Eagle Watching

 Sunday was a great day for Eagle watching.  Not a pretty day, 8 degrees (F) with a wind chill of -16 (F).  Grey and trying to snow.  But we saw lots of eagles, and they were very active.  I didn't actually count, but I'm guessing 2-3 dozen easily.Here's the best (or at lest my favorite) photo:

Taken along the Great River Road, just a bit north of Alton.  There were 4 eagles hanging around this particular bit of open water.  This one cooperated with  a nice pose.

Or even this juvenile, who was circling around just below the Alton locl and dam, with 5 or 6 friends.

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Of course, the reality it that photo is far from typical.  The photo below is more normal.  Taken on the upstram side of Alton loack nd dam, that's the point of Ellis Island:

Yep, there's 5 eagles in this photo.  The trees with the 2 eagles  are about 750 yards away from our vantage point.  See below:

Anyway, Eagle watching is always fun, and the photos are just gravy.  After all, my "biggest" lens is a 55-200mm zoom (which translates to 300mm max with the 1.5:1 crop size).  

Now, it would be cool to have the kind of lens that gets you the really stunning photos.  Lenses like these:

Yeah, I'm envious, but I'd have to win the lottery twice.