Preparing for the storm?

Out at the refuge it was pretty quiet today - a few eagles sitting around on the fields (good to see) and no pheasants spotted at all. A brisk breeze from the south cleared the air and cooled my ears.
Murphy and I saw a raccoon and he got to run and chase after it - not too close, you understand, but he was pretty excited for a while.
Lots of folks have been looking for eagles and a lot of them are quite a distance away - but then I turned around in the truck and there was an eagle flying right over me!  Now how did that occur without me seeing it? So you never know what will happen.
Murphy and I were sitting in the grass on a dike watching a photographer on another dike try to get close to an eagle. I felt that there was a decent chance the bird would fly my way so we hunkered down in the dead grass and watched. Well, the bird flew about 100 feet out onto the ice just out of range for the photographer (I think the birds know what size lens you are using) so we didn't get a chance to get an on the wing shot - but, while sitting there 5 white pelicans flew over us! Now where would they come from on February 7th? Jeez I love the unexpected - almost fell over trying to get a shot of them. I love their color against the dark sky and hills.

Here's a few from today: The Rough-legged was sitting just about where I thought he would be. I was using a +1 stop on the internal exposure - could have gone with a +1.5.

He saw something out in the flats.

Off to the hunt.

I did get one shot of the eagle that flew over me.

Majestic.