Eagle air battles

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Midway

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A few of the aerial challenges from Monday on Hood Canal. The first 3 are from a 34 image capture of a 360 degree plus spin after an eagle pair locked talons. I need to remember how to
make a better gif. The first effort introduced some banding.
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Those are great. My favorite is probably the next to last, where the eyes of both eagles are visible looking at each other!

I've never been to Hood Canal. How close can you get to the Eagles there? Is it easy to get a good vantage point?
 
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PhotoLover said:
Those are great. My favorite is probably the next to last, where the eyes of both eagles are visible looking at each other!

I've never been to Hood Canal. How close can you get to the Eagles there? Is it easy to get a good vantage point?
Click to expand...

It is easy to get a good vantage point, either from the beach where most photographers' set up just before the oyster beds begin or even up on the road. The eagles tend to keep their distance but are in plain view. Almost all of my images are at 840mm, a 600 with TC1.4, and most are significantly cropped. Thanks.
 
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Midway said:
It is easy to get a good vantage point, either from the beach where most photographers' set up just before the oyster beds begin or even up on the road. The eagles tend to keep their distance but are in plain view. Almost all of my images are at 840mm, a 600 with TC1.4, and most are significantly cropped. Thanks.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the info! I figured you were not that close, as I saw the metadata. But able to get unobstructed views with clean backgrounds is nice.
 
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Beautiful images. In case you are not just joking around about the air battles, this is more likely a courtship ritual. A well coordinated well matched pair will cartwheel through the sky with locked talons. It would be the equivalent of humans dancing...
 
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peachfront said:
Beautiful images. In case you are not just joking around about the air battles, this is more likely a courtship ritual. A well coordinated well matched pair will cartwheel through the sky with locked talons. It would be the equivalent of humans dancing...
Click to expand...

I am not an expert but believe we are well past mating season and courting season if they are the same. Most of the aerial battles involved food. I've also read the quote below and tend to lean towards that explanation but again, I'm no expert but understand they can be territorial.

It should be noted, however, that nonbreeding bald eagles may engage in this behavior antagonistically, as a kind of ritualistic battle. Joe Castrol
 
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Midway said:
I am not an expert but believe we are well past mating season and courting season if they are the same. Most of the aerial battles involved food. I've also read the quote below and tend to lean towards that explanation but again, I'm no expert but understand they can be territorial.

It should be noted, however, that nonbreeding bald eagles may engage in this behavior antagonistically, as a kind of ritualistic battle. Joe Castrol
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Oh yes, they're absolutely territorial. And they're absolutely pirates who steal food from each other.

On top of that, I phrased my comment poorly. Cartwheeling & food exchange displays can occur outside courtship/mating for the purpose of display to other pairs the strength of the pair bond or maybe just to reinforce the bond between them so that was a sloppy description on my part to say "courtship." The 360 degree cartwheel you described got me all excited that it was a possibility this was a true pair displaying is what I meant to say...
 
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