A lot of persistence and being there at the right moment is the essence of this set of images, some of the rarest bird shots we have ever taken to date - a beautiful pair of full grown Bald Eagles sitting on a large tree top on the shore of the Verde River on Highway 87 going north to Payson. I shot this scene on the way to work - something told me to put the 10D in the jeep just in case the solitary eagle was present. I don't know if two males will sit so close, but its possibly a male/female pair. You will see in the image on the left side a curious black bird, with a crest on its head. This is a Phainopepla, resembling a small black Stellar Jay or Cardinal. They are sometimes called a "Black Cardinal". Why such a small bird feels safe from these two huge birds is beyond me! (Each eagle is nearly 2 1/2 feet tall.

This shot was taken with a manually focused lens, a 400mm f/6.3 lens I have had for years and adapted it to the Canon mount. Its sharper than what I was getting with the Sigma 600mm, and the lens is much faster.