Usually when I photograph birds I like a clean, graphic shot without a lot of distractions. This image is definitely not that. But this immature black-chested buzzard eagle I captured in Patagonia is such an impressive bird that the mess of branches, I feel, don't distract from the subject. In addition, the large, folded wing is held away from the body by the branches, and that makes the eagle look especially dynamic. I used a Canon 500mm lens plus a 1.4x teleconverter which gave me a frame-filling shot. This is uncropped. I knew the eagle was going to fly, so I took off the 1.4x converter but I was still too close. The huge wing span would be out of the frame, but unfortunately as I was moving back the bird took flight and I missed the action. My settings were in anticipation of the flight: 1/8000, f/7.1, 2000 ISO. I didn't need such a fast shutter, and if I had had a few more seconds I would have lowered the ISO to 800.
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