March, 2013
We've just got back from an amazing and breath taking trip from a spectacular place in Norway. Physically we are back in London but all our thoughts are still with majestic Golden and White-tailed Eagles. This eagle adventure was much more than we expected. All thanks to “Eagle Man” Ole Martin Dahle.
He is a man with big passion and huge love for eagles and wildlife. He is also well known for his friendship with a gull Charlie who enjoys eating while sitting on his head. Unfortunately we haven't met Charlie as he visits Ole in summer.
The first days of our trip were planned for Golden and White-tailed Eagle photography from a well-built hide in the mountains. Early start was a must as we had to get in the hide before the sunrise. In a pitch black hide we bundled up in the sleeping bags and sat patiently and quietly. Outside temperature was around -100C but inside was fairly warm. With every passing minute it was getting lighter and we started seeing silhouette of mountains through tiny windows of the hide.
The first Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) swooped down from the sky around 7:30 am. It is a really beautiful, powerful and large bird of prey.
Golden Eagle is a cautious and quite shy bird, so we patiently waited until it felt relaxed before pressing the shutter.
In the afternoon the wind was picking up and heavy clouds were moving towards us bringing light snow.
A few minutes later the snow became really heavy. There were no birds left around except a lonely Hooded Crow which perched on a top of a tree.
Such weather didn't last long but our lens hoods ended up being full of snow... Even if it is highly unrecommended we had to remove our lenses for cleaning… To our huge relieve, the birds were not distracted and visited us one more time. As nature haven’t decided what to give as weather wise, this time we were rewarded with a mixture of snow and sunshine.
The following morning was bright and cold with a deep blue sky. The hide was a bit chillier than yesterday, so we quickly jumped into sleeping bags and placed flasks full of hot tea close to us. Three hours later a Golden Eagle landed in the tree close to the hide. Luckily the light was still good.
The peak of the day was a remarkable performance of a White-tailed Eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla).
It is a large and impressive bird, but we could not stop giggling when we saw it’s funny and clumsy walk. It was a particularly memorable encounter. We simply felt in love with this bird.
White-tailed Eagle was quite active all afternoon. Unfortunately the sky was getting grey and gloomy, so we didn't get good light.
White-tailed Eagles are fairly easy-going birds and do not mind to be accompanied by Hooded Crows or other White-tailed Eagles.
There is lots of waiting involved in eagle photography, but it's not really boring. During a quiet period Eurasian Jays and Hooded Crows were brilliant companions.
There was not a lot of action for 2-3 hours but later Golden Eagle swooped down in front of the hide.
In the late afternoon the temperature dropped and snow started falling down. We were pleasantly surprised to be visited by a Golden Eagle one more time. 10 - 15 minutes later it flew away disappearing in the falling snow.
The next day was planned for White-tailed Eagle photography from a small boat in the Norwegian Sea. Norway has by far the biggest population of White-tailed Eagles in Europe.
For the journey to the sea we dressed in red overalls. We looked like hobbits in sumo wrestling suits but such an outfit was very helpful in the sea in temperatures up to -100 C.
During the first day White-tailed Eagles dived more than 20 times. Ole worked incredibly hard in positioning the boat in the best possible photographic position. White-tailed Eagle is a really large bird of prey with broad wings up to 245 cm (over 8 feet) wide. They may reach speeds of up to 60 miles an hour but dives of even faster speeds up to 100 miles per hour.
70-80% of White-tailed Eagle's food is fish. It could be either dead fish floating in the sea or washed ashore, left over from otters or sea gulls. White-tailed Eagles even try to steal food from other birds such as gannets, herons, ravens, gulls, crows.
White-tailed Eagles can live for more than 20 years. It's interesting to mention some data which could be read from the bird rings. For example blue ring on the right leg of the White-tailed Eagle means he was ringed in Norway. Red/silver ring means the eagle was born in 1989.
Overall it was a great day. Light sea sick didn't spoil the experience and we couldn’t wait for tomorrow.
As we planned to leave for the eagles in the early afternoon, the morning was spent photographing red squirrels and small birds.
This time the day with Sea Eagles was dedicated for more creative "arty-farty" photography as Ole would say. It was quite a challenge... There are some of our shots.
We could spend weeks at this location. Sadly but all good things come to an end.
On the way to the train station, we made a short stop to photograph Common Eiders.
Overall it was a brilliant journey. Hopefully one day we’ll be back in this superb place with a single malt whisky for a great man Ole Martin Dahle. His whisky collection already contains 120 bottles so it’ll be quite a challenge to find something unique but we'll do our best.