NOT REALLY QUARANTINED DAY ____.
I was motivated, well, at least as motivated as I can get during Pandemic-A-Go-Go 2020, to get myself over to Meridian Park on Thursday to continue my stalking of one of the resident bald eagles. I know where it hangs, and I was ready with my big ass 600mm lens.
Things started off poorly when I pulled into the lot at the same exact time as some dude and his dog, and they headed off on the trail towards the river. Shit.
Knowing that the dog would surely scare off any critters, I headed down the same trail but then went right around the large pond. That would surely give them time to move on from the river, and allow me some time to get some shots of some male red-winged blackbirds.
I got some shots, that I dug, and then made my way towards the river. Sadly, when I rounded the bend towards the beaver lodge and a good line of sight towards the eagle’s nest, the dog dude and his beast were still loitering about. Damn.
I backtracked a bit, wasted some time, and then a few minutes later, they were gone.
Upon arrival, the first thing I noticed was that the nest and tree in the woods across the river were void of any signs of the eagle. So, I impatiently waited around a bit hoping for its return, or at very least get some shots of the beavers along the river bank. I waited, paced, looked, peered, and cursed, but nothing was to be had.
After about an hour or so of walking around, I took me and my about to explode colon back home to poop, eat lunch, do some work around the house, and maybe make another stop at the park when I went out to run some errands later in the afternoon.
Around 3 PM, I stopped back at the park and again had no luck. I walked, paced, and cursed, and couldn’t find a thing to photograph. I was scouting the shore for signs of beaver when I saw what looked like a small aircraft pass by out of the corner of my eye. I turned, and sure enough, it was the damn eagle flying by! I fired off a shot, but it was crap and mostly obscured by trees. With that, I cursed my luck and headed for my car.
I got to my car, put my camera down, warmed my hands up, and was about to start the engine when I saw the eagle perched on a tree across the lot and on the other side of the river. Oh, SNAP!
I jumped out of the car and made my way towards it, stopping to take a shot every so often just in case it flew off. I got as close as I could, which was not that close, and then decided to try to find an alternate view down the trail.
I poked through trees, trying to keep an eye on it, but lost sight, and by the time I gave up and went back to the parking area, it was gone. Cuss!
I’m tempted to call the day of shooting a failure, but I did get some cool shots of other birds in the morning and at least saw enough of the eagle in the afternoon to get a couple crap images that were either out of focus, or blocked by branches.
Oh well, my newfound pursuit of eagles, birds, and beavers has given me something to do besides rant about the fucking fuck face in the White House, worry about dying, eat, drink, and sleep. I’m sure I will be making many more attempts in the days to come because it’s not like I have anything else to do.
Later.