The Steller's Sea Eagle (Haliaeetus pelagicus) - A Dinosaur Contemporary

On some occasions, in calm seas, my participants and I use zodiac boats, and we can get so close to the Steller’s Sea Eagle and White-tailed Eagle feeding frenzies that we can clearly hear the battle cries of each bird as we are so up close and personal, you won’t even need a super long tele-photo lenses to capture the action, a 180-400mm f/4 or a 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 or a 120-300mm f/2.8, and just in case I need a little more reach, I always have a 2X teleconverter and a X1.4 teleconverter in my pocket. A glass-like water surface and photographing from a zodiac boat is rare, but the possibility is always there.  I’ve spent over 25 years in pack ice with the Steller’s Sea Eagles and White-tailed Eagles, and I can tell you being this up close and personal to eagles in zodiac boats doesn’t happen everyday, but in the photo attached to this newsletter’s first image above, I was initially photographing Steller’s with my 120-300mm f/2.8, but out of nowhere, as the zodiac moved from a high piece of pack ice to a low one, I locked eyes with a Steller’s Sea Eagle mere meters away, “WoW, super up close and a little too personal I thought,” but I quickly put down my 120-300mm, and picked up my 24-120mm and took a few shots.  I could hear the Steller’s Sea Eagles making its dinner preparations as I floated by, but this raptor clearly wanted to dine alone and buzzed right over my head, and I could feel a strong breeze from it’s magnificent  wings, so I called out, “Anyone else get that shot?”  Everyone’s reply was, “No, we just saw an enormous Steller’s Sea Eagle fly extremely close right over your head,” so I decided to make my own reservations for dinner elsewhere.  Ever since that experience, for everyone who joins my Hokkaido nature wildlife photo workshop in zodiac boats, I have monopods and wooden poles ready, just in case a raptor wishes to perch on a participant’s head or shoulder; a Steller’s sea eagle or White-tailed eagle perched on a monopod would be a cool shot, but I don’t think it’s going to happen.  I tell participants that the monopod and wooden stick are never to be swung at any wildlife, just lifted up overhead, and the raptor will most likely veer away.  Safety is priority #1, and these raptors have long razor sharp talons.  As I sit here writing and pondering over it, a seagull might land on one? And it would make for a great portrait with a participant or myself. A possibility to look forward to on next year’s Hokkaido nature photo tour.