You Gonna Eat That?

Hopefully, opening the photograph at full size will make some of the bit players easier to see.

Normally, I shrink pictures down prior to posting them, just so they don't require as much storage space or bandwidth. But in this case, I made an exception. A little above and to the right of the Bald Eagle in the picture is one of the local troublemakers, a Stellar's Jay. A jay that is clearly plotting some mischief. I suspect that it wanted a bite of whatever it was that the eagle had taken up into the tree to eat. Nearly hidden in the foliage to the right of the Jay is one of the several crows that were also likely looking to score some calories that someone else had done the work for. But none of them, in the end, had the nerve to take on the eagle, which was able to eat in peace, presuming that birds are self-conscious when being closely watched.

Unfortunately, even with a good-quality compact camera, nature photography is difficult. The small sensor and narrow aperture at the end of the zoom range mean that even in broad daylight, the camera isn't really capable of getting the level of light it needs for a sharp, crisp picture. And with cellular photography having gutted the compact camera market, better offerings are unlikely to come along. Still, as the saying goes, the best camera is the one you have with you, so one makes do as one must.