I was perusing through the archives yesterday and came across some images of Bald Eagles from Homer Alaska.  These were taken in March, 2004 with a 2 mega-pixel Nikon camera ... it was state of the art at the time and could capture 6 or 7 frames per second.  

I was fortunate to go with my mentor Moose Peterson  who led a small group to Homer Alaska where we met Jean Keene.  She had a small "compound" consisting of several old mobile trailers on the Homer Spit.  She was an original character, a former rodeo trick rider, professional truck driver, and foreman of a fish processing plant in Homer, who took to feeding wild bald eagles with scraps of fish. You can read more about Jean here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Keene.  It was from her compound that I took these images. 

Bald Eagles come in two flavors.  First, the mature bird:

And the inmature Bald Eagle:

Here is an image with the two versions side by side ...  a mother and child?

Bald Eagles are a contentious lot ... always squawking; warning others to stay away; and, whenever possible, stealing their food.

1/ 640s, at f/9.5 || E.Comp:-3 / 6 || 200mm || WB: AUTO 0. || ISO: 200 || Tone: NORMAL || Sharp: NORMAL || Camera: NIKON D2Hon: 2004:03:23 09:39:32 And, of course ... "monkey see; monkey do"!

As always, it was awesome getting close to experience these wild creatures in person:

1/ 1250s, at f/5.6 || E.Comp:-3 / 6 || 500mm || WB: AUTO 0. || ISO: 200 || Tone: AUTO || Sharp: NORMAL || Camera: NIKON D2Hon: 2003:03:23 21:53:48 And, then there was the really, really close experience:

1/ 160s, at f/9.5 || E.Comp:-3 / 6 || 200mm || WB: AUTO 0. || ISO: 200 || Tone: NORMAL || Sharp: NORMAL || Camera: NIKON D2Hon: 2004:03:23 09:21:12

Homer has an interesting harbor housing some of the Alaskan fishing fleet.  On a walk-about, I spotted one boat flying the Stars and Stripes upside down ... sometimes used as a symbol of distress.  I took some pics of the flag and then combined it with an image of an eagle.  It seemed to be to be a natural juxtaposition (Peter, that's a Word-wealth word!). 

It was a great experience that can't be repeated as Jean Keene was "Grand-Mothered" in, and after her death, the city of Homer passed a law forbidding feeding wild birds.  

Happy Earth Day!

Adam