Eagle-eyed but headless?

There was one late correct answer to yesterday’s photo quiz. Well done Geoff. It was taken in Ushuaia, at the tip of South America. I had a variety of suggestions from a Mr. J. Peasmold Gruntfuttock as he claimed to have been Round the Horne but none of his answers bears repeating.

I was waiting at home for all the Long Valley buntings to migrate to Sai Kung when my old pal the White-bellied Sea Eagle did a fly past, accompanied by the even rarer Hardacre’s Headless Eagle.  And to prove it, here are a few snaps. I was almost happy with the last one (but not quite).

The eagle hasn’t landed

There were two White-bellied Sea Eagles circling over the house this morning. I was up at 5am to take Mrs. Ha to the airport and already working in my study by 8.30am. At 9.30am the pair was circling in front of the house and one was carrying a stick. Perhaps they had had words and it was an olive branch. But they breed between October and December so this may have been a gift from the male to the female on a hot date. Lucky girl. They were too close to get both in the same frame with an 800mm lens so here is Mr. WBSE with his offering.

All creatures great and small

After the relatively modestly sized visitors of yesterday afternoon, the laughing-thrushes, today’s visitor was just a little larger. Sporting a 7′ wingspan this bird drifted in on wings held in the classic V shape.

Say good afternoon to our White-bellied sea-eagle, Haliaeetus leucogaster.

Taken with a 400mm F5.6 lens, handheld. The most important thing with this shot was to get the right exposure compensation and this was EV +1  2/3.

With a black and white bird against a pale hazy blue/grey sky the histogram looks pretty darned boring!!!

Oh for some decent light! But hey, not everybody gets WBSEs over the garden coffee table so it can’t be all bad.