Had an enjoyable photo experience yesterday. Goldstream Park is about 20 minutes drive from downtown Victoria, BC (Canada). Every autumn, salmon swim upstream to spawn, and it's a local attraction. It's not a great photo op, as the creek is in the forest, it's very shady, and the fish, of course, are under water. You can see their backs as they zip across shallow spots, but that's about it.
However, a month or two later, the bald eagles arrive to eat the dead salmon. The eagles, unlike the seagulls (lots of them), gather out in the open estuary, where it's nice and bright. Yesterday, January 3rd, I drove there to find up to a dozen bald eagles, sitting in trees and on the ground, as well as occasionally flying around. Unfortunately, they were 100 to 200 meters away, so even with 1000mm lens (500f8 mirror lens w/doubler), they weren't that big in the viewfinder. All the same, it was nice just to see them, and the information center had a remote videocam, which enabled visitors to get a closer look. It was 10C and sunny, and nice to be out without a jacket in early January. Hopefully the pictures will be good (tripod, mirror pre-fire, camera bag hanging off tripod, interesting subject). Pat White
