26 December 2011

Eagles and a Solitary Snipe


Thanks to the kind offer of a ride up to Yakumo with Tomohiro I was able to get 2 or 3 hours with the eagles early this morning. There were lots around and the weather was surprisingly clear.

Of course we were concentrating on the eagles but bird of the day turned out to be this inconspicuous little fellow. Unfortunately my camera was on BIF settings when I took this, by the time I'd managed to change (only 1 or so seconds) the bird had flown off.


A Solitary Snipe, a rare and shy winter visitor that skulks around icy mountain streams. It was a lifer for me and a very nice surprise.............

Solitary Snipe
The eagles were sitting around in the trees mainly..........



There must have been a lot of snow yesterday in Yakumo as several of the places we usually stop were impassable.

I wanted to get some close up photos of eagles in the water but they fly off so quickly. I need quicker reflexes. Or an invisibility cloak. So trees it is..........

This one was very heavily backlit, I could barely see it looking into the sun and my camera could hardly focus on it either.


There were lots of adult Stellers today.........




There were also quite a lot of first year birds, hopefully the species had a successful summer in 2011.


Most of the photos today were of Stellers, here's an adult White Tailed Eagle.



Not much BIF action today, this was the best one.


I did however manage not one but TWO pictures of crapping Stellers Sea Eagles. Enjoy.


This effort was quite spectacular........





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9 comments:

  1. I suppose I could say "What a load of sh%$#". And the answer is "no" - back to normal tomorrow - today for you.

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  2. Wonderfull images, im always impress by the size of the beak of this bird!!! I wish you a happy new year Stu ;)

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  3. Hi Phil, actually the holiday here is over New Year, I have 6 days off coming up............christmas is just a minor blip here.

    Hi Dominic, I was impressed by the size (and power) of its' toilet habits......

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  4. Fine eagles again..... like the Solitary Snipe too. Not surprised it's "solitary" with a habitat choice like that...

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  5. Wow! My Boxing Day was spent sitting at a desk trying to follow the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne. Sometimes I got up and walked around. Great to see the young eagles after hearing that the last couple of years may not have been so successful. They all look fantastic in the trees too and comgrats on the snipe. The crapping pics are most dramatic as well. Good angles and exquistit timing with those.

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  6. Brilliant White-tailed Eagle Stu, I'd love to see one of those.

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  7. How I love the second shot of a crapping Steller's Sea Eagle! And of course, the Solitary Snipe is absolutely a great find!

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  8. John-that's exactly what I thought, if it hung around in padis it wouldn't be so lonely......

    Russell-well you stopped Tendulkar getting #100 today at least.....

    Christian-I'll swap you some for some of your Owls.......

    Ayuwat-yes, it was an impressive squirt that's for sure.

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  9. the second crapping eagle shot is particularly good, Stu. Coincidentally I just posted a crapping Munia on my blog; I think my best however was this - http://northernrustic.blogspot.com/2010/11/marthas-vineyard-ma-september-2010-1_02.html

    enjoy.

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