Sunday Drives
There’s a Bald Eagle’s nest that sits over Point Pelee Drive approximately 200 meters from the gates of Point Pelee National Park. As I entered the park I quickly noticed one eagle perched high up in the canopy (above) and so I pulled over for a shot. As I drove further down the road I noticed another eagle perched just outside a large nest.
Once I parked and walked down the trail the eagle had flown into the nest and was barely visible. I waited as long as I could, hoping it would leap out or the other eagle would come join her/him, but I had no luck.
The picture at left is an iPhone photo showing traffic on the Drive and more importantly how far away the nest was.
If you’re curious how I get these shots, I use a 300mm lens with a 2x converter, which means I have a 12x zoom. It’s an overcast day and so lighting and shutter speed can be an issue. My settings were 800ISO, f10, at 1/1000sec. I often don’t shoot at f10, but because I was shooting through a lot of twigs and branches I wanted to make sure the Eagle’s head was sharp.
I then crop the photo to get as close as I can, while also paying attention to a decent composition. Framing (what to include and omit) is an important consideration. As is how sharp I was able to capture my subject (the Eagle’s head).
The above photo is an uncropped image. This is what my eye is seeing while looking through the lens at 12x zoom.
I then use Adobe Lightroom for editing, using tools like exposure, contrast, shadows and highlights. Once the photo has been edited and cropped I then use a artificial intelligence noise reduction tool. Noise is a grainy texture in a photo caused by low light or high ISO. Using the AI tool followed by the sharpen tool allows my images to appear very crisp and has helped tremendously with my birding photography.
The photos below are my final edits, including another visit a week later when I didn’t catch them in the nest but they were both flying around quite a bit.
Below are random photos from two Sundays I found myself out on the south shore are of Essex County - from the muck flats in Leamington to Big Creek in Amherstburg.
And finally, the American White Pelicans. These birds are not known to migrate here but in recent years that’s been changing - being seen in and around Holiday Beach and Big Creek in Amherstburg, as well as on Pelee Island. News reports of their appearance go back to 2017, but here’s the CBC’s Mike Evans talking to birders who travelled some distance to witness the majestic waterbirds last year.
