Raptor pics from a bird watching tour

[Aloicious]

So I went on a raptor watching tour with a small group yesterday, was super cool to see everything we saw, and learn about them with the biologist that was leading the group. unfortunately it was most definitely a WATCHING tour rather than a photography tour. so most of the birds were WAY too far away to produce a decent image. but we got to see like 5-6 active golden eagle nests with adults/young, active osprey nest, active red tail hawk nest, active swainson's hawk nest, copulating pair of swainson's hawks, 1 active and 1 inactive Ferrunginous hawk nests, active great horned owl nests, a bunch of active great blue heron nests (one tree had 6 separate GBH nests in it), turkey vultures, prairie falcons...it was a way cool trip to go on, however most sites we had to look through a 50-60x spotting scope to get a good view of them, so my 300+1.7x ~500mm couldn't get close enough to produce much, and the lighting sucked for a large portion of the trip due to rain/overcast-ness.

however, here are a few mediocre shots from the day....I must be in the 'everything I do sucks' phase because I haven't been satisfied with any of my recent results...well, enjoy anyways, if for nothing else but the 'hey that's neat' factor.....

RTH cruizing above us, heavily backlit, heavily cropped:

Golden eagle in nest (there are eaglets in there but they're not visable)....this is a huge crop, the nest was easily 1000+ yards away.

Great horned Owlets, I didn't want to get too close to disturb them so this is also quite a crop.

and Mom GHO, looking a bit hung over, but watching me to make sure I don't disturb her young...she was the only one I could get decently close to...

 

[PixelRabbit]

That sounds like an awesome experience, especially with the biologist there with great info to glean and even a few good shots!! Mom is awesome

 

[Aloicious]

yeah, the biologist that was leading the tour was with the department of wildlife for like 40 years in charge of thing like banding and tracking eagles and other raptors across like a 4-5 state region in the west here, so it was very interesting to learn about everything...

now I know where these sites are though, so I may go back to some of them with the 600 (which I couldn't take on the trip, no room in the tour vans), and try to get some better shots...though the golden eagles I may or may not attempt, apparently they have a tendency to abandon nesting sites if they're disturbed too frequently (not to mention they're way up on a cliff side, so not very accessible anyways, I don't want to do that, but I may re-try to get some shots at a safe-for-them distance if possible)

the owlets are the main ones I have the chance to get a better shot of.

 

[jedirunner]

yeah, the biologist that was leading the tour was with the department of wildlife for like 40 years in charge of thing like banding and tracking eagles and other raptors across like a 4-5 state region in the west here, so it was very interesting to learn about everything...

now I know where these sites are though, so I may go back to some of them with the 600 (which I couldn't take on the trip, no room in the tour vans), and try to get some better shots...though the golden eagles I may or may not attempt, apparently they have a tendency to abandon nesting sites if they're disturbed too frequently (not to mention they're way up on a cliff side, so not very accessible anyways, I don't want to do that, but I may re-try to get some shots at a safe-for-them distance if possible)

the owlets are the main ones I have the chance to get a better shot of.

Would love to find out if any of these sites are sharable to other members who live nearby. ;-)

Sounds like it was a great time, informative and interesting, with plenty to see. And you did get a few good shots out, even at the distance.

Kevin

 

[PixelRabbit]

Can't wait to see the shots you come back with with the 600
There are some similar tours at a couple of the conservation areas around here, we are on a major migratory route, I think I might have to check them out!

 

[Aloicious]

yeah, once I have some time off my other job I'd like to head back up there. I've also got a few active burrowing owl burrows to stake out too.

all these trips Ive gone on recently were part of our yearly bird festival. I would have attended many more but my jobs kindof got in the way haha...I was hoping for more photo ops, but for the super cheap price of the trip, it was easily worth it for the experience and knowledge of the new places to go. there were also supposed to be some peregrine falcons too, but we couldn't find any on the trip, I'll have to look next time I'm out there.

Jedi- yeah, the owls were right outside henefer, just past morgan on the 84. the eagles in that picture were right off 84, the osprey were on the edge of Echo reservoir, some of the eagles were in the cliffsides seen from I80 between echo and evanston, and most of the other ones were on a HUGE privately owned ranch on the UT side of evanston,the bird festival had special permission to go there, so I don't think that is somewhere that just regular people can go without permission, its a active working cattle ranch that is in a place called 'wahsatch' (not a mis-spelling) which basically has nothing else but the ranch there, no town or anything else..