Maine Bobby Bradley Maine Bobby Bradley

Bald Eagle Fishing

I spent some time in Maine at the end of July after coming back from four months in Namibia.  I was a little unsure about how I'd fit back into the normal routine working and living in the US, but Maine provided a nice buffer.  It was my first time to Maine and now I'm hooked.  The food, the scenery and the weather are just amazing.  Never mind that it gave me a couple weeks of a nice part of the US before returning to the craziness of New York City.

After a week of working a gig in Old Orchard Beach a buddy and I drove up to Acadia National Park and Bar Harbor to spend a few days enjoying the area.  One morning we took a fishing tour of Bar Harbor and caught a bunch of random small fish and some mackerel that we later cooked into fish tacos.  

However, the real treat on that trip was a stop off to fish next to a larger island in the harbor where an eagle was hanging out.  Since we were mostly catch and releasing fish the eagle caught on real quick.  In fact, our guide said that it was common for the mature eagles to fish from the leftovers of the fishing boats.  Sure enough, once the first fish was released from the boat and the eagle begin to treat us to a show.  As soon as I saw him swoop down a little closer I gave up fishing and picked up the camera.  It was only a matter of a few minutes here and there to shoot him fishing and so I just set the camera to a few quick and dirty settings and sprayed and prayed.

I'd say that for every good shot I got of this eagle there were about 15-20 that were out of focus, underexposed, poorly framed or just lacking the eagle.  I've only had the pleasure of shooting birds of prey in flight so this was as much a learning experience as it was a nice experience. 

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