One of my favorite bald eagle photos

The first week of the Covid-19 quarantine here in Louisiana was a killer for me. I'm accustomed to being on the road, traveling more than 20 weeks each year. So sitting at home was absolutely driving me nuts.

So I'm sure it was no surprise to my wife four days in when she walked out the front door and saw my truck hooked up to my boat.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"Going to the swamps," I replied. "Want to go?"

You see, our governor has asked that we all stay home as much as possible — but he has refused to shut down our waters, understanding that there are few places more isolated than on a boat.

So my wife didn't take long to join the trip, and we were soon launching on Blind River just 20 minutes from our home. The goal was some social distancing Louisiana-style followed by a sunset photo session.

Of course, I brought along my camera gear, and about halfway to Lake Maurepas a bald eagle atop a towering cypress tree caught my eye. I kept going for a bit (so the bird didn't spook), came off plane and quickly pulled out my Nikon D500 and attached it to a Nikon 300m lens. Then I used the trolling motor to silently ease back to shoot the beautiful raptor.

The Eagle just sat there, letting me shoot, for quite a while. But finally, it decided I was close enough and launched into the air.

The photo at the top of this page was my favorite one in the series, showing the eagle just after it left its perch. You can see the razor-sharp talons, you can almost feel the bird clawing for air with its wings and that eye bores seemingly into your soul.

I'll share more about the rest of the shoot later, but this was a moment I'll always remember.