On my December trip this year, I was staying at Saratoga Springs, in the Congress Park section...I like being able to walk over to Disney Springs. Passing the little patch of pine forest just past building 1, I usually see nesting herons, various warblers, and other birds...and of course the usual assortment along the lake. Since this last trip was all about my friend Dave visiting from Texas to get his mind off of fighting cancer and going through chemo, I was letting him dictate what we did and where we went and wasn't making this a 'photo-centric' trip. To that end, I mostly just brought my A6300 with 18-135mm lens attached. The first day we got there, checked in, and decided to walk over to Disney Springs...I happened to look up in the trees and saw this guy: Very cool - a bald eagle, and just about 40 feet away, up high in the pines. I wished I had at least brought my 70-300mm, but he was close enough that with the 135mm and some cropping, I could at least see some details. Here's another snap: I just spent a few minutes, got a few shots, and moved on...Dave's not much of a birder, so I wasn't going to stay too long and keep snapping away. So the next day, we're headed over to Disney Springs to hop a bus to Polynesian, and then take the boat over to Magic Kingdom for the day...my usual circuitous route to get to parks in a more fun way. Walking through Disney Springs, what do I see flying overhead? Yep, Mr. Bald Eagle again! I still only had the 18-135mm lens, but took an in-flight shot just to document the moment: For westerners and some northerners, this isn't too big a deal...but eagles for me are very elusive. I've photographed bald eagles 4 times in over 15 years of wildlife photography, and of those, 2 other times were with ill-equipped lenses where I didn't expect to see them and at much greater distances...and one other time was with a proper birding lens but very very far away. Only one other time did I get to see eagles reasonably close...so even though I didn't have the right lenses, this was still a pretty neat occasion for me!
