According to the Ecology Alaska website, one of the bald eagle researchers I photographed tagging bald eagles last fall, Rachel Wheat, was recently awarded a prestigious Graduate Research Fellowship from the National Science Foundation. The award will fund her work tagging and tracking bald eagles for the next three years. Congratulations Rachel!
One of the things I thought interesting about her work last year was that she and others on her team funded their research in a novel, non-traditional way through the crowd-funding website, Kickstarter. I thought crowd funding research was an innovative idea when she told me about it. Also somewhat unusual, she and others on the Ecology Alaska team produce a website with detailed field reports on the progress of their research and what it is like doing field research in the wilds of Alaska.
At RIGHT: Rachel Wheat, a graduate student at the University of California Santa Cruz, poses for a photo with bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) “4P” before releasing the bald eagle back into the wild. Wheat is conducting a migration study of the bald eagles that visit the Chilkat River for her doctoral dissertation. She hopes to learn how closely eagles track salmon availability across time and space. The bald eagles are being tracked using solar-powered GPS satellite transmitters (also known as a PTT – platform transmitter terminal) that attach to the backs of the eagles using a lightweight harness. A handmade leather hood is placed over the bald eagle’s eyes to keep the bird calm. Leather booties cover the bald eagle’s powerful talons to protect researchers during the process of taking measurements and attaching the GPS satellite transmitter.
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After posting my research photos, I received a few questions from worried friends wondering if I shot any bald eagle or landscape still photos — the kind that people like to “ooh and ah” over. Well, yes, not to worry. I did shoot a few. If you saw my previous blog post on the bald eagle researchers working on the Chilkat River you know that most of my time was spent with them.
One thing I neglected to mention in that post is that in addition to recording hours and hours of audio, I also shot video. Actually, a lot of video. I’m confident to say that I shot more video than stills. While it is a bit overwhelming at the moment to have to edit, but I’m looking forward to working with that material. I’ll talk about my reasons for my emphasis on video in a future blog post.
So here is a slideshow of a few of my favorite still photos from my trip last October – November on the Chilkat River in the Alaska Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve near Haines, Alaska.
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Continuing with my recent post on bald eagle research being conducted on the Chilkat River in the Alaska Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve, I thought it would be interesting to show a video clip and photos of an eagle that is part of a different research project.
Research bald eagle number 24 is one of three eagles that are part of the research study being conducted by Steve Lewis of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Juneau, Alaska. The study is examining the effects of eagle nest removal at the Juneau airport (approximately 95 miles away). Number 24 is one of a pair of bald eagles who were nesting near the pond airstrip where float planes land and take off.
A year earlier, I photographed research bald eagle number 88, a control bird in that study. Research bald eagle number 88 originally had a GPS tracking pack, but later lost it. Interestingly, I photographed research bald eagle number 24 very near were I had previously photographed research bald eagle number 88.
Unlike the eagles I recently photographed that were part of Rachel Wheat‘s study, research bald eagles numbers 24 and 88 have a patagial tag (green wing tag) along with the solar powered GPS tracking satellite transmitter. The transmitter’s antenna can be seen sticking out of the eagle’s feathers to the right of the green patagial tag.
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Rachel Wheat, a graduate student at the University of California Santa Cruz, releases bald eagle “4P” back into the wild. Wheat is conducting a migration study of bald eagle that visit the Chilkat River using GPS satellite transmitters. Note the GPS transmitter on the eagle’s back and the dual leg bands. One leg band is used by the researcher and the other is registered with the U.S. Geological Survey.
On my most recent trip late last fall to photograph bald eagles on the Chilkat River, I made a conscious decision to shake my photography up. While I don’t claim to have the definitive bald eagle photograph (yet), I do have quite a few keepers in my archive. It was time to move beyond simply photographing bald eagles themselves and begin to take a more all-encompassing approach to the subject of the bald eagles that visit the Alaska Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve near Haines, Alaska.
To start me in that direction, I decided exploring the subject of bald eagles from the perspective of a researcher would be a good place to start. This would allow me to get back to my storytelling roots, while at the same time broaden my knowledge of bald eagles.
So instead of spending time by myself photographing eagles, I spent time photographing those who study them. Lucky for me, there were two distinctly different groups of researchers working on the river while I was there. Both with interesting stories to tell.
Counting bald eagles – Haines School Citizen Science Class
First, was a Citizen Science class from the local school. Since 2009, students have been conducting a weekly count of bald eagles during the fall semester for the citizen science class at the Haines School in Haines, AK. The project is part of a field-based for-credit class, sponsored by the Takshanuk Watershed Council, in which students participate in research studies and learn about field data collection. Under the guidance of Pam Randles, Takshanuk Watershed Council Education Director, students count bald eagles in the Chilkat River Valley using spotting scopes at 10 locations and present their data at the Bald Eagle Festival held in November in Haines. During late fall, bald eagles congregate along the Chilkat River near Haines to feed on salmon in what is believed to be the largest gathering of bald eagles in the world. This sounded perfect. Students interested in doing real science and fieldwork for their community sounded like a publishable story to me. I also recorded quite a bit of natural sound of the students doing their eagle count survey. My goal is to produce along with the still photo coverage, an audio-only report and perhaps a multimedia report (audio, video, and stills). There were aspects of the process the citizen scientists use to do their counts that made it perfect for an audio-only report. Bet you never thought a photographer would propose something like that!
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Capturing and tracking bald eagles from the Alaska Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve
While working with the Citizen Science students I discovered they would be meeting a team of researchers who were capturing bald eagles for a migration study of the eagles that visit the Chilkat River in Alaska. The study is being conducted by Rachel Wheat, a graduate student at the University of California Santa Cruz. She hopes to learn how closely bald eagles track salmon availability across time and space. The bald eagles are being tracked using solar-powered GPS satellite transmitters (also known as a PTT – platform transmitter terminal) that attach to the backs of the eagles using a lightweight harness. Helping with the eagle capturing was Steve Lewis, Raptor Management Coordinator, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service – Juneau Field Office.
Lewis employed leg snare traps and a net launcher for the capturing. Leg snare traps employ a looped cord on a hinged perch. When a bald eagle lands on the perch a spring is sprung which tightens a looped cord around the bald eagle’s legs. The net launcher uses three projectiles attached to a large lightweight net. A salmon carcass is used at bait in front of the launcher. A radio-controlled trigger to launch the net is used when an eagle lands next to the bait. In addition to the GPS satellite transmitter installation, researchers attached leg id bands and took measurements including blood and a small feather sample for analysis. To keep the eagle calm during the entire process, a hood covered the bald eagle’s eyes and leather booties protected researchers from the eagle’s talons.
Information about Wheat’s bald eagle migration study and the latest updates on the locations of the bald eagles she is tracking can be found on the Ecology Alaska website.
Social media and education outreach are an important facet of Wheat’s project. Wheat along with Yiwei Wang, graduate student, University of California Santa Cruz and Dr. Taal Levi, wildlife ecologist, Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies funded their various Alaska research projects through an innovative Kickstarter fundraising campaign. I highly recommend that you check out the Ecology Alaska website. They are a group of excited and dedicated scientists who do a great job of making science understandable and fun.
I’m really looking forward to telling the story of both the Citizen Science eagle count survey and University of California – Santa Cruz migration research efforts as I work on producing publishable packages about their work.
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This photo of the ice and snow covered Connelly Lake (left) was taken in mid-July. Alaska Power and Telephone Company is proposing to dam Connelly Lake and build a powerhouse below the lake near the Chilkoot River (right) in the Alaska Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve. The Chilkoot River is an important salmon spawning stream supporting bald eagles and bears. The large lake in the background is Chilkoot Lake. Beyond Chilkoot Lake is Lutak Inlet of the Lynn Canal.
I visit Haines, Alaska several times a year as part of my ongoing project photographing and filming the bald eagles that congregate in the nearby Chilkoot and Chilkat River Valleys each fall. I look forward to my visits for the friendly people and the natural beauty of the area — arguably some of the best any town in Alaska has to offer.
Haines is a a small town (population 2,554) nestled in between the majestic Takhinsha and Takshanuk Mountains and the bountiful salmon-rich ocean waters of the Lynn Canal. Much of the Haines Borough boundary is the mountains that separate it from Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve with its incredible glaciers, and its summer visitors — humpback whales. Abutting Glacier Bay National Park and up the highway from Haines are three more National or Provincial Parks (Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Kluane National Park (Canada) and Tatshenshini-Alsek Park (Canada). Together they form the one of the largest internationally protected areas on the planet. While challenging to access, that is still quite a backyard to have.
The upper Lynn Canal area of Haines is not just rich in beauty and wildlife but is also rich in resources — rich in minerals and rich in fisheries. Chilkoot River salmon are harvested by commercial fishermen, by sports fishermen, and for subsistence. Salmon play an important role in the area’s economy and lifestyle. The Connelly Lake Hydro Aquatic Studies Report for 2012 prepared by the Shipley Group for Alaska Power and Telephone Company (AP&T) states that according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, 41 percent of the sockeye salmon in the upper Lynn Canal come from the Chilkoot River with 25 percent of those salmon spawning in the Chilkoot River drainage above Chilkoot Lake. The value of the fishery is estimated at more than $1,000,000 annually.
So when AP&T, the power company that serves Haines, announced a proposal for a hydroelectric project using a high alpine lake above one of the area’s important salmon spawning rivers, I couldn’t help but wonder how this delicate balance of resources would play out with locals. This curiosity led me to fly above the lake to see for myself.
Connelly Lake (formerly known as Upper Chilkoot Lake) is the focus of a proposed $32 million, 12-megawatt hydroelectric project by AP&T. The power company proposes to build a dam at the outlet of the 90-acre alpine lake that would create a 160-acre reservoir and a 6,200-foot-long penstock down the side of the mountain where water would be delivered to two turbine generators located in a powerhouse near the Chilkoot River into which the lake water would be discharged. Some of the main features of the proposed Connelly Lake project (for example portions of the penstock, the powerhouse, access roads, and the transmission line) would be located in the Alaska Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve and the Haines State Forest.
Environmental concerns include the impact construction and project operation would have on fish spawning and rearing habitat (water turbidity issues), and bald eagles. Bears and bald eagles rely on the salmon that use the Chilkoot Valley in the fall and early winter when they are attracted to late spawning salmon runs. AP&T wants to build the project to replace an undersea cable that currently supplies Haines with hydro-powered electricity from Skagway. If the cable would ever become unusable, then Haines would need to depend on diesel-generated electricity produced in Haines.
After seeing Connelly Lake and how it is situated high above the Chilkoot River, my immediate question is how well would the dam stand up to earthquakes? I think back to the collapse of a man-made mountain top reservoir outside St. Louis, Missouri (Taum Sauk Hydroelectric Power Station); also built for generating electricity. It sent a billion gallons of water down the mountain washing away a dense growth forest and scouring the ground down to bedrock before sending a 20 foot high crest of water down one of the prettiest streams in the state.
While most Haines residents see clean hydropower as a viable and economical solution to the community’s growing power needs, some feel that it might come at too high a price if the salmon spawning waters of the Chilkoot River are put at risk or even worse, damaged. Others see it as vital if Haines wants to grow. The Connelly Lake hydropower project is still in it’s early stages. How it will play out is unclear.
If you are interested in learning more about the project, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission posts documents pertaining to the project online. As an example, the Second Six Month Progress Report” from Alaska Power & Telephone Company (26MB download) has quite a bit of research study information regarding the salmon and other fish that inhabit the Chilkoot River. You can find other documents like this by searching the FERC Online eLibrary using the “Full Text Search” feature. Search for “Connelly Lake.”
The outlet stream of Connelly Lake, Connelly Creek (center), descends 2,138 feet to the floor of the Chilkoot Valley where it joins the Chilkoot River. A 6,200-foot-long penstock would be built down the side of the mountain where water would be delivered to two turbine generators located in a powerhouse near the Chilkoot River into which the lake water would be discharged. Some of the main features of the proposed Connelly Lake hydroelectric project would be located in the Alaska Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve and the Haines State Forest.
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While it has snowed on all my trips to the Chilkat River to photograph bald eagles in Alaska, it never has REALLY snowed. The couple of inches of snow that I’ve previously experienced in November was nice, but not what you think of when you think Alaska snow. So as I clicked my seatbelt on the Alaska Airlines jet bound for Alaska, I made a silent wish for snow, lots of it.
It took me three days of traveling to reach my final destination of Haines where the Chilkat River empties into the fjord-like Lynn Canal. After overnight stays in Seattle and Juneau, I finally was in the Alaska Marine Highway System’s Auke Bay ferry terminal parking lot waiting to drive aboard the LeConte for the 4.5 hour passage to Haines.
After a crystal blue sky day spent at Mendenhall Glacier just outside Juneau, I sat in the pre-dawn darkness of the ferry terminal parking lot in what seemed like a blizzard. The wind was howling and snow was blasting horizontally but as I would later find out, this was nothing by Alaska standards.
I sailed on the LeConte three months earlier with my wife Carol, returning to Juneau after completing 14 days of photography by way of sea kayaking and wilderness camping in a remote region of Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve. On that return trip to Juneau we sat on the top deck of the LeConte in deck chairs, much like one would do on a cruise ship. It was so warm and sunny that one woman stripped down to her underwear to bask in the sun. Fast forward to November and no one is on the top deck except for myself and two small children who were having great time smacking each other with snowballs in the morning twilight.
Flying with the eagles
I reached Haines and got settled in with good friends Phyllis and Joanne at The Alaska Guardhouse, before meeting with Paul Swanstrom of Mountain Flying Service. Paul, an experienced Alaskan pilot, is a former wilderness guide who also worked in the photo department of a major Chicago-based corporation. Over the years he has flown some big name wildlife photographers (I’m not going to name drop, but its impressive). I felt his background in photography and as a highly skilled pilot was perfect for the aerial photography I needed to tell the story of bald eagles on the Chilkat River.
My primary goal was to take aerial photographs of the Tsirku River alluvial fan where the river meets the Chilkat River. It is here, in the Alaska Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve, where a five mile stretch of the Chilkat River, known as the Chilkat Bald Eagle Council Grounds, that the largest congregation of eagles gather. Bald eagles come to this area because of the availability of spawned-out salmon and ice free water in late fall. The open water is due to a deep accumulation of gravel and sand that acts as a large water reservoir whose water temperature remains 10 to 20 degrees warmer than the surrounding water temperature. This warmer water seeps into the Chilkat River, keeping this five mile stretch of the river from freezing.
Paul and I looked over maps of the Chilkat River Valley and worked out a flight plan based on light at different times of day, needed altitude for the subject, etc.
Paul then introduced me to his plane, a spiffy fire engine red Bush Hawk-XP, which when I saw it, thought of it as the sports car of bush planes. I’d swear we were off the ground in less than 10 feet but know it took more runway. The plane allows Paul to add skis to the fat tundra tires for landings on snow or glaciers. Virtually, all of my aerial photography experience was as a newspaper photographer in St. Louis where all of it involved helicopters. I was a bit hesitate about shooting from a plane, but Paul rightfully convinced me that it would work.
I needed to meet with Paul right away because he had to begin taking his engine apart in two days to ship parts to the lower 48 for overhauling. If I was to fly, it would have to be either today (not happening – snowing), or tomorrow. The day after tomorrow his engine would be in pieces on the cold hanger floor.
As we shook hands and said goodbye, we both knew that it was almost certain that we would not be flying the following day. It was still snowing and the forecast looked very unfavorable for photography.
The following morning I began my ritual of photographing bald eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) by being on the banks of the Chilkat River before sunrise. Sunrise in November is quite civil as it occurs quite a bit later than in the lower 48. As I made my way up the Haines Highway towards Canada in the advancing twilight, the heavily overcast skies were dripping with rain and snow — definitely not conducive to aerial photography and not a particularly comfortable day for photography on the river bank. I continued driving knowing that between Haines and the area where I photograph eagles there can be big differences in the weather. It can be raining cats and dogs in town and be bright and sunny up the river valley. I have met plenty of photographers who missed a great day of shooting because their decision not to head up the river was based on the weather in town.
After several hours of rain and a little snow, the skies opened up. There were patches of blue and I began to wonder if perhaps I might be able to fly. Conferring with Paul at this point wasn’t possible. I was a good 15 miles out of cell phone range. So I drove back down the Chilkat River Valley to a spot where I knew I would be able to call Paul. We both knew good light would still be a gamble with the rapidly changing nature of weather in Alaska but since today would be my sole chance of flying until next year, I decided it was worth a gamble.
I met Paul at his hanger at the Haines airport and we shot off the runway and into the neighboring Takhin River Valley to get into position for the Tsirku River delta. The weather was what I expected with portions of the flight having good light and others marginal with flat lighting. Paul maneuvered the Bush Hawk -XP perfectly into the shooting position we had earlier discussed. An unplanned bonus of the trip was jumping over the Takhinsha Mountains and looking down on McBride Glacier in Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve where I had kayaked in July. The mountains looked familiar, yet different now that they were blanketed in snow. The park seemed asleep, much like the Flint Hills tallgrass prairie in Kansas when I had visited there just a few weeks earlier. The Glacier Bay area is breathtakingly beautiful from the air. I always thought the best job in the world was that of a photojournalist. I still think that is true, but I now think that the second best job is that of a flight-seeing/charter pilot in Alaska. Paul is a lucky guy with one hell of an ‘office’ view.
Unusual sightings
On subsequent days, I stuck to my routine of being in place on the river early. The first stop I would make would be at the location where the bald eagle with white wing tips and talons was hanging out this year. This bald eagle is known as a leucistic bald eagle. Its white wing tips and talons are caused by a leucistic condition — a condition of reduced pigmentation resulting in white patches. These patches of white can occur while the rest of the animal is colored normally. Unlike albinism, the eye color is normal. Seeing this eagle was like seeing an old friend as I had photographed it several years earlier on the nearby Chilkoot River. The one thing I was surprised by watching this eagle was just how much, and often he ate. Since he stood out with his leucistic characteristics, it was easy to keep track of his meals. From watching bald eagles, I had the impression that eagles didn’t eat very often. For me, waiting for hours on end in the cold for action lasting no more than an eye blink, I would have guessed that 99% of their time was spent sitting on a tree branch or on the gravel bar taking bets amongst themselves on how long the crazy photographer would last. Considering the time I spent observing the white tipped eagle perhaps that is a false assumption.
Another unusual sight on this trip was when I saw a bald eagle drag a fish 15-20 feet up from the Chilkat River bank through the snow. Dragging a salmon that far of a distance is somewhat unusual as eagles usual drag a fish just barely out of the water onto the bank. Bald eagles are pretty dang lazy about putting out any effort to feed, particularly at this time of the year. What was more unusual was that the eagle dragged the fish right up to another eagle sitting on a log as if it wanted to share the salmon with the other bird. Normally, eagles challenge and fight each other. Formal sharing, is something I’ve never seen. In the end, the niceties didn’t last and the eagles were off trying to chase each other away. The winner in all this turned out to be a black-billed magpie who moved in and feasted on the fish while the two eagles chased each other in a circle.
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I’m always asked if I saw bears. I usually do, and often see their footprints in the fresh snow falls overnight. Along with the grizzly bear tracks I saw on this trip, I photographed an orphaned grizzly bear cub. I’ll speak about this bear and my reaction in a future post.
I missed a bit of excitement while I photographed eagles on another part of the river. Another photographer spotted a bald eagle whose wings were both frozen flat against the Chilkat River ice. An volunteer from the American Bald Eagle Foundation in Haines, slide out on the ice on her stomach and clipped the tips of the eagle’s feathers that were frozen to the river ice. The rescue was a success and the bird was expected to be back in the Alaskan skies after rehabilitation time at the Alaska Raptor Center in Sitka for feather mending. I would have liked to have witnessed the rescue and subsequent treatment.
Dealing with the snow
It seemed like it snowed every day, though in reality, there were several blue sky days. One day, we had a true blizzard, even by Alaskan standards, with building rattling, 50 mile per hour winds. In roughly 36 hours a total of 52 inches fell. That much snow, that early in November, was unusual. I’d say I got my wish for snow and then some.
The snow was very helpful for photography. Besides making the already incredible scenery more so, the blanket of snow did wonders for cleaning up extraneous visual noise in my bald eagle photos. Many of the bald eagles that I take photographs of are on visually cluttered gravel bars or river banks. The snow cleaned these shooting situations, almost like the eagles were shot in the studio on a white seamless background.
The only drawback to the heavy snowfall was that it made exploring a bit more difficult. One of my usual afternoon haunts is the Chilkoot River. I like to go to the Chilkoot in the afternoon as you’re on the opposite river bank from what you would be on the Chilkat avoiding the afternoon backlit light of the Chilkat River. With all the snow I wasn’t surprised this year to find the entrance to the Chilkoot Lake State Recreational Site and the Chilkoot River, to be completely blocked by snow. The only way in was going to be on foot with snowshoes.
A few days earlier, my friend Phyllis gave me some pointers on snowshoeing. Wanting to show me in the deepest snow possible, Phyllis with her dog Harry, drove me out in the direction of Chilkat State Park. The park is closed this time of the year so the road doesn’t get plowed. The snow was getting REALLY deep as Phyllis wrestled the car through the drifts. Eventually, the snow was too much and we were stuck. That meant it time for snowshoeing as we (and a very nervous Harry) waited for Joanne to come rescue us with her pickup truck. The snowshoes I used weren’t like the tennis racket ones you saw on the old TV series, Sergeant Preston of the Yukon. These were sleek, lightweight aluminum ones. For the rest of the trip, I would use them whenever I would go off the beaten path. I found them particularly useful for going up and down steep riverbanks. Many of these riverbanks would have been difficult to climb without the deep snow. The snow, and the snowshoes, made climbing them with my large tripod, 600 mm lens, and heavy cameras, much easier. The only bad thing was I was always breaking a trail since I was usually by myself on these treks. In deep snow, even with snowshoes, hiking can be taxing. The trips back were always much easier as I would backtrack over my path. Snowshoes are great!
I’ve written in the past about taking a small camping sleeping mat to stand on to keep my feet warm while standing in the snow. Having the mat on this trip proved to be even more important with all the snow; as you can see in this photo of one of the spots where I photographed the bald eagles.
Technical tips
For the past year, I’ve been shooting using manual aperture and shutter speed with auto ISO as my exposure setting. I really like this mode and it allows me to be in control of the appropriate aperture and shutter speed letting the ISO setting be the variable. For consumer DSLR cameras that could be a problem as the ISO creeps up, but with a professional DSLR like my Nikon D3 that isn’t an issue. Considering my positive experience this past year with this configuration I’m likely to use this setting in the future.
I’m assuming that you’ve watched the slideshow at the top of this posting of images from this trip. It may seem like there aren’t as many images from previous trips. This is because I have become more selective, and do not want to put duplicate situations into my photo archive. I’ve even eliminated previous archive images with new work that I feel is stronger. I like to think that this means that my work is improving and evolving.
Speaking of evolving, I shot video for a few hours. I didn’t get anything special (you can see the video here), but wanted to see what challenges shooting video here would be. I plan to work on this during future visits to Alaska.
By the time I left Alaska a total of 88 inches of snow had fallen in the Haines area. I know my Alaska friends in Haines have had their fill of snow by now, but I’m thankful that my wish for snow came true.
iPhone photo field report: Over a three year period, I have talked about a leucistic, white-tipped bald eagle, that I have watched and it is always interesting to see where this eagle shows up. A few days ago, I spotted another special bald eagle while on the Chilkat River in the Alaska Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve near Haines, Alaska. In this case, the eagle is easily identifiable by a large numbered green badge that is attached with a rivet-like coupling to its wing.
According to the Takshanuk Watershed Council website bald eagle Number 88 was originally tagged by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Juneau, Alaska (roughly 95 miles away) as part of a study examining the effects of nest removal at the Juneau airport. Steve Lewis, of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, was quoted as saying that Number 88 was a control bird matched with a pair of eagles that were nesting near the pond airstrip where float planes land and take off. The eagle originally had a GPS tracking pack but lost it this summer.
Like the leucistic bald eagle, it will be interesting to see where Number 88 shows up in the years to come. Knowing that you are seeing the exact same bird year after year is like seeing an old friend.
For those interested, I spotted bald eagle Number 88 at 11:33 a.m. AST on Nov. 17, 2011 in the Alaska Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve on Chilkat River near Haines, Alaska. My GPS coordinates were Latitude N59° 23.149′, Longitude W135° 51.030′, when I took the photo with my Nikon 600 mm f/4 lens. (EDITORS NOTE — Post updated with with correct time and coordinates.)
UPDATE: In late May 2013 Lewis reported that bald eagle Number 88 was found dead on the Klehini River. While Lewis doesn’t know the cause of death it appeared that the eagle might have died of starvation.
UPDATE: In late October 2012 I spotted Bald Eagle Number 24, also part of this study, on the Chilkat River not far from where I spotted bald eagle Number 88 the year before.
iPhone photo field report: Here’s a closeup peek of my “office” when photographing bald eagles on the Chilkat River in the Alaska Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve in southeast Alaska.
Most of my bald eagle photography is with my Nikon 600mm f/4 lens on a Nikon D3 body which are mounted on a heavy duty tripod and Wimberly tripod head. Both the camera and lens are protected from the elements with a ThinkTank Hydrophobia rain cover. I keep the cover on the lens at all times so I don’t have to fool with putting it on should it start to rain or snow.
I have the rest of my other lenses, Pocket Wizards, tele-extender, strobes, audio recorder, and video equipment in my Kiboko camera backpack bag made by Gura Gear. Also pictured is a Thermarest sleeping pad. The pad isn’t for sleeping but rather to protect my butt and feet from the cold.
Finally, most important of all, I have my lunch, usually a sandwich with cookies or english muffins from my Haines friends Joanne & Phyllis. Yum.
The photo below is the “office” view from the spot above with Four Winds Mountain in the background.
Since I didn’t go out on the river today due to the blizzard, I played around editing some of the video that I shot on the Chilkat River in the Alaska Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve near Haines, Alaska. It’s by no means finished — it’s basically raw footage. Eventually, I hope to take all the video that I shot and make it into something more polished. In the meantime, I thought you might enjoy some snippets of just a few places to give you a feel for where I am. There’s no sound as I don’t have a way to edit the soundtrack on the iPad. The little editing I did was done on the iPad using iMovie.
I’m new to shooting video with a DSLR. Main lessons learned so far is that I need to use a bubble level and I need to use my bigger tripod when shooting video. I’m really digging my Singh-Ray Variable ND filter for controlling exposure when shooting video. It makes it much easier.
iPhone photo field report: Like baseball players, I’m a bit superstitious. In my case, when I see grizzly bear tracks, I know that the photography for the rest of the day will be great. Today I saw lots of fresh grizzly bear tracks in the new snow (iPhone photo above). It was a great day of shooting on the Chilkat River in Alaska. Weather was pretty nice too — sunny and cold with little wind (iPhone photo below).
