conowingo dam

great place for bald eagles

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eagle by LW_NJ, on Flickr


eagle by LW_NJ, on Flickr


eagle by LW_NJ, on Flickr

 

Another fall, and another year I don't make it there! ; Maybe next year. ; Great stuff Howie!


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Is there a good count there right now, and did they have the gates open at all, I ask because it's funny. 3 bodies 5d mk3, 5d mk2, and the rebel t3 , the wimberly gimbal, the 500 f4, the 400 f5.6' and the 70-300 are all packed in the car. Jumping out of here tomorrow afternoon so I can hotel up somewhere in the Elton/Aberdeen are to be at the parking lot when it opens Saturday


Yeah, I could go for a conowingo mania. I'd even take a day off if everybody wants to do a weekday

 

I will keep you up to date when I find out if the action has increased. I know a few days ago a guy I know had 1200 frames shot by 930am. said there was so many eagles in the air that you could pick your own to shoot

 

Well I'm committed to this weekend. I am on call every other week to the end of the year to help fund trips to pixelmania and back to wdw in January with my wife, niece, her husband and their 4 y/o daughter. Picture me being pulled around MK by a little princess. So it was this or risk the weather in 2 weeks. So it's all systems go, and here's to hungry raptors

 

just talked to a buddy of mine headed there tomorrow. he called a hot line to find out about them generating power. they are running the big turbines from 7-10 am and then running smaller ones after that. that stirs up the fish and the eagles do their thing. get there early if you can to get the action and get a spot along the fence. it can get crowded there sometimes.
this is the fence nic named the million dollar fence because of all the big glass.

Conowingo - Million Dollar Fence by Jerry_a, on Flickr
the 5dIII and the 500 will do the trick for sure. I use the 600 on the d7100. my bud just got the new Nikon 800 f 5.6. I got to try it out and all I can say is WOW!!!

 

outstanding. thanks, the mk3 and the 500 go on the wimberly. the t3 gets the 400 for handheld flight. mk2 gets the 70-300 as backup. got 2 thermos. 1 for caffeine, 1 for soup, hopefully the wawa has chili. got my folding chair for break time, weather is mixed clouds & sun in the upper 50's. good to go

 

ok, got back last ; night from a very long day at conowingo. we have got to have a birdmania day there. i have tentative plans to go back after pixelmania as all the experienced folks around me confirmed the population of eagles peaks between thanksgiving and new year. easy to find, i got there at 0645, which is a great time to arrive as i was able to park right across from a picnic table and could walk back and forth to my car for gear and treats all day. you definitely can use big glass here, although according to regulars later in the year when population peaks, you probably could get by with a 300, as many birds fly right overhead carrying fish and eat in the trees right behind the parking row. at 7:00 am the sirens and lights went off, keying the birds into action. the next 3 hours were pretty active, 1000 they shut off most of the turbines and things were sporadic the rest of the day. it was conowingo eagle day, something i did not know when planning this trip, they were shuttle bussing people in all day to a display set up by the dam, some free food, some goodies given away such as lunchboxes. there were some local falconers displaying there birds, there were some rehabbed raptors on display. all in all a very nice day.
My success rate was certainly nothing to write home about, i filled a 32 gb card on the mk3, which occurred right around 2:30, the sun was starting to leave the water , i had been outside since 0645, so i called it a day, but i'll be surprised if i have 100 keepers out of probably 1100 taken, maybe as low as 35, but that's more a function of my inexperience at panning fast birds in flight than anything else. i got to see the 800mm f5.6 canon of legend, there was an older man 3 spots away from me that i got to talk to later in the day. turns out he's shot for years for area outo racing news, we know quite a few modified people in common, and he rents it from canon pro service each year to come down to conowingo for a few days, man that is one huge, long lens





these are not all the same bird, and not the same fish grab, i just fast skimmed through some to get a couple up

 

Gary, the last one with the subtle color in the background is beautiful!

 

thanks, i'll be putting up a couple more as i process, first run through cut the numbers from 1135 down to 447, probably a good half of those won't make the second cull pass, but i must say, although i am thinking i'll be pretty close 100 or so are worthy of public viewing, and i have about 10 that i'm real satisfied with, including the last above

 

sounds like you had fun.yes it takes practice shooting them but from shooting ospreys and hawks at Forsythe I was a step ahead of the game. the real challenge is nailing the exposure as they cover a lot of tonal range
hopefully the feds wont close down Conowingo next year which there is talk of so after this eagle season that may be it which would suck big time. a guy that shoots eagles in Alaska said the Dam was even better than there. He thinks the dam is the best place in the whole US for eagles
my buddy bought his Nikon ; 800 5.6. only 18k
it is smaller and lighter than my 600 and has the new fluoride glass and it is sharp

 

Yeah, wish I had a spare 14K. That new titanium bodied 800mm f5.6 from canon weighs less than my 9 year old 500 f4, and even the new 500 weighs 3 lbs less

 

Awesome pics both of you! Why would the Feds close such a great viewing location?

Erich

 

something about pollution. has to do with the sediment I think and fish. I don't understand it but apparently some is leaking thru now but my question is what happened before the dam? supposedly they have a way to store the sediment but the storage is full being that it is holding the equivalent of 3000 aircraft carriers of sediment now. they do a lot for the community though and built a swimming pool on the other side of the dam and they have photo contests. it really would be a shame to lose it. it is rated the 2nd best place for photographing bald eagles in the US. 2nd only to Alaska. I am going again this Wed for the 5th time since last Nov. wish it was close. 2-1/2 hours each way which isn't too bad
http://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2013/07/02/conowingo-dam-relicensing-process-may-shed-light-on-bay-pollution/

http://lancasteronline.com/article/local/874909_Groups-push-sediment--eel--fishing-issues-at-Conowingo-Dam.html

http://www.bayjournal.com/article/scientists_link_restoration_of_susquehannas_fish_to_removal_of_dams

 

i think so highly of the experience that i'm already planning a trip again in december, probably the weekend right after pixelmania, if it was 2 1/2 hours each way instead of the 5 that it is for me, i'd be down there 3-4 times a season, and this is a season that really is for about 6-7 prime weeks, from mid nov to the 1st of the year. hell 2 1/2 hours each way i'd be able to day trip it easily. the problem isn't the drive, it's that during peak eagle time you need to be there on a sat or sunday when those gates open at 0600 or you cannot get a parking spot, let alone a space on the million dollar fence. where else will you ever see 200-300 500 or longer lenses in one place at the same time. and i noticed that a lot of those had crop sensor bodies hanging off them, to take advantage of that extra reach. 600x1.5= 900mm of f4 goodness. the poor man's 800, poor man being a relative term of course


sometimes the strike looks good



but comes up short, that's the fishes back behind the bird, but the bird behind him that was going for the steal got the fish



one of my favorites, coming in hot with all gear down

 

Wow! ; This stuff is just awesome! ; Gary, I may do the same thing the weekend after Pixelmania, will have to check my schedule to see.

 

I went 3 times last year within 5 weeks and once so far this year. one of my friends went Monday and by the time he left early afternoon the parking lot was full. another position to be at in the early morning is the boat launch which is at the beginning before you turn left into the lot. the sun is behind you and you are right above the water. I am supposed to go tomorrow but now the weather is calling for mostly cloudy till 9am and that is when they are going to stop running the big turbines

 

Gary's excellent bird adventure part 2. Conowingo mania, saturday, 12/14/13 at 0600 in darlington md. Meet at the wawa 3530 conowingo road, street, md at 0540 to pickup coffee and soup. I have a 400 5.6 canon for anyone wanting to borrow a little extra length.