  And most important is that females will often ignore you.  As I said earlier, once they find a mate they will typically mate for life.

The Gear

My gear list is as follows, but the manufacturer isn’t important.  Any comparable gear produced by most major camera manufacturers will work just fine.  Most have very similar settings, although, they may use different terminology for them.

• D500 & D850 camera bodies
• Nikon 500 f4e prime lens
• Nikon 200-500 f5.6 zoom lens
• Nikon version 3, 1.4 TC
• Gitzo carbon tripod (certain situations)
• Wemberly gimbal mount (certain situations)

The Settings

I prefer using manual exposure and very rarely use shutter priority when photographing Eagles, and especially in flight or fishing.  I generally use Auto-ISO with exposure compensation because the birds can go from the sky to a background of woods are water with no warning.  I realize that modifies the manual exposure to a more automatic exposure, but this is necessary in the environment I just described.  If you don’t use Auto-ISO and try to adjust on the fly you will likely miss the shot.  That is why I sacrifice with the exposure settings.  That said, in some conditions I will occasionally use a set ISO and adjust exposure with f-stop and/or exposure compensation and even adjust on the fly, though this gets more complicated as light shifts.  Bottom line, and this is critically important is the shutter speed.  The minimum floor for me is 1/1250 unless shooting a portrait on another species of animal.  I will always elect to increase it as light allows to as high as I can reasonably go.  And my shutter is always set on continuous High Speed so that I don’t miss the shot.  Focus settings are Nikon AFC-GRP (Group) or AFC-S (single spot) depending, though generally AFC-GRP and Focus delay is always maxed out

Calibrate the lenses to the body if you are using a DSLR (Nikon D850 and D500 have a built-in method).  I don’t have much experience with mirrorless, but I am told that is not necessary using a mirrorless camera body.  I will soon be finding out for myself.

The Technique

When you are hand-holding think how you would hold rifle.  Hand holding large lenses is very similar.  I generally rest the camera body in the crook of my shoulder with my body turned to about 45 to 90 degrees to the target.  My other hand is supporting the lens much farther out, very similar to supporting a rifles forestock.  I learned this technique from a very famous and gifted wildlife photographer, Thomas Mangelsen. If you are using a zoom and have trouble locating your target zoom back to aid in locating it.  Once you have located it then you can zoom back in. This technique is very handy for very fast action and that will happen with Eagles.  Your vehicle can act as a blind so use your door to support the hand supporting the lens when shooting out the window.  One thing I have learned from experience is to avoid “chimping.”  Chimping will eventually cause you to miss “the shot,” so avoid it and stay on the bird.  Another important thing to keep in mind is to know the light, and keep checking it and your histogram.  This may sound counter to what I just said about staying on the bird, but it really isn’t. Check your histogram often, but not when you are on a bird.  Panning, panning and more panning.  Practice it often.  You can practice on cars and on other backyard song birds, but practice it.  Here is a twist, though.  When an Eagle drops to the water to pluck a fish, sometimes it is without pause, but often there is just the slightest delay as it grasps the fish.  If you continue to pan without a slight pause, you will often end up with a very soft image of the plucking.  This is tough, because you never know when they will pause and when they won’t.  My experience shows they pause far more often than they don’t, so I would recommend pausing slightly.  Good luck, but practice and prepare.  Another technique available to some out there is to shoot from a boat.  This allows you to get even closer to where the birds are fishing.  An excellent Eagle photographer I know, Dick Vautrinot, leads Eagle photo expeditions out of his pontoon boat in Florida.  Follow him on Facebook to see some incredible Eagle photography.

Locations to Photograph Eagles

You can usually locate Bald Eagles along major waterways and pretty much in every state.  Since the 1980s conservation agencies and the federal government have made a considerable effort returning the Bald Eagle population to a healthy status.  It isn’t uncommon anymore to see hundreds of Bald Eagles gathered together.  That is heartwarming for me.  The best times to find and photograph Bald Eagles is in the winter along water like lakes and rivers.  They are even on the coasts.  Unfortunately, you shouldn’t wait for warmer, more mild weather to photograph them.  The best days to find them are the coldest and nastiest. If it is very cold the Eagles will stay and even gather around their major food source.  They will conserve their energy just for feeding as much as possible.  However, when it warms up they will fly for miles and miles, and even over land.  It isn’t uncommon to see them in a farm field a good distance from a major water source.  Consult local websites in your state or area to find the best places to find the Eagles, and most importantly, enjoy your experience.