Our National Symbol
 

I have only seen Bald Eagles on TV Shows, in Magazines and at the Zoo. But Yesterday I was able to photograph one in the wild. This is the first real Wild Bald Eagle I've ever seen. I feel fortunate I was at the right place at the right time.

This picture was once again taken at Radnor Lake which is where I take the majority of my wildlife photos. I have been told by Park Rangers that there were 17 sightings of Bald Eagles around the Lake last year (2015) and the numbers for this year are not in yet. So this is sort of a "Rare" event.

The picture is not the best of quality as it was very early morning, low light conditions. I had to shoot with an ISO 3200 setting. The bird I would estimate was about 1/4 mile away. He was on the opposite side of the lake. I was using a 300mm lens with no tripod. My shutter speed was 1/400 and my aperture was f7.1.

Very nice, Karl. Awesome, majestic bird. Congrats on the sighting!

What in the world is that?
 

If you guessed "It's an Egret" you are correct.

And We thought they were only found in Florida.

I was "Lucky" to see this bird and grab this shot. One of the Local Game Wardens told me that there has never been an Egret Sighting on this lake before. Never! This 1 Egret showed up 3 days ago and everyone is talking about it and grabbing photos.

He/She was fairly close to the bank so the picture was easy. I had the 70 to 300mm lens set at 210mm. Light was early morning partly cloudy, F5.6 was the aperture, the ISO was 3200 and the shutter speed was 1/320.

Beautiful! You are lucky to among so much beautiful wildlife. Thanks for sharing.

Cool photo -congrats! The next time take a tripod, please.

ummm..... no thank you. I travel as light as possible.

Besides, I don't remember asking for your critique or opinion.

Out for a Sunday morning swim
 

I'm no duck expert, so I can't say what type these are.

They were just slowly swimming across the lake.

200mm lens, Early morning light, ISO 400, F11, 1/40 Shutter. All manual selections and focus.

Wow, Karl. I love this photo. The white and blue pattern with the black silhouettes is so neat.

Does the Canon 1200D have a manual focus assist? It's pretty useful for handheld shots especially. On Sony cameras it's called peaking?

Not sure what you mean by manual focus assist. I can Auto Focus or Manual Focus.

I try whenever possible to Run in Manual Mode.