Scroll down to my Previous Post for the first part of this story.
I can't overemphasis how my lack of a zoom lens hurt the opportunity for a stunning sequence. This was my second visit with the Bald Eagle Thursday, I had finished my errands and he was still there. Not impressed with my first shots, I stopped and worked for about 20 minutes creeping through the tumble weeds to get as close as possible. The eagle was aware of me, but not intimidated like hawks or falcons that I have stalked before. I've found this to be true in the air too. The few times I've soared with Bald or Golden Eagles they have been indifferent to my presence or that of the hang glider. I was able to get within 8 feet of a Bald Eagle ridge soaring a couple years ago. He was concentrating on hunting, only periodically glancing back over his shoulder at me.
Back to Thursday, I was able to find good cover behind a road sign in a pile of tumble weeds. The switch grass hurt, but I was in good shooting position. The lighting was terrible, a high overcast blocked out the sun except for the beginnings of the yellow sunset over the Flatirons. It was a typical winter day on the front range. He was scanning the field below, moving his head with sharp twitching motions back and forth. I didn't think Eagles hunted statically while perched. I've always seen them hunt while in flight, but it seemed like that's what he was doing. After about 20 minutes my suspicions were confirmed. Something flushed what looked like a couple grouse from the field below. He lept off his perch, tucked tight and dove at the ground. At about 6 feet he leveled off and hit the grouse from the side at a high rate of speed. The impact killed his momentum immediately and he struggled with heaving wing beats to gain altitude. He executed a climbing right turn and returned to his perch on the same tree. It looked like he killed the grouse on impact because it never moved once it was in his talons.
I'm not satisfied with this sequence, it's much poorer than my Hawk Sequence. The eagle in the lower right hand corner was the original image. Everything else was layered. I didn't see the grouse until after I started the sequence, so it is not framed until the impact. The lighting was very poor, so I had to do quite a bit of levels adjustment causing the eagles to look cartoonish. Here's him landing and feeding with the prey.
The story doesn't end there. I was curious what flushed the grouse so I stood up trying to use the sign for cover. It was a young coyote. I don't think the coyote was part of the Marshal pack (that I run into regularly) because he was much smaller. Can you see him?
How about now?
After I got home, I thought about what happened. It struck me as no coincidence that this Bald Eagle just happened to be in a position to dive on birds that might be flushed by a hunting coyote. I wonder if he made it a habit to hunt by watching coyotes and position himself to prey upon birds they might flush. The coyote lingered for quite a while at the base of the tree. I wondered if he was being opportunistic for scraps that might fall. What struck me as more amazing was that this was all happening with in 30 yards of a busy road and nobody else seemed to notice. It's amazing what is out there if you can learn to see it.
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