Bald Eagles at Ridgefield

An adult bald eagle fights with a juvenile in mid-air

The End of the Year

New Year's Eve of 2010 dawned sunny and cold. I headed to Ridgefield and saw a young bald eagle harassing the ducks and then flying in my direction. Suddenly there were two great pairs of wings and level flight turned to chaos. An adult eagle had flown in to defend its territory and I struggled to keep them in frame as they somersaulted through the air. This picture is rather soft because the focus was off, but I love the look of the juvenile flipping from right-side-up to upside-down to defend itself.

A good way to end the year.

A close-up view of a three=year old bald eagle with a head that is not yet pure white

Pushing It

There was an awkward level of fog around this young eagle, not enough to make it interesting but too much for a clean picture. I had to push it too hard in post-processing to get a look that I liked, and the hit on quality especially shows in its brown feathers, but I find its gaze so mesmerizing that I still like the picture.

Juvenile bald eagle calling out to other nearby eagles

The Quiet Ones

The bald eagle’s cry is rather surprising. Given its majestic look, its large size, its imposing beak and talons, I expected its call to be the mightiest of the birds of prey. However, when they lean their heads back to call out, what emerges is a soft, timid cry. Filmmakers may use a bald eagle when they need something that looks powerful, but will often use the red-tailed hawk’s piercing cry when they need something that sounds powerful.

This picture is one of the rare times I was glad it was raining while I was out taking pictures. The ice gave a diffuse reflection, and I knew a little bit of rain would smooth out the surface, allowing both the icy look and a stronger reflection. I had to work quickly though, as the rain would soon melt the ice entirely and the eagles would disappear with it.

Juvenile bald eagle calling to warn other eagles away from the nutria carcass it is eating

Back Off!

A young bald eagle calls out to warn away the other half dozen eagles that were milling about. The eagles were taking their turns eating from a dead nutria out on the ice. They were already eating the carcass when I arrived, so I don’t know exactly how the nutria died, but I suspect the eagles found it already dead. Nutria were active all over the refuge that day, including out on the ice where they would have been easy pickings, but the eagles never harrassed them.

A juvenile bald eagle pulls on the foot of a dead nutria it is eating on the ice at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge

Hand Shake

Several juvenile bald eagles had already worked over a dead nutria by the time this eagle got its chance, pulling on one of the nutria’s paws to get it out of the way to get at the more desirable parts.

With the eagle standing on the ice you can get a good look at the large sharp claws in its talons. I arrived shortly after the eagles first started dining on the nutria so I don’t know if one of the eagles made a kill or if they were scavenging a nutria that had died during the unusually cold night.

A three-year old bald eagle with a head that is not yet pure white

Almost There

This young eagle is probably about three years old and does not yet have the adult bald eagle's distinctive white head, but it is getting close. Taken on a cold and foggy fall morning when the sun had just started to break through and the fog started to lift, the eagle rested for a while in between harassing the waterfowl on Rest Lake at Ridgefield.

A juvenile bald eagle spreads out its wings to slow down as it lands on ice at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge

Brakes! Brakes! Put on the Brakes!

This juvenile bald eagle seemed a quick study at landing on the ice. When it first landed its talons couldn’t grip well enough to slow its momentum and it started to slide across the ice. Then it threw out its wings and came to an abrupt halt, the extended wings showing off nicely the mottled white wing pattern of a first year eagle.

Bald eagles don’t start off their lives with their famous white heads, it’s as if the white slowly moves through their bodies from year to year until reaching its final destination in the head and tail.

An adult bald eagle perches in a tree at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge

A Rousing Welcome

Bald eagles don't live year round at Ridgefield but arrive in the fall and winter as they follow one of their food sources, the waterfowl who winter at the refuge. This adult bald eagle was the first eagle I saw in the fall of 2009, it received a raucous and rousing welcome as the entire marsh exploded in song and motion as it flew overhead.

They never get that excited when I show up. Hmph.

At the Top & Bottom

Bald eagles are commonly seen at Ridgefield during the winter, and while it's always fun to see an adult up close, I'm also fascinated by the younger eagles that are at the top of the food chain yet the bottom of their social order. This young eagle left its perch and captured a duck in Bull Lake only to have it stolen by the adult in the previous post. One nice thing (from my perspective at least) is that the young eagles, which greatly outnumber the adults, are forced to take up territories closer to the road and sometimes even perch in trees right above you. That makes for great viewing but for photography I prefer a more distant view like in these pictures where the angles allow a more pleasing perspective.

A young bald eagle flies from a tree at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge

Pitching Woo

This adult bald eagle left its perch and stole a meal from the young eagle. Earlier it was calling out to its mate perched higher in the tree. Even though they are at the top of both the food chain and the social order, it doesn't mean they have it easy. I saw multiple occasions over the winter and spring where a youngster would fly in towards the pair, agitating both the male and the female who didn't welcome the intrusion. They frequently called out to each other during the months I was able to watch them, and one day did hypnotic swooping flights over Long and Horse Lakes.

An adult bald eagle calls out to its mate at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge

An adult bald eagle flies from a tree at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge

Brisk!

Winter is the best time for viewing eagles at Ridgefield, but this young bald eagle at Schwartz Lake was the only eagle I saw during my visit on January 16th. I didn't expect to have much time for pictures when I pulled the car over as I feared the eagle would spook when the next car came past. But the steady rain kept traffic on the auto tour so low that no one else came by and since the eagle was in no hurry, I was able to watch it for quite a while. Most of the time it just stood on a submerged log, but a few times it leaned down for a drink before finally flying off to a nearby tree. Schwartz Lake (like most lakes at Ridgefield) is quite small and shallow since it is really just a flooded field. The water levels of many of the lakes are managed to mimic the floodplains of the Columbia before the dams were built, flooding during the winter and drying out by summer.

A young bald eagle drinks from Schwartz Lake

A young bald eagle splashes water after drinking from Schwartz Lake

Use Only In Case of Emergency

In the fall of 2006, I added Canon’s 2X teleconverter to my set of tools. I knew it wasn’t something I’d use everyday, but wanted it for those times when you really just need the extra reach. The only lens I have that it works with is my 500mm lens. With the 1.6x multiplication factor of my cameras, the 500mm and 2X provide a field of view equivalent to a 1600mm lens on a full-frame 35mm camera. Even small amounts of camera shake will blur the shot.

On top of that, atmospheric effects can further degrade the image. Plus, with an effective aperture of f/8, I lose the ability to autofocus. The end result is that it’s much more difficult to use a 2X converter than a 1.4X converter.

Difficult, but not impossible. This adult bald eagle was captured with the lens resting on a beanbag on my car window. The sky was mostly cloudy — regular clouds and not the storm clouds that are my favorite skies — but still a beautiful bird.

No Eagles But One

It was an early spring morning when I drove around the auto tour and noticed there weren’t any bald eagles that morning, figuring they had migrated out as the weather warmed. Towards the end of the loop, however, I noticed this second year eagle watching the comings and goings of little birds below.

If you compare the plumage of the second year to the first year (the picture below) and a full adult (the picture above), you can see that year two eagles still lack the white head that gives the eagles their name, but have a diffuse spreading of white on the back that isn’t present in their first year. It’s as if the white starts to spread as the eagle grows older until it eventually coalesces in the head and tail after four years.

The adult eagles at Ridgefield are rather territorial so its rare to see more than a couple of adults, but they are much more tolerant of the juveniles. They tolerate the younger birds since even though the youngsters are competitors for food, there’s plenty of food at the refuge — it’s competition for mates that gets the adults worked up, and the younger birds aren’t much competition in that arena.

	The End of the Year New Year's Eve of 2010 dawned sunny and cold. I headed to Ridgefield and saw a young bald eagle harassing the ducks and then flying in my direction. Suddenly there were two great pairs of wings and level flight turned to chaos. An adult eagle had flown in to defend its territory and I struggled to keep them in frame as they somersaulted through the air. This picture is rather soft because the focus was off, but I love the look of the juvenile flipping from right-side-up to upside-down to defend itself. A good way to end the year.
	Pushing It There was an awkward level of fog around this young eagle, not enough to make it interesting but too much for a clean picture. I had to push it too hard in post-processing to get a look that I liked, and the hit on quality especially shows in its brown feathers, but I find its gaze so mesmerizing that I still like the picture.
	The Quiet Ones The bald eagle’s cry is rather surprising. Given its majestic look, its large size, its imposing beak and talons, I expected its call to be the mightiest of the birds of prey. However, when they lean their heads back to call out, what emerges is a soft, timid cry. Filmmakers may use a bald eagle when they need something that looks powerful, but will often use the red-tailed hawk’s piercing cry when they need something that sounds powerful. This picture is one of the rare times I was glad it was raining while I was out taking pictures. The ice gave a diffuse reflection, and I knew a little bit of rain would smooth out the surface, allowing both the icy look and a stronger reflection. I had to work quickly though, as the rain would soon melt the ice entirely and the eagles would disappear with it.
	Back Off! A young bald eagle calls out to warn away the other half dozen eagles that were milling about. The eagles were taking their turns eating from a dead nutria out on the ice. They were already eating the carcass when I arrived, so I don’t know exactly how the nutria died, but I suspect the eagles found it already dead. Nutria were active all over the refuge that day, including out on the ice where they would have been easy pickings, but the eagles never harrassed them.
	Hand Shake Several juvenile bald eagles had already worked over a dead nutria by the time this eagle got its chance, pulling on one of the nutria’s paws to get it out of the way to get at the more desirable parts. With the eagle standing on the ice you can get a good look at the large sharp claws in its talons. I arrived shortly after the eagles first started dining on the nutria so I don’t know if one of the eagles made a kill or if they were scavenging a nutria that had died during the unusually cold night.
	Almost There This young eagle is probably about three years old and does not yet have the adult bald eagle's distinctive white head, but it is getting close. Taken on a cold and foggy fall morning when the sun had just started to break through and the fog started to lift, the eagle rested for a while in between harassing the waterfowl on Rest Lake at Ridgefield.
	Brakes! Brakes! Put on the Brakes! This juvenile bald eagle seemed a quick study at landing on the ice. When it first landed its talons couldn’t grip well enough to slow its momentum and it started to slide across the ice. Then it threw out its wings and came to an abrupt halt, the extended wings showing off nicely the mottled white wing pattern of a first year eagle. Bald eagles don’t start off their lives with their famous white heads, it’s as if the white slowly moves through their bodies from year to year until reaching its final destination in the head and tail.
	A Rousing Welcome Bald eagles don't live year round at Ridgefield but arrive in the fall and winter as they follow one of their food sources, the waterfowl who winter at the refuge. This adult bald eagle was the first eagle I saw in the fall of 2009, it received a raucous and rousing welcome as the entire marsh exploded in song and motion as it flew overhead. They never get that excited when I show up. Hmph.