When the skies are gray in Vancouver in the summer time it's a sure sign that the Carters are on vacation! Instead of taking a long hike in the rain and clouds, we decided on a short jaunt to the Reifel Bird Sanctuary to try out our new Nikon D1x camera. Our 80-400mm VR lens is also relatively new and we wanted to verify that the combination would be nearly ideal for bird photography. Summer is not our favourite season for visiting the bird sanctuary, usually the sun is too contrasty for good photography. Summer and early fall is hiking season because the trails are in their best shape. We will be out hiking later, when the clouds clear.
At the south end of the sanctuary, only about 200m from the entrance, this young eagle found a great viewpoint in a dead tree. You can see that his adult feathers are coming in, but there are plenty of juvenile feathers.
This image was made handheld with the lens set at 400mm, f8 with the imager set to ISO 125. The inset at the upper right of the picture on this page shows the head of the eagle at its original resolution.