Back Yard Bald Eagles / Deer Are Yarding Up / Super Sunset

After a crazy three and a half days at the day job, by Saturday afternoon I was mentally shot. The best way I relax is to head into the woods and fields. The sights and smells recharge my batteries and this short break from the rat race was needed. I am so thankful I live in an area where I can look up at the sky and have a better than even chance of seeing an eagle flying over our house or within 5 minutes in a vehicle be in the woods and wildlife.



Kind of funny as I can recognize my "pet" eagles on sight. They are pretty tolerant of me. They should be with the amount of time I spend pointing a camera at them from my car, a kayak, boots, flip flops, etc. I do like it when they cooperate though. The evening of the 18th they did.



No idea what she was doing here. Yawning out of boredom? The male was behind me a hundred yards or so standing out in the field working on a pheasant dinner.



Here is the male (smaller in size than the female). The pheasant is down in the snow.



At this points she was getting edgy and was closely keeping an eye on the male.



As she jumped off her perch, she made a nice close pass.



I love it when the eagles and the light cooperate. This was shot with a Nikon D300 with a Sigma 50-500 Manual mode, ISO 800 500mm 1/1000s handheld.







The best picture I have taken of tree branches in a long time. She was heading for the male at this point.



He didn't feel like sharing his meal so he headed for the shelter of the trees. She followed but took up a roost a little ways away from him.



What a wonderful Saturday night sunset over a Minnesota farm.



As I neared home, I noticed a field with quite a few whitetail deer. The deepening snowpack and brutal temps are starting to take their toll on the deer herd. Hopefully they can hang on for a couple of months yet or spring comes early this year.