Sky Watch Friday: Immature eagle

This is the time of the year when bird watching in Minnesota can get to be difficult. First of all many of the birds have migrated south for the winter and most of the fun winter species have still not made it this far south. Then there are so many days of skies filled with gray clouds, that type of light makes it hard to photograph anything. Don't forget cold temps and snow which require gloves and lead to fogged up glasses which also do not help when you are trying to get that great shot. But it is also this time of the year when I rediscovered my love of nature and began this adventure in birding and wildlife photography.

Minnesota has a very healthy population of bald eagles. This was not so when I was younger but because of federal protection and the ban on DDT eagle populations have been increasing each year. In Minnesota, during the warmer months of the year, the eagles spread out across the state. You can usually find some at each of our many lakes and rivers. However, during the winter they congregate where ever the water does not freeze. This gives us several reliable spots where you can see eagles in good number during the winter. Back in 1999 I made some big changes in my life. I left retail sales and left my small entertainment business and went to work at a corporate job. This allowed me a luxury that I had not had since I was a kid, time. Time to enjoy life, and to enjoy nature again. It was at about this time that I found out about the eagles that gathered on the south Mississippi River at this time of year and after my first visit I was hooked.

Since that time I have made many visits down to the river during the winter to photograph the eagles. This picture was taken early this year at Colvill Parkin Red Wing, MN. Both pictures are the same except the second is cropped in on the eagle. When you see pictures of clear blue skies like this taken in Minnesota during the winter time you can be pretty sure that it was extremely cold.