I'm pretty obsessed with White-Bellied Sea Eagles. For some reason though, I rarely see them here. Except for when I least expect it of course, like soaring over our house when I'm putting the bins out, on their way up to the escarpment but hardly ever when I have my camera in hand, long lens extended, legs apart, rocking from hip to hip (that's my ready for photo taking pose for some unknown reason 🙄).
But our mini-break was filled with them. The hotel where we spent our first couple of nights had a pair that circled a few times. Huge, long, slow circles as they scanned the ocean beneath them which would have been fantastic if I could actually take a bird in flight photo but for some reason I just can't get the hang of it. That and I was also trying to relax and snooze so I did that thing where you lay on the bed and pull up the covers but you have no damn intention of actually sleeping because you might miss out on seeing something so you keep your eyes wide open the whole time.
But it's harder and slower than you might imagine to spot the bird, jump out of bed and grab the camera, focus and take a photo all with a glass of wine or two under your half itchy, half plush hotel dressing gown belt. So yeah, husband won our little sea eagle photo competition but as he doesn't have his own page you'll only get to see mine... *laughs in evil* We did watch as one of the adults swooped down behind the trees and just as we had pretty much given up on seeing it again, it briefly appeared with something very bird-like in its talons.
Once we got down to Narooma there seemed to be loads of Juvenile White-Bellied Sea-Eagles which have just the most incredible underwing markings but seem to enjoy taunting short, wanna be photographers with shoulder issues by flying overhead, directly overhead, lean back, neck stretched to its limit, camera pointed straight up overhead, in bad light and then soaring on thermals into heavily treed areas, popping out again in shadows, miles away, out of the reach of my lens. Bugger. Full disclosure: husband who was working under similar conditions minus the height and shoulder pain disadvantages MAY have gotten a couple of better shots - (he freaking kicked my arse!) But again, those photos will never see the light of day *deletes all his good photos - just to be sure*
We did have a really cool experience when suddenly a pair of juveniles flew out of the trees, flying really closely together. I'd never seen that before and I even questioned what I was seeing. They flew almost on top of each other and then separated apart, only to come closer together again, the further they flew away from us. And then just as they were nearly out of sight the larger of the two flipped over, talons stretched out, cartwheeling through the air, while the other responded and they almost locked talons. So what had we seen? Definitely an aerial display but of what? Maybe they were practicing a courtship display or testing out territorial displays. I don't know, but it was awesome and I felt super lucky to witness, even from afar. And you know what, Matt's photos are pretty shite of that whole event, so he can keep those ones 😂🙌
White-Bellied Sea Eagles (Adult and Juveniles)
Mollymook and Narooma
Bannisters by the Sea BIG4 Narooma Easts Holiday Park #abcmyphoto #mollymook #narooma #birdsofoz #australianbirds #backyardzoology
