Behind the scene at L&D 14

I have plenty of photos to go through from 1-29 & 30-11. It was Le Claire' Eagles Day and there was a decent crowd on Saturday. The eagle activity was hot and cold with no birds flying for 30-40 minutes and then 4, 5 or more flying at the same time.
The first photo I took with my 500mm, the second photo my wife took with my 300mm. If you look closely in photo #1 you'll see KATODOG.
Ed

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And the infamous big binos!

Edit: God I look like a dirty terrorist. The Arab in me is showing through I think!

Sgt.Ed wrote in post #11749758
I have plenty of photos to go through from 1-29 & 30-11. It was Le Claire' Eagles Day and there was a decent crowd on Saturday. The eagle activity was hot and cold with no birds flying for 30-40 minutes and then 4, 5 or more flying at the same time.
The first photo I took with my 500mm, the second photo my wife took with my 300mm. If you look closely in photo #1 you'll see KATODOG.
Ed

WOW............

andrewhuxman wrote in post #11751824
WOW............

That's the typical reaction when people see me.

Or were you saying wow to that awesome piece of eBay hardware at the bottom of the shot??

katodog wrote in post #11751857
Or were you saying wow to that awesome piece of eBay hardware at the bottom of the shot??

What the heck is that? A scope??

It's one of these

Heck that is a lot better deal than that 400L I was thinking about Seriously I wish her well with it.

andrewhuxman wrote in post #11751824
WOW............

Actually, after thinking about it you can't be saying wow to me in the photo, you've had the displeasure of seeing me in person more than once. How you haven't gone blind yet is beyond me.

Heap64 wrote in post #11752194
Heck that is a lot better deal than that 400L I was thinking about Seriously I wish her well with it.

Funny thing is that you can actually catch a good copy of those freaks, and if you have the right conditions they don't do too bad. It's funny to see one "out in the wild" but if it's done right I would bet it gets some halfway decent shots. I have an Opteka 500mm that's a fairly useless piece of junk, but giving the right settings it doesn't do half bad.

with all this weather that is coming my way, then heading your way I am not sure I will make it out to play on Saturday. This cold snap might help keep the eagles around, so if not this weekend maybe next.

SteveJa wrote in post #11752342
with all this weather that is coming my way, then heading your way I am not sure I will make it out to play on Saturday. This cold snap might help keep the eagles around, so if not this weekend maybe next.

I'm with you Steve. I don't think I want to chance a drive on the open highways with the wind they are predicting. I was planning on taking Thursday off, but I'm reconsidering with the forecast.

Jason (wanderlost) just created a time lapse at L&D 14 from his trip in late Jan. 2011. He gave me permission to add it to my first post to give others another taste of what it is like to visit this place.
Check it out:
http://www.flickr.com/​photos/w4nd3rl0st/5412​519638/

Go check out his thread with some of the individual images he posted.

Maybe he will add some of his own comments about it here.

Chris wrote in post #11768642
Jason (wanderlost) just created a time lapse at L&D 14 from his trip in late Jan. 2011. He gave me permission to add it to my first post to give others another taste of what it is like to visit this place.
Check it out:
http://www.flickr.com/​photos/w4nd3rl0st/5412​519638/

Maybe he will add some of his own comments about it here.

Chris - thanks for linking it here, I consider that a big honor (this is one of my favorite threads).

I made the series while I was in Le Claire last week for the bald eagle days. It's my first attempt at something like that, so it might be a little rougher than what you guys are used to. If you saw my beige truck with the suction cup mounted Rebel parked out front, that was me - or the camera anyway. 1 frame per minute for 8 hours.

I was hoping to get more lenses swinging back and forth in the air, but at least you guys can see all the people accumulating. If you look closely about 1/3 of the way in, you can see the tree on the island completely filled with birds. There were 17 at one time, and probably more on the other side.

If anyone wants any more information on the camera mount let me know. Here's a picture of the rig:

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Jason
I remember seeing your set-up. Now I understand what you were doing. Very nicely done. It really is a remarkable place. Thanks.
Ed