A solid overcast day, with raindrops starting to happen . . .
Canon 400D, Canon 100-400 IS, ISO 400, 400mm, 1/800 at f/10, Short farm, Center Valley near Chimacum, WA
There's a story that goes along with this that I thought worth sharing.
Roger Short is a farmer who puts between $15,000 and $20,000 a year into conservation, out of his own pocket, not often getting any recognition for the work he does for wildlife.
A lot of eagles visit the farm, particularly during the calving season. (Placentas are a particular treat for them.) When eagles use power poles for perches, they sometimes make a mistake and get electrocuted. For years, Roger has been trying to get the power company to make the poles safer, to no avail . . . until a couple of years ago when he became really frustrated and took a casualty to the local power company office and hand-delivered it to the front desk. Still no action.
A couple of weeks after that incident, it happened again, so he brought another one to the office.
Shortly thereafter, Potelco showed up at Roger's farm and installed extensions the tops of the poles, with T-bars like the one you see in the photo, the entire distance of the power line across the valley. Since they were installed, no eagles have died at the farm.
After this eagle had posed for me for awhile, it turned to the right and launched. You can see that his left foot is already nearly trimmed up for flight, while the left is still extended. The wings are nearing the bottom of the initial downstroke, with the left wingtip showing the flexibility of the primaries. (If you've ever had an eagle primary in your hand, you'll have an appreciation for how much power there is in those wings.)
Love the fact there are some bird shots on this forum as of late. Your commentary makes this a much more interesting shot to me. My wish would be for the left wing to be about an inch lower for some eye contact. Isn't it frustrating how birds never get the memo on which direction to take off for us.
I wish there were more Roger Short type landowners in the world.
Know what you mean . . . If my shutter finger had about a 1/50 second delay on it that day, I'd have had the entire head up. Still, having at least a peek-a-boo keeps the photo alive.
I think there are a lot more Rogers in the world than we know. Long-time rural landowners tend to be highly self-sufficient and deeply connected with their land. Nearly all of them not only enjoy the full diversity of what that means, and do their best to make good things happen. They just are not the kind of folks who would ever dream of boasting about it.
Super story and photo. Looks like persistence (sp) unfortunately with a few casualties paid off. Its been awhile since i've seen an Eagle around my place, salmon runs are dead and gone, a few on Hood Canal, but thats it. Thanks for sharing. Cliff
Posted by John Williams on March 10, 2008 at 12:57 AM
Good for Roger and, finally, for the power company! Thanks for the photo with a tale.
Discussion
5 repliesCanon 400D, Canon 100-400 IS, ISO 400, 400mm, 1/800 at f/10, Short farm, Center Valley near Chimacum, WA
There's a story that goes along with this that I thought worth sharing.
Roger Short is a farmer who puts between $15,000 and $20,000 a year into conservation, out of his own pocket, not often getting any recognition for the work he does for wildlife.
A lot of eagles visit the farm, particularly during the calving season. (Placentas are a particular treat for them.) When eagles use power poles for perches, they sometimes make a mistake and get electrocuted. For years, Roger has been trying to get the power company to make the poles safer, to no avail . . . until a couple of years ago when he became really frustrated and took a casualty to the local power company office and hand-delivered it to the front desk. Still no action.
A couple of weeks after that incident, it happened again, so he brought another one to the office.
Shortly thereafter, Potelco showed up at Roger's farm and installed extensions the tops of the poles, with T-bars like the one you see in the photo, the entire distance of the power line across the valley. Since they were installed, no eagles have died at the farm.
After this eagle had posed for me for awhile, it turned to the right and launched. You can see that his left foot is already nearly trimmed up for flight, while the left is still extended. The wings are nearing the bottom of the initial downstroke, with the left wingtip showing the flexibility of the primaries. (If you've ever had an eagle primary in your hand, you'll have an appreciation for how much power there is in those wings.)
I wish there were more Roger Short type landowners in the world.
I think there are a lot more Rogers in the world than we know. Long-time rural landowners tend to be highly self-sufficient and deeply connected with their land. Nearly all of them not only enjoy the full diversity of what that means, and do their best to make good things happen. They just are not the kind of folks who would ever dream of boasting about it.
Laurie