I actually took these pictures the same day I took all my goose shots, but got so excited about how the geese turned out, I completely forgot about these! Feeble mind... ah well. There was quite a bit of frost everywhere and it was lightly snowing so the perfect chance for some "cool" (groan... bad pun) shots. I shot them in RAW and did a little PP for a wintery look.

mode: aperture priority ~ f/5.6 ~ 1/800 ~ ISO-200 ~ 55mm
mode: aperture priority ~ f/5.6 ~ 1/1000 ~ ISO-200 ~ 55mm

Eagles?

Sheryl, Tammy, and I went down to the roller dam to try for some photos of the eagles. Guess what? The eagles were NOT cooperating - there were only a couple, and they just sat in the trees and looked pretty. BUT, the Canadian Geese were more than happy to stand in for a photo shoot, eh! Tammy was our official goose wrangler. I had brought along half a bag of bread to pay... er... bribe the geese. I plopped my butt down and sat in the snow (TG for LL Bean snow pants and parka!) for an hour while Tammy chucked bread to the geese. I have to tell you - some of it ended up IN Tammy and some of it ended up IN my hair. We started out with one little mallard and ended up with a LOT of geese... probably about a hundred all told. So here's the math part: I took 494 photos and saved 43... so I ended up with 8.7% (yep - I'm weird - I like the math!!). So here are a couple of my favorites - I have to say, I think the head shots are my VERY favorites.

mode: shutter priority ~ f/5.3 ~ 1/1000 ~ ISO-220 ~ 180mm
mode: shutter priority ~ f/4.8 ~ 1/1250 ~ ISO-200 ~ 92mm
mode: shutter priority ~ f/5.6 ~ 1/1000 ~ ISO-200 ~ 220mm
mode: shutter priority ~ f/5 ~ 1/1000 ~ ISO-200 ~ 155mm

After getting my taxes done (blech!!!), I was on my way to the roller dam to take pictures of the eagles. I saw this guy all alone in a field next to the road. I stopped the van, turned off the radio, grabbed my camera and rolled down the passenger window. Pheasants are very flighty birds and I figured he would take off like a shot. Wrong... he walked around a little bit and I got off a few shots before he strolled too far away. Both pictures have the same settings:

mode=auto ~ f/6.3 ~ 1/2500 ~ ISO-200 ~ 300mm

Brian and I went to the Quad Cities today and drove along the Mississippi River to take some pictures of the eagles and other flying critters. We were told that this stretch along the Mississippi has the highest concentration of Bald Eagles in North America and is second only to Alaska in number of Bald Eagles. There were loads of eagles fishing and I got a few good shots (took 341 pictures and deleted all but 21 - do the math - that's only 6% - I LOVE digital!!). It always seems like they are just out of reach of my lens (70-300mm). My kingdom for one of those big monster lenses!! Anyway - here are a few of the photos:

mode: shutter priority ~ f/5.3 ~ 1/1000 ~ 200mm ~ ISO-200
mode: shutter priority ~ f/4.8 ~ 1/1000 ~ 98mm ~ ISO-200
mode: shutter priority ~ f/5.6 ~ 1/1250 ~ 300mm ~ ISO-250
mode: auto ~ f/5.6 ~ 1/2000 ~ 280mm ~ ISO-300

mode: shutter priority ~ f/5.6 ~ 1/1250 ~ 300mm ~ ISO-220

I am really hooked on shooting everything in RAW now. I took this picture after we received FIFTEEN inches of snow a few days ago. The first picture is untouched other than cropping. The second picture has been modified a bit. It is amazing to me how much better the photos look with a little help.
f/11 ~ 1/500 ~ ISO-200 ~ 55mm ~ lighting: sunny

Sheryl and I went to the river today. The eagles were not nearly as active as they were on Friday, but I did manage to get a couple shots. I also took some shots of the roller dam with a show shutter speed ~ my attempt at being artisitic again! Everything was shot in RAW.

mode: shutter priority ~ f/6.3 ~ 1/1000 ~ ISO-200 ~ 300mm mode: shutter priority ~ f/5.6 ~ 1/1000 ~ ISO-280 ~ 300mm
mode: shutter priority ~ f/5.6 ~ 1/1000 ~ ISO-400 ~ 300mm

mode: shutter priority ~ f/5.6 ~ 1/1000 ~ ISO-500 ~ 300mm

mode: shutter priority ~ f/40 ~ 1/10 ~ ISO-270 ~ 270mm
mode: shutter priority ~ f/40 ~ 1/13 ~ ISO-200 ~ 300mm

I went to the river today to try to get some pictures of the eagles. I did manage to get a couple decent ones. I am hoping to go back and try again this weekend. Here are my attempts from today.

An immature Bald Eagle.

mode: shutter priority ~ f/8 ~ 1/640 ~ ISO-200 ~ 280mm

Mature Bald Eagle

mode: shutter priority ~ f/6.3 ~ 1/1000 ~ ISO-200 ~ 270mm

Canadian Goose... he looks older (maybe it's the extra white).

mode: shutter priority ~ f/5.6 ~ 1/1000 ~ ISO-360 ~ 300mm

I love this little duck couple... both standing on one leg on the ice like they are very cold.

mode: shutter priority ~ f/5 ~ 1/1000 ~ ISO-360 ~ 270mm

And... my attempt at being artistic.

mode: aperture priority ~ f/4.5 ~ 1/640 ~ ISO-200 ~ 70mm