White-Tailed Eagle about to grab a fish

[Joerg Rockenberger]

This image was taken early February at the Akan Crane Center near Akan, Hokkaido, Japan. Very unfortunately they had not a lot of snow in general and certainly no fresh snow for awhile before I went there with a friend making the snow cover - shall we say - rather unattractive for photography. Of course, the last night before I had to leave Hokkaido it snowed just enough to cover up all the hideous stuff from the previous days. But I unfortunately couldn't stay till the feeding at 2 pm when those eagles show up as I had to go to the airport. Grrr...

I've tinkered around the past day with replacing the snow background in this image with one from the morning after it had snowed but it looks entirely artificial and my photoshop skills are not good enough - yet.

Well, hope you still enjoy the action. Best, JR

[Randy Stout]

Joerg:

Nice wing spread on right wing, wish the left open a bit more. Sharp, well exposed.
Perfect timing.

Might consider a shot with the bird flying out with the fish, because having it laying there seems a bit odd.

Thanks for the detailed story behind the image.


Randy

[DanWalters]

Great action and perfect timing!

[Ofer Levy]

Great pose and techs. Not crazy about the fish just lying there though.

[Tin Man Lee]

The timing and the fierce look in the eye are great!

[Craig Brelsford]

Beautiful action shot. I think the snow is a complete non-issue. The BG is fine. What matters is the fish just lying on the ground.

[Joerg Rockenberger]

Thanks everyone. Yep, that fish on the ground is not something one sees often in nature. Wait till you see an image I took with a fish seemingly flying... :eek:

JR