The Native Floridian – Wayne Roth Photography

It was a beautiful afternoon just right for taking pictures and going for a little airboat ride down the Econlockhatchee River.  Bald Eagles can make for some great Florida Photography. You never know sometimes you just get lucky and this turned out to be one of those times.  I have spent over 12 years riding on the St. John’s River and it’s tributaries.  To date I have only captured a few poor quality Bald Eagle pictures.  This time my wife and I were going for a little airboat ride down the Econ heading for some dinner at the Jolly Gator.  We stopped along the way to cast a plastic worm or two just to see if the bass were biting.  They were not.  So we fired the airboat back up and continued our ride.  As we rounded this bend there was a tall, leafless tree with Spanish Moss hanging off of it.  Almost to the top, silhouetted by the blue sky, perched a spetacular Bald Eagle!   He was beautifully lit from the golden glow of the setting sun.  Just the site of this eagle on his perch would have been worth the trip because we drove right by him and he did not fly giving us an incredible view!  So, going for broke, I turned the boat back around in hopes that he would not fly.  As luck would have it he did not fly and just sat there as I drove past again!   What luck I was having.  So I pulled off to the side of the flowing river and took my camera gear out of it’s protective case, a Rubbermaid container.  I usually don’t have my camera around my neck when I am driving because most of the pictures from a moving airboat, while driving and using a large lense, Canon 100-400 4.5-56 to be exact, do not make for great pictures. 

So I fired the airboat up once again for the money shot.  I idled right up to the bird, steadied the camera the best I could and took a couple of pictures.  Then I decided I would shut the boat off and get a couple more.  As soon as I killed the engine the Bald Eagle flew!  I few more shots and that was it!  Some of the in-camera pictures looked pretty good but the true test would come after the upload to the computer.

These are the pictures I came away with and they are my best Bald Eagle pictures.  A little bit of luck, a camera, and boat ride can go a long way sometimes.  My Florida Photography and bird photography has now been elevated to a whole new level.