Eagle vs. Heron

Pretty cool interaction shot.

A visit to the blog is well worth the time.  Exceptional images and story. While this image is your favorite, Max, I prefer the one following it-the mid-air confrontation. What a great experience.

After viewing your website, I like the last shot as it gave a view of the heron's face, but I think the one you chose is more dramatic or at least suggests the impending drama.  All nice and it looks like a great interaction to have witnessed.

This is definitely pretty amazing.  After looking at your blog, I prefer the last color image you posted with the eagle on the left.  It reminds me of those prehistoric fighting dinosaur dioramas at the natural history museums.  What a thrill to be able to take an image like this with a wide-angle lens and not a 600 mm telephoto.  This is the kind of wildlife refuge I would like to see.  Unfortunately, in the US, the mission of the refuge is to protect the animals and not to cater to the photographers.  I have no problem with protecting the animals but it sure would be nice for some of the refuges to improve access for wildlife photographers.  Exposure to the wonders of nature through photography can only improve their mission over time, especially for the next four years.

David, you're right about there being a lack of similar set-ups here.  The only ones that come to mind are perhaps The Pond (where we see a lot of great camera trap shots) and Santa Clara Ranch.

I appreciate the feedback, everyone.  I like the last action image in the sequence quite a bit due to the dramatic wing spread of the eagle, but I must admit that photos on that side of the hide were very difficult to process.  It was a backlit scene and there was some distortion in the glass when shooting at an angle.  I'm not entirely happy with all the shots I came away with (some were cut off at the top due to the overhanging roof of the hide), but feel I made the most of what was possible.

Max

Hi Max--An epic battle for sure. You pulled the trigger at the right time and this one is a very satisfactory shot. Well done

Great capture!  Your photographic hide allowing you to shoot just off the water gives a unique angle of view.  Superb series of images as well.



Joseph Messenbaugh
 

Amazing to get such shots with a 24-70, Max.  It sounds like a really cool place to visit.  I tend to agree with your choice of favorites, but all the shots you posted on your blog are outstanding.


 

What a fantastic opportunity, Max!  This is a action shot with a very low and very unique perspective, almost as if you were a baby heron watching Mom defend you from the big bad eagle   Nice job with the exposure and it's a good thing you were using a narrow enough aperture to get great details on both birds despite the relative distances from you.  

What an amazing encounter and an incredible series of images to tell the story Max! I very much enjoyed your blog post also. These are the type of encounters that every wildlife photographer dreams about. "Congratulations"

Awesome Photo!!!

 

I actually saw your blog post before you posted this image here on NPN Max. I was looking your Yellowstone information and I ran across this set. I know you indicated some of the challenges you had capturing these but man you pulled off a great sequence of action. The low POV is truly amazing. Outstanding!!!  

Thanks again, everyone.

Steve, if you end up with any Yellowstone questions (even general questions, I'm happy to offer advice to people planning their own trips), feel free to get in touch.

Max

Splendid!

Great capture of a great encounter!
Congrats on a fine WP!
Sandy