Eagles' Shoot

Because cold weather and I do not get along, I haven't been taking too many photos; however, I was intrigued with the idea of checking out the bald eagles who head to our area for a couple of months. My sister-in-law, Mary, who also loves photography, was itching to take some photos, too, so we made plans to join the other crazy photographers who had positioned themselves at Lock and Dam 14 to photograph eagles! A member of the QCPC sent an email informing us that he would be at the dam at 1:00 on Saturday with fish to draw the eagles close to shore for photo opportunities.

So, Mary and I put on layers and braved the cold. My iphone's Google map directed us to the IL side of the lock and dam even though Mary had directions to the IA side. We decided to go with the iphone's Google map and with a few false starts, we found the road.  Despite not seeing any other photographers, we wanted to check out the area, especially when we saw eagles soaring in the sky along with other cold-weather birds. Our excitement dimmed somewhat when we realized that neither of us had the proper lens to photograph anything but what would appear as a black dot in the gray sky. Undaunted, we decided to walk to the lock and dam despite No Trespassing warnings and Surveillance Cameras are in Use signs, which were posted on the chain-link fence that surrounded the controls.

Giggling a bit nervously,  we reasoned that we weren't "actually" trespassing since we weren't going into the fenced in area but instead found a rough path that took us around it. Needless to say, we didn't get very far before we saw that the path was taking us to the gray and very cold Mississippi River. We did spot several majestic eagles, but again, they were too far away. By this time, we knew we were on the wrong side, so we headed to the car and crossed the bridge to IA. On the way back, we spotted several eagles in a far away tree of which I couldn't resist taking a photo. Since we're eternal optimists, we hoped that there would be eagles who were hungry enough to come close to the shore where the club member was throwing in fish.

We knew we were in the right place when we saw all the cars and trucks in the parking lot of the recreation area of Lock and Dam 14. We also knew, shortly after we left the car, that our photography equipment was lacking...severely lacking when we saw lenses as long as my leg and cameras twice as big as mine positioned on tripods to shoot the eagles. Even though we felt like the poor cousins with our meager equipment, we joined the others and walked to the end of the sidewalk, excited at the prospect of those fish luring the eagles close enough so we could take some photos that would actually show the bird rather than a black dot. All we saw. though, were seagulls, geese, and other birds...no eagles close enough for us. Occasionally, we would spot one or two...in the distance. One did fly over us close enough that if I squint I can tell that it's an eagle.

 Cold and bummed, we walked again through the gauntlet of long lenses, expensive cameras, and photographers who apparently knew they would be there awhile. We did spot an eagle in a tree close to the parking lot, so I walked as close as I could and took its photo. Even though we didn't get the photos that we hoped for, we made a vow to come back...with tripods, longer lenses (I'm going to rent one, and Mary is going to try out her telephoto lens that she thought was only a macro one), and a renewed sense of what it takes to photograph eagles.

Since Mary drove, she hoped that an FBI agent wasn't going to show up at her door interrogating her for possible terrorist activities.

What we do for our love of photography!!!