Bald Eagle w/ Sculpin

Here's a shot from last weekends outing to photograph the Bald Eagles at Hood Canal. It was a pleasure to have Dennis Plank along on the trip. Dennis thought this was probably a 4th year eagle, almost an adult.

The eagle has a Pacific Staghorn Sculpin in it's beak which is the main food source at this location. They aren't very big fish (although they do get a fair bit bigger than this one) but are abundant at low tide in this area. We counted at least 30 eagles on the beach and there were quite a few more in the trees behind us.

This image was taken sitting on the rocky beach from the private property which I have permission to shoot at. You get quite a few close fly bys at this spot as birds bring their catch back to the trees to eat. This image is full frame except for a crop from the left for comp, about 85% of the entire image.

MkIII 500F4 1.4x 1/1250 F9, iso 500, Manual exposure, handheld