Bald Eagles at Conowingo Dam

Recently I took a day trip to the Conowingo Dam in northeastern Maryland on the Susquehanna River. Conowingo is a place where Bald Eagles congregate in the winter because fish are plentiful. Conowingo is supposed to be one of the best spots east of the Mississippi to view Bald Eagles. There are lots! It was really amazing to count 100 or more mature and juvenile eagles. There were many other birds as well. The place is sort of a bird watchers mecca.

The eagles were fishing and flying up in the trees to eat their fish.

There were lots of fish fights and skirmishes too.

I had never shot with a super telephoto lens before but I rented a Canon 500mm f/4 IS from my good buddy Roger at http://www.lensrentals.com/. Roger is very helpful and gave me some pointers for using the lens and fixed me up with a heavy duty ball head. For a horse photographer like me this was a real departure! That lens weighs 8.5lbs. I experimented with shooting on a monopod, tripod and even hand holding a few shots.

Let me digress for a moment and tell you that there were at least 100 photographers there with 500mm or longer lenses. Plenty of 800mms in fact. It was a stunning amount of big glass. You would think you were at the Olympics or something.

It was an amazing day, to be in the presence of those apex birds of prey. Super nice people too, those bird photographers. It was very different kind of shooting with big guys saying "Come on! Get in here, we'll make room for you so you can get a shot too." For this kind of photography it was all about gear and technique and a shared passion for the eagles.