I rented a 100-400mm lens to attempt to catch the transit of Venus on Jun 5th. Being a resident in the Pacific Northwest, I decided to try the lens on birding. I have never seriously taken photos of birds in flight but today was definitely one to make me think I may have to invest in a nice super telephoto. Anyways:
I was following the upper eagle shortly after it had caught a small fish and was gaining altitude when the lower eagle flew in from above and inverted to close the distance. I almost stopped my sequence to just watch. Glad I did not.
Here they locked claws with the first eagle losing its grip on its prize.
Still locked, they began to tumble mid-air.
And still in the tumble.
Disengaged, the defending eagle dove for the fallen morsel.
To the victor, the spoils.
Finally just a shot of a soaring eagle that was kind enough to get in close.
Things I learned:
1. The 100-400mm is nice...but, I can now understand why serious birders have prime super zooms. I stayed at 400 pretty much the whole time. And I can see the image quality is considerably better from other photographers with prime super zooms.
2. If you have an extra camera and medium zoom, have it ready for when the eagles get under your range. They will and chuckle when you can't focus on them.
3. While the 100-400mm is compatible with teleconverters, for birding it is not as practical as one may think. Attempting to manually zoom while tracking is difficult and best left to those who know what the heck they are doing.
4. Don't fiddle with other things while out at your spot. Eagles (and I am sure most birds) know when you do this and will do cool things when you are not ready. I lost a few good shots because I was responding to texts from my wife. Next time, I will be conveniently in an area with no reception.
5. Finally, while one may not always be able to fill the viewfinder with the subject, shoot anyways because one may never know what cool web only shots you'll get.
