Bald Eagle, Spotted in the Madison River area, along the West Entrance Road to Yellowstone National Park, Montana/Wyoming, USA
GPS Coordinates for Bald Eagle’s Nest: N 44º39.964′, W 110º 59.299′
Clicking on each photo in this blog posting opens that photo’s page on my portfolio/gallery site in a new window.
Yellowstone National Park’s wildlife is amazing – awe-inspiring and unparalleled in any of the lower 48 states. As I wrote in my official Yellowstone and Grand Teton Wildlife portfolio, the massive Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (of which Yellowstone National Park is the centerpiece) is one of the largest intact temperate-zone ecosystems on Earth. The millions of visitors who visit the GYE every year have the amazing opportunity to point a telephoto lens, spotting scope, or set of binoculars at wild grizzly bears, bison, moose, bald eagles, elk, wolves, and other wildlife. Bison roam the park’s roads along with cars, grizzly bears can be seen yards away from the road, etc… Much more can be said about Yellowstone’s wildlife, but you get the idea. This is not a petting zoo, but the real thing.
This past summer (in July 2009, to be exact – during my recent Yellowstone visit), visitors arriving in the park via West Yellowstone, MT (through the West Entrance Road) did not have to wait long to experience their first wildlife encounter. These visitors were given a real treat: a bald eagle’s nest, just yards from the road.
Bald Eagle in Her Nest, Spotted in the Madison River area, along the West Entrance Road to Yellowstone National Park, Montana/Wyoming, USA
On my first night in Yellowstone, I took a quick stroll through the park, because I had nothing more interesting to do, and I thought it would be good to get my bearings in where I would be spending the next week. Not only did I see the mosquitos along the Madison River that parallels the West Entrance Road, but I also got to see this humungous nest up high on a dead tree located to the side of the road. The nest was empty at the time, but I made a mental note to keep an eye out. Something big had to live in it.
The next morning, my first full day in Yellowstone, I saw it: a bald eagle perched up high on on a tree limb, keeping an eye open in the forest and Madison River below (presumably for fish). I was in awe. I had never come that close to a bald eagle before. I can’t find the words to describe the feeling, but the sight of a bald eagle in the wild was magnificent. I parked my car (carefully, of course), off to the side of the road, and got to work trying to photograph it. I had a rented a Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L IS USM lens for the trip. I put it on, but felt that it did not give me enough power. I decided to try on the Canon Extender EF 1.4x II. Although I lost my auto-focus, and took everything I got, I got some pretty decent shots that day.
For the entire week I was touring Yellowstone, on every day’s morning drive from my West Yellowstone, MT hotel into the park, the bald eagle was there. Sometimes in her nest, and sometimes not in her nest, but rather somewhere else.
One day, the crowd of wildlife watchers and I got to see something unique. That morning, the nest was empty. I decided to stop by anyway, to camp out to see if I would get a glimpse of the bald eagle flying back into its nest. In just a short time, a baby bald eagle (eaglet) raised its head from out of the nest. It started calling out to something in the distance. All of a sudden, the mother bald eagle was noticed on the other side of the Madison River on a hilltop tree (you could see her only with binoculars/scope/telephoto lens), and she began calling out to her baby. Her baby then tried to fly, but couldn’t.
Bald Eaglet, Spotted in the Madison River area, along the West Entrance Road to Yellowstone National Park, Montana/Wyoming, USA
Bald Eaglet, Spotted in the Madison River area, along the West Entrance Road to Yellowstone National Park, Montana/Wyoming, USA
When the show was over, I packed up my car, and drove a little further up the road into the park. A lot of people were stopped by with binoculars glancing at the sky (and of course the elk across the Madison River). I stopped by, and for some time, we saw the same bald eagle, flying in the area round the Madison River. It was quite a sight to see it flying! Unfortunately, I was not set up to photograph birds in flight, and everything was happening so quickly, but I nonetheless took the best picture I could of the bald eagle in flight:
Bald Eagle in Flight (This unprocessed RAW photo is only found here. It is NOT included in my gallery, as I did not process it due to quality issues. It is here for story-telling purposes only.)
Most of the pictures I took of the bald eagle were at 560mm – the maximum focal length allowed by putting a 100-400mm and 1.4 teleconverter together. I handheld some of these shots, especially the first ones I took, but later in the week opted to use my tripod.
On my last day in Yellowstone, as I drove through the park en route to Grand Teton National Park, traffic resembled that of my home of Los Angeles. The road was backed up for miles, almost (but not quite) all the way to the West Entrance Station, with traffic waiting to get a chance to see the magnificent sight of this bald eagle. With all the attention the bald eagles were getting, it came as no surprise to learn that Yellowstone officials designated this area an Eagle Management Area (see note below).
Bald Eagle, Spotted in the Madison River area, along the West Entrance Road to Yellowstone National Park, Montana/Wyoming, USA
For more photos of the resident bald eagle along Yellowstone’s West Entrance Road, and photos of other wildlife, see my Yellowstone and Grand Teton Wildlife gallery.
Note: These pictures were taken before word really spread about the eagle’s nest in the park. At the time, there were no special restrictions in effect, other than the standard wildlife viewing restrictions in place throughout the park. My understanding is that later that area of the West Entrance Road was designated as an Eagle Management Area, and additional restrictions were implemented for the safety of the bald eagles, as well as motorists and visitors on foot.
