Wintering eagles
The first wave of our wintering eagles returns Nikon Z8 with Z180-600 and 2X teleconverter for a 1070 mm effective focal length - 1/1250 sec, f/13, ISO 720
It’s that time of year up here in the Hudson Valley when we nature photographers/birders look for ice forming on the river. The Hudson is a long river, extending 315 miles all the way from New York Harbor up to its source at Lake Tear of the Clouds high in the Adirondack Mountains. Back on January 3rd, the blog post centered on the importance of open water to our avian wildlife in winter. The Bald eagles represent one of the strongest pieces of evidence for this reliance on unfrozen bodies of water as they are driven down from the north in search of areas where they have access to their primary food source - fish. Our section of the Hudson retains large areas of open water as the ponds and lakes up north freeze solid blocking the eagles from grabbing their pray. Today, I’m out in the field driving along the banks of the Hudson in search of some of the eagles who have come south to dine.
You can see ice forming along the edge of the River where Doodletown Brook flows into the Hudson
At one of our more reliable eagle roosts during the winter month, I was disappointed to find that there were no eagles on site. The ice flows out on the river were few and far between here. Eagles are not the only birds looking for open water this winter, however, and other birds like these Common mergansers have made the journey and are taking advantage of the situation here at George’s Island along the Hudson this morning.
Only a few miles further north at Verplanck, the ice flowing down the river was more abundant and some of the hoped-for eagles had taken advantage of the ice platforms to hang out and wait for some tasty fish to come swimming by. Only a week ago, there was no ice to be found in this section of the River and only a few resident eagles were around.
A few more miles north brings us to China Pier in the town of Peekskill. Here in Peekskill Bay, a large mass of ice has accumulated as the ice from the north is pushed southward into this eastern section of the river. I found 6 more eagles on the ice here…..a promising sign of things to come. In years past, we have counted over 250 Bald eagles in the 14 mile stretch of river from Croton to Bear Mountain. Seeing the 16 eagles on the ice that I observed today is hopefully an indication of things to come this winter.
An adult Bald eagle photographed with the Nikon Z8 and Z 180-600 zoom lens fitted with the Nikon 2X teleconverter for an effective focal length of 1200mm.
1/1250 sec, f/13. ISO 500
Tech Tip - The Hudson River in the section I was driving along today can get up to over 3 miles wide. Most of the eagles observed are out towards the middle of the water, so I found it necessary to augment my already respectable 600 mm focal length with a 2X teleconverter. This device serves to double the focal length of your lens giving you much more reach. No free lunch though….with the extended reach, you get less light entering the camera and the opportunity for more distortion due to “heat shimmer” and intervening dust and debris between you and your subject. However, given today’s conditions, the water and the air temperatures at the time I was shooting were pretty much the same. Convection in the air was therefore at a minimum and the fuzziness in photos caused by this “heat shimmer” was minimized. Also, the wind was calm, so very little dust and debris was in the air. The new mirrorless cameras and the associated teleconverters do a far superior job in amplifying your reach and providing quality images than older DSLRs could afford.
