Eagles at Manawa

John (ham radio, cycling, photography friend) had been over at Lake Manawa State Park to shoot photos of the eagles.   My visits to Bosque del Apache and talking with birder friend Tom, I planned to bring the camera bag with me Sunday morning.

Sunday John brought a print we took at coffee. After coffee, I headed to Manawa to find the eagle.  John had seen them in the area of Boy Scout Island and E. Manawa Drive.

I started on the West side where I visited with Tom.  No eagles.  Next stop was Boy Scout Island.  A few geese, and some large birds further into the lake.  Took a couple photos but was getting discouraged.

Looked there were a group of folks stopping along the East side of the lake.  Drove there and parked along the road as there were several large birds flying in the area.

I forgot how difficult it is to fallow birds in flight and keep the lens in focus.  Auto focus was having a fit.  Switched to manual focus (which I am not accustomed to - like how to move rings to focus vs zoom).  Was able to a get a couple "in flight" photos.

One immature bald eagle decided to perch on a branch right over my car.  Gave me some time to fine tune the focus.  Here's the best of the photos I took.