Big Stone Lake Eagles, 3-28-15

Over last weekend, I got a phone call from my friend Bill Doms, and he asked me what I was doing that Saturday.  I wasn't doing much, so we decided to make the 2 hour drive to Big Stone Lake and check out some of the Eagles partaking in the open water fish fest near the Big Stone Lake power plant.

Once we got there, it was almost like a chaser convergence - tons of people out there checking out the eagles.  Most people were being pretty smart about it, but others were getting out of their cars, trying to get close to the eagles, making sounds at them, etc.  Really just being obnoxious.  Sounds like a standard storm chase in Oklahoma in the first week of May, doesn't it?

But, it still made for a pretty show!

This guy kept hovering over the cars.  It was a windy day, and it was amazing watching him soar! 

Streaking towards the heavens...

It was also pretty neat running into my good friends Nick Elms and Amanda Hill out there!  After chatting with them, I met up with Bill and his mom, whom I have not seen in a long time.

A little unusual seeing two fully mature eagles out.  Most of them should be sitting on their nests right about now.

It was also a good day to get to learn and know my new gear.  I ended up using my new 7100 most of the day.  One thing I found out is the perfect shot is not perfect unless I set my white balance and color tones right.  Otherwise, the shot will be wasted.  So, for all of you people out there learning your cameras or photography, learn that.  You can tell in my pictures from the day, as I went along I was taking the time to actually set and tweak these settings a little more.  It really is worth it - this way you don't have to spend hours in Photoshop and then your photos look junky.  I am going to guess you can tell which photos I took at the start of the day, and then towards then end!

As we started to wrap up our day, we also went out to the Big Stone Wildlife refuge, but didn't really see anything.  We started to make our way home, got hungry and then stopped for a burger at this 50's cafe in Big Stone, and then ended up at home just as the sun was setting.  Pretty good end to my weekend!

Now I am starting to look forward even more to severe weather season!  My cameras are ready, the StormTeam vehicles are getting prepped, and before we know it, we'll be dealing with severe weather.  Personally I'm just hoping for some more moisture, because the farmers out here in the valley need it!