{"id":1909,"date":"2011-02-17T18:50:21","date_gmt":"2011-02-18T01:50:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=1909"},"modified":"2025-07-28T12:07:44","modified_gmt":"2025-07-28T17:07:44","slug":"an-amazing-encounter-or-two","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2011\/02\/17\/an-amazing-encounter-or-two\/","title":{"rendered":"An Amazing Encounter…Or Two With A Young Bald Eagle"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"PortraitPortrait of a one year old Bald Eagle – Nikon D200, f\/10, 1\/125, ISO 250, Nikkor 200-400mm with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

I’ve found Bald Eagles difficult to approach most of the time which is why a long lens is often needed.\u00a0But not this one year old bald eagle, it has actually flown into an area where there are 8\u00a0or more photographers\u00a0standing with their tripods and gear which\u00a0has been very surprising.<\/p>\n

I first saw this yearling bald eagle yesterday perched on a post on the side of a culvert posing for the other photographers that were already there. After a bit the bird flew off to the west and I liked the previews I was seeing on my LCD screen of the images I had taken of it. I thought it was very tolerant of the people and photographers viewing and photographing it.<\/p>\n

I mentioned this bird in my post yesterday: Bald Eagles \u2013 Age Progression from one to five years old<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

A little later on a juvenile bald eagle flew from the west towards the group of photographers\u00a0I was standing with and glided about 10 feet over our heads to land on a post not 15 feet from us. By now I was amazed and astonished by the behavior of this yearling bald eagle.<\/p>\n

\"HorizontalOne year old Bald Eagle portrait –\u00a0 Nikon D200, f6.3, 1\/250, ISO 400, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

After about a half an hour the bird flew off but then returned again to land on a sign post near the road. When I left the young bald eagle was still\u00a0perched on the post\u00a0seemingly undisturbed by human presence.<\/p>\n

I’ve\u00a0observed at times\u00a0where younger birds seemed a little less bothered by human presence before but they were nothing like this eagle who appeared to show no fear. The eagle appeared very healthy, it flew in and out several times and\u00a0its eyes were clear and bright. No signs were visible that it might be ill.<\/p>\n

I puzzled about it last night and felt very privileged to have seen this behavior and to have photographed the bird.\u00a0It stayed for awhile and flew off. I thought it might be the last time I’d see the eagle but I was wrong.<\/p>\n

This morning when I went out to the same location to photograph birds and I was amazed as I saw the one year old bald eagle perched on a sign post. Stunned may be more like it.<\/p>\n

I took some images of the young eagle and then walked to the other side of the road to try and get some images of the other eagles in the area and kept turning to see if the bird was still there. It lifted off after a bit and flew towards the west into the stands of phragmites in the marsh.<\/p>\n

\"OneOne year old Bald Eagle in flight –\u00a0Nikon D200, f6.3, 1\/1250, +1.3 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

The other eagles were not\u00a0getting close enough to take images\u00a0so all of the photographers were standing around chatting. I noticed a bird lift up out of the phragmites and said “bird up” as the juvenile flew straight towards us\u00a0and we all started to take images.\u00a0As the\u00a0eagle flew closer and closer and I thought we’d get a fly over.<\/p>\n

Imagine the surprise that we all felt when it landed on\u00a0a snow covered\u00a0railing not 12 feet from the closest photographer!<\/p>\n

It was so close I had to walk across the road with my tripod and camera to get full body shots!<\/p>\n

\"PerchedPerched one year old Bald Eagle\u00a0– Nikon D200, f10, 1\/200, ISO 250, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 225 mm, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

The one year old Bald eagle didn’t stay there long, I only took 60 images before it flew away. Maybe it will show up again the next time I am out photographing in that location.<\/p>\n

I mentioned on\u00a0an earlier\u00a0post here that some days are magic. I’ve just had two more!<\/em><\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Bald Eagle photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n

PS: I do hope this one year old does develop more hesitation to be around humans, not everyone would respect its boundaries like the people\u00a0& \u00a0photographers have the last two days.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’ve found Bald Eagles difficult to approach most of the time which is why a long lens is often needed. But not this one year old bald eagle.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":121433,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[151,27,1022,697,26],"tags":[846,4021,2663,4142,3903,3133,3830,834,4052,4122,4152,4067,4071,56,4094,4069,1052,4104,4046,153,4050,373,1816,4193],"class_list":["post-1909","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bald-eagle","category-avian","category-davis-county-utah","category-farmington-bay-wma","category-utah","tag-bald-eagle","tag-bird-photography","tag-birds-of-prey","tag-close-up","tag-eagle","tag-eagles","tag-fence","tag-fence-rail","tag-flight","tag-flying","tag-haliaeetus-leucocephalus","tag-immature","tag-juvenile","tag-juveniles-2","tag-marsh","tag-mountains","tag-one-year-old","tag-perched","tag-portrait","tag-raptors","tag-snow","tag-winter","tag-yearling","tag-young"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/bald-eagle-horizontal-portrait-mia-mcpherson-5808.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-uN","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":17223,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/11\/28\/sometimes-i-wonder\/","url_meta":{"origin":1909,"position":0},"title":"Sometimes 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McPherson","date":"November 16, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Today, I'm sharing a view and video of Charleston Lake shrouded in fog, with a Bald Eagle perched high in a tree. It was a beautiful start to the morning.","rel":"","context":"In "Arkansas"","block_context":{"text":"Arkansas","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/arkansas\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Bald Eagle in a fog on Charleston Lake Park, Franklin County, Arkansas","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/bald-eagle-fog-charleston-lake-mia-mcpherson-7242.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/bald-eagle-fog-charleston-lake-mia-mcpherson-7242.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/bald-eagle-fog-charleston-lake-mia-mcpherson-7242.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Twice in the past two weeks I have seen Bald Eagles, one four year old bird in flight over the marshes at Farmington Bay WMA and one juvenile perched in a tree up in Box Elder County.","rel":"","context":"In "Bald Eagles"","block_context":{"text":"Bald Eagles","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/diurnal-raptors\/bald-eagle\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult Bald Eagle in flight on a cloudless sky, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/bald-eagle-adult-flight-mia-mcpherson-5313.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/bald-eagle-adult-flight-mia-mcpherson-5313.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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