Bald eagle and ice floes

1DMKIV
F 600mm II
ISO 400
Aperture 7.1
SS 1/2500
90% full frame as I had to rotate image.

Baited with fish and fish bits cloned out.
Comments and critiques always learned from and appreciated with thanks,
Gail

Gail:
Fabulous flight pose with forward legs,well spread talons and nice wing position captured.
Love the colors,HA,details and beautiful blue water in between ice.Very nice composition too.
I am not sure about it's reflection,but may be silver line off the bottom will not harm this lovely image.

Regards,
Satish.

Awesome capture. Love the landing pose and you handled the whites very well. Love the environment. Nice one!

Great hunting pose and the icy environment makes it much more interesting, Gail.

Fantastic pose, nice job with the whites in harsh light..

Great approach pose, with the sun catching those feet just right. The ice floes really add to the image. Nicely done.

Wonderful action shot presented in beautiful environment. Exposure and details are spot on. However, cloning out the fish makes the eagle look a bit stubid as he/she is trying to catch the prey that doesn't exist.

The light is spectacular as is the pose. Love seeing the ice and the water. The image seems to need some CW rotation. I might consider a version without the reflection although that might throw off the balance. I understand the point made above about removing the bait. In this case I imagine it wouldn't make sense to leave it in b/c I assume the bait was lying on the ice.

Wonderful exposure you have here on the classical pose

Fantastic pose, light and exposure Gail...90% fulll frame is great...would love to see big version of this one..

Hi Gail, fantastic incoming pose, and I feel you have nailed the overall exposure nicely. This is sharp, and I do like all the ice in the image. Im fine with both the reflection and rotation as is. Well captured.

Hi Gail,
Great image. Love the action captured and the sharp details and exposure. i too think just a bit off the bottom.

I like the sharpness, exposure, setting and composition. I agree that removing the bait makes it look too unnatural.

Great capture! I think it's fine the way it is.

great landing, good exposure and details

Spectacular! Although I don't know what the fish (lunch?) looked like, with a great environmental/action image like this, perhaps leave it in? Otherwise, it kinda looks like the Eagle is attacking the ice. With just water, may work well, and cropped a bit. (since the fish would probably be below the surface.) The "prey", Eagle-eye and talons out may provide an even better "story", or focal triangle. Totally love the detail and intensity!

Lovely image the lack of Bait in the image doesn't bother me as the fish may be just beneath the surface of the water, i would look a taking a little off the top rather than the bottom, otherwise a stunning image well captured