Bald Eagle Landing — Alaska River Study
949.00 د.إ
A bald eagle captured at the precise moment of landing on a river gravel bar in Alaska — the full wingspan of 2.4 metres spread wide, each primary feather isolated.
Description
The Chilkat River system in southeast Alaska attracts the world’s largest concentration of bald eagles during the late salmon run — up to 3,000 birds gathering to feed on the final salmon carcasses in the late November period. This photograph, made from a vehicle hide at the Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve, captures an adult bird in a full-wing landing approach, the wingspan of approximately 2.4m spread at maximum extent as the bird decelerates for perch contact. At 1/3200s with a 600mm lens, each of the ten primary flight feathers of each wing is frozen in its precise aerodynamic position, the entire wing loading and lift-generation mechanism visible as a frozen aerodynamic study.
