Bald Eagle, Mississippi River, Le Claire, Iowa, January 2016
Last winter was a mild one and the Mississippi River wasn’t frozen all the time. Further north in Minnesota it obviously was and because Bald Eagles need to eat, they come south where they can find some open water. I was eager to get out with my new SIGMA 150-600 lens and test it in the field. The prime spot for shooting Bald Eagles along the Mississippi is lock & dam #14 in Le Claire, Iowa and that’s where I went again in January a couple times.
Of course, most of the time we aim for those shots where the bird looks big in the frame (without cropping) and I made my good share of it. The quality of the new lens exceeded my expectations. But sometimes I want a little more of the environmental aspect of the story in my picture. Gesture is the third ingredient for a good image, beside light and color, and that’s why you see me making clicks like the one above.