It's Spring, and the Bald Eagles have returned to the park!
Oh boy, did I get some cool shots today in Beacon Hill Park. I had a lot of fun photographing ducks, geese, crows, and peacocks... but best of all, there is now a Bald Eagle pair in the nest in the middle of the park!
If you love photographing birds as much as I do, I just know you have some great photos of your own to share. To participate in #FeatheredFriday and receive an upvote & resteem, please follow these simple steps:
- Make your own post and use the tag #featheredfriday
- Comment below with a link to your post - This will get you a lot of extra exposure from the other participants. If you don't do this, I may accidentally miss your post because Feathered Friday is starting to get busy.
- Consider using the #birding tag in order to connect to a wider community of bird fans.
Let me show you what I saw today!
All photos taken by me with a Nikon D750 and a Tamron 150-600mm lens.
There has been a large Bald Eagle's (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) nest in the park for years. Last week it was empty. Now look who's back in town! A long-standing local legend claims that the Park staff cleans dozens of dog and cat collars out of the nest every year. I don't know if it's true.
Below: a slide show of one of the eagle pair approaching and landing in the nest. This is 18 sequential shots.
Now let me show you some of the other birds I photographed today...
Female American Wigeon (Anas americana)
Peacock - a male Peafowl
The Peacock was really shaking his stuff... Above and below we see the Peacock strutting around in a circle.
Below: the Peahen seems unimpressed...
Peahen - a female Peafowl
Female Mallard Duck (Anas platyrhynchos)
Male Mallard Duck (Anas platyrhynchos)
Canadian Geese (Branta canadensis)
Northwestern Crow (Corvus caurinus)
Thank you, @pixresteemer!
Posted an Eider shot already
and will post more later today!
https://steemit.com/birdphotography/@bluefinstudios/eider-eider-who-s-got-an-eider
Wow, cool looking bird. I'm going to check your post out now...
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Thanks very much, @esteemeapp!
Man, those are amazing shots!! And great to see the scientifics too, a lot easier to know the species now, thank you!
Thanks so much, glad you liked them :-)
You got a 5.57% upvote from @ocdb courtesy of @keithboone! :)
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That Beacon hill looks like quite the place!
https://steemit.com/featheredfriday/@karbon/oj4yq-featheredfriday
Yes, it's the best place for birds in the city. Love your woodpecker!
Thanks! Funny that parks and conservation areas in a city are better to capture birds then more wilderness areas... people feeding them I assume...?
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Lot's of people feed the ducks so that accounts for the huge number of them. The Bald Eagles are there because of the Heron Colony which moves into the park every spring. They haven't shown up in large numbers yet, but soon there will be 100 or so Great Blue Heron nests in trees all around the tree with the Eagle's nest. Bald Eagles just love baby herons... yum!
The eagle photos are fantastic. Great captures, Keith. U&R.
My link:
https://steemit.com/featheredfriday/@redheadpei/feathered-friday-ravens-and-crows-5bdd01581bf26
Thanks so much, I need help with ravens and crows. I'm not really sure what mine is, but I picked the name for a type which is common from Oregon to Alaska, so I think there's a good chance I got it right. I'm heading to your post now to learn the real facts :-)
Welcome Keith. I would say your crow is a crow because of the smaller beak.
These are the creme de la creme of bird shots @keithboone No wonder you had so much fun. I'm guessing you'd normally get quite offended if a female turned her back on you when showing an interest in her but I imagine you were very pleased see the rear end of that gorgeous pea hen when she displayed her feathers for you so beautifully.
A wonderful post my friend. Will submit mine Feathered Friday images shortly. (U & R )
Thanks so much, Trudee! Those are two shots of the boy, the peacock. The hen is the third one. The peacock shakes his feathers and stomps around in little circles hoping the female will allow herself to be trapped within his outstretched feathers. I appreciate your support!
Well, unless they are wearing blue hats or pink hats I can never sort out the boys from the girls within the bird species. 😄 It was great timing for all of your shots and I really did enjoy viewing them. Have a wonderful weekend my friend.
Thank you! I didn't explain in well - I think I've improved it a little now. Wishing you a great weekend as well.
Oh my goodness what extremely awesome
photographs @keithboone! Amazing capture
of that inflight sequence! That is so cool!
I see them crows and ravens are gathering
steem on steemit!
Here is some raven snacks we seen :-)
Thank you! You're right, the crows and ravens are taking over. Loved your post!
Holy moly sir Keith! wow, these are amazing. That's also very interesting about the Eagles and the rumor about the pet collars! I hope that's not true.
Thank you, @janton. I'm pretty sure it's not a true story. That nest is way too high up in a tree, the parks guys aren't going up there :-)
Here is my entry Keith.
https://steemit.com/esteem/@trudeehunter/feathered-friday-white-eyed-ducks
White eyed ducks? Wow, let's go see!
great eagle shots
Thanks very much, glad you liked them!
Excellent.
As usually.
Thank you so much! I'm happy you liked the post.
WOW, that's some majestic birds! amazing shots!
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Thanks very much, I appreciate the comment!
Your photos are amazing! I'm joining in with some simple shots from a restaurant patio table: https://steemit.com/featheredfriday/@kunschj/feathered-friday-i-feel-like-i-m-being-watched
Thanks so much, my friend. I'm happy to see a post from you, I'll go right over and check it out :-)
Fantastic shots. Those eagles are so majestic!!
Thank you! Birds in flight are my favourite subject :-)
My entry, have a nice weekend!
https://steemit.com/featheredfriday/@photowanze/heron-in-approach-for-a-landing-in-featheredfriday
That's a lovely Heron, thank you for entering!
Gorgeous photos!
This is my entry:
https://steemit.com/featheredfriday/@eto-ka/feathered-friday-dove-with-a-bloody-chest-golub-s-okrovavlennoi-grudyu
Thank you! I loved your post, what an interesting bird!
Hi Keith, this weeks entry :)
https://steemit.com/featheredfriday/@stevejhuggett/feathered-friday-sunset-swans-by-steve-j-huggett
Thanks for that fantastic entry, Steve! Well done!
Thanks Keith :)
The birds in flight are great!
Thanks so much, I'm happy you liked the photos! Have a great weekend :-)
WOW....you really got some great looking birds in that park i love the color and texture of that Female Mallard Duck (Anas platyrhynchos).
[Feathered Friday hosted by @keithboone - The Thailand Silver Gull !!](/featheredfriday/@hangin/feathered-friday-hosted-by-keithboone-the-thailand-silver-gull
Thanks so much, @hangin, that's a wonderful shot of the three gulls - one of the best shots this week. Thank goodness this isn't a contest, can you imagine having to choose winners from the selection of birds we get every week... If I was rich and giving prizes, however, this would be one of the winners! :-)
Thank you so much @keithboone ...yep you would certainly have a job on your hands there are some incredible birds in this world and it's so great to see these great birds every week i am really liking seeing all these species of birds and hopefully you do get rich or get a good sponsor for this blog one day and i am looking forward to going back to this place in the near future it will be fun to have more time there and do more photo shoots :)
Not to piggy-back on your bird choice, but mine are bald eagles this week too!
https://steemit.com/featheredfriday/@goat-girlz/feathered-friday-bald-eagles
I'm heading straight to your post, thank you for participating again this week!
Thank you so much for starting this tag @keithboone, a short post on Peafowl Family
Love your gorgeous photography!
Thanks very much! I enjoyed your post about the Peafowl family! :-)
This is my entry for featheredfriday.
https://steemit.com/featheredfriday/@schiba/wild-ducks-for-featheredfriday
Excellent! I'm heading to your post now :-)
First of, WOW, great photos 😲 What a perfect place for a bird lover!
My entry, Duck
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Thanks for posting in Feathered Friday!
My entry for #featheredfriday
https://steemit.com/featheredfriday/@maxili63/feathered-friday-a-pretty-flower-holding-a-cockroach
Very pretty! Thank you for entering!
Your feathered finds are wonderful. I had this one this week.
https://steemit.com/photo/@julieabbi2/hawk-in-my-yard
Have a great day full of feathers.
Love
Thank you very much, and thanks for sharing your post, I enjoyed it!
Wow, great eagle shots! Their nests are so amazing! And I really love your Crow photo, too!
Thank you, Melinda! That nest is huge and it's been there for at least six years, maybe a lot longer!
They are incredible, but because they are always high in trees I really had no good sense of how huge they really are until I went to the National Eagle Center in Wabasha Minnesota. They have one that you can walk inside of. It's on low platform with a ramp going up into it. It was astonishing to watch the kids that were there visiting with a school group go into the nest and disappear!
That sounds like an enormous nest. I don't know how big this nest is but it withstands the storms and high winds year after year.
I think when they are 30 or 60 feet in the air we lose persective of their true size. I saw that they can be 9 ft in diameter and 13 ft deep and weigh two tons.
A-M-A-Z-I-N-G photography!!! I really enjoyed all of these photos and I especially love the mallard ducks. : )
Here is mine: https://steemit.com/featheredfriday/@whatisnew/cardinals-and-red-finch-birds
Thanks so much! I'm excited to see your post!
Great action! Did you handhold with the Tamron lens? I have wanted one of those for awhile now
Yes, I always hand-hold it. I could never follow a bird if I had it on a tripod or even a monopod.
Yeah! Me either. I think that lens is a really great one for hand holding. I see guys with the bigger primes and they are sooo heavy. The shots must amazing but man i would be hurting lugging it around
Yes, for sure. Even this thing is too heavy for me after a half hour - maybe one hour tops. I can carry it all day long but I'm talking about actually using it, pointing and trying to hold still.
Congratulations @keithboone!
Your post was mentioned in the Steem Hit Parade in the following category:
Very cool, thank you!
Some great shots here as usual Sir Keith!
Please take a look at this rarity;
https://steemit.com/photography/@papilloncharity/pied-kingfishers-at-the-sea
Blessings!
So cool to see the Kingfisher throw that fish back and swallow it! I rarely get any photos of Kingfishers, they are too fast for me! Great catch - for you, and for the bird!
Just lucky I guess and a good thing that when I started to take photos, I practiced on Dragonflies!
Blessings!
Outstanding as always Keith!
Thank you very much! I was thrilled to see the eagles!
Those shots are all stunning to say the least, how special to be able to see the Eagles again this year.
Thanks so much! I love watching the eagles. I saw that one landing, then one bird flew away, then the other. I didn't get a shot of both together. I figure there are no eggs yet.
You are probably right, they are just beginning to stake their territory. Soon you will have photos of them. Awesome shots and I look so forward to more.