Goal Achieved - Bald Eagle Dream Photo

OMG!   Seriously…OH MY GAWD! WHAT?!!  I got my DREAM SHOT!!  

Okay, let me take a breath and back up a little. I have a short list of animals and birds I haven’t had the chance to photograph out in the wild – my Dream Shots. (I do not like photos taken of animals held in captivity – don’t even get me started on how I feel about zoos.) It’s a great feeling when I finally get a photo of those elusive creatures and mark it off my list. But something happened this weekend that made me rethink this approach.

The American Bald Eagle was at the top of my Dream Shot list for years…and it has been marked off three times already, because nature is a “never say never” kind of thing. My first attempt was in 2017, and I was shooting through the window of an RV driving up a winding road through the Yellowstone mountains. Not a great shot, but I was so stoked to get it and cross it off my list!

My second shot came 4 years later in 2021 when I spotted a bald eagle perched in the tree next door. He was close, but hidden behind a lot of branches. Still, it was a better shot than my first attempt so I crossed it off the list, again.

As it turns out, that wasn’t the REAL dream shot either – it came when my husband and I crossed a nearby bridge in February 2023 and saw TWO bald eagles perched in the same tree. I crossed it off my list-again. The Fat Lady has Sung! I have definitely gotten the BEST shot I’m ever going to get of an American Bald Eagle! … right?

Nope! Wrong again! 2024 rolled around, and I decided I wanted to go to Grafton, IL to witness/photograph the large population of Bald Eagles migrating through the area from December through March. Just for fun though, because I’d already taken my “best” shot. But on the day we were set to go, I just wasn’t feeling up to making the long trip. Instead, we stayed local and made a lap around Lake Springfield, where more and more Bald Eagles are spotted every year. After seeing no eagles around the lake, my husband suggested we drive out toward Petersburg. I had no idea just how magical that suggestion would be.

Two miles outside of Lincoln’s New Salem Historic State Park, while I was scanning empty tree tops and the overcast sky, my husband said, “Oh, what’s THAT?!” He quickly pulled the truck over to the side of the road, right across from the most amazing thing I have ever seen in the wild. That’s right! It was an American Bald Eagle snacking on the corpse of a fallen deer. This gigantic bird of prey, perched less than 10 feet away, stared straight at us like he was sizing us up and didn’t flinch while my camera clicked. He only started to fly away when another car drove by 90 seconds later.

STUNNED!   With refrains of “the circle of liiiife…” playing in my head and literal tears streaming down my cheeks, I silently thanked all the forces that brought me to the right-est place at the right-est time. And in that moment, I realized I don’t need a Dream Shot List at all – I just need to channel my inner-George Michael and have faith. Nature is limitless in its complex beauty. It will always show up with glorious scenes that will blow my mind in ways I could’ve never thought to put on a list.