emace's photostream  

On our way home yesterday we noticed a juvie RTH that had been hanging around on the wires along 97 was now hovering right over the shoulder of the road not 15 off the ground. MK stopped for a minute and I rattled off a bunch of snaps. This was the best of 'em.

Oh what a difference a clear sky can make. This is the same bird I posted the other day in the same place but with vastly better light. I'm definitely gonna go back to hang with him again the next time I get a chance. They just don't get any better than this guy when it comes to posing for pictures.

Yesterday MK and I drove up to Emiquon to see if we couldn't find the cooperative male kestrel I'd found on my way to LD14 last week. He had been hanging around the pond near the entrance of Dickson Mounds but the morning I found him the light was crap and I didn't have the time to wait for it to get better. Yesterday, though, the light was awesome all day long so we headed back up there. On our first pass through the area we saw no sign of our quarry so we drove around and explored a couple of roads we'd not driven before. When we came back, lo and behold, there was the male and, just a short distance away, was this female. She turned out to be very relaxed with us as well as the male and provided me with ample opportunity to get several pics but, at first, she was so unconcerned with us that she spent most of her time looking over her shoulder. MK had to honk the horn to get her to look back over my direction and that's when I got this look. Since she was so close to the male and hunting the same space I am guessing that the two are a mated pair and getting prepared for the imminent breeding season.

This pass was easily within 20 feet of me. Short of hanging out in Alaska, there might not be a better place to eagle watch than along the Mississippi. The problem in some places is getting close enough to capture any definition of the birds. At LD14, the problem is often that they get so close that you clip off their wingtips.

I always love it when I can catch these birds with their wings at the bottom of the down-stroke. It just conveys power to me.