Final Touches

I first photographed the female sitting on the nest on March 23rd. By May 13th, I had determined that this would be my pandemic project and began photographing with a single-minded focus, concluding when the chick fledged on July 10th. 
The nest is six miles from my home so I was able to follow its activity daily on 31 different days. Some days I photographed twice a day for three hours each shift, other times I was only able to stay an hour or so. My longest day was July 7th when I spent 14.5 hours. My dogs, Otter and Badger, joined me and were stellar companions. One evening a skunk sauntered across the road right in front of me. I was secretly hoping one of the adult eagles would nab it. Early one morning, a lynx crossed the road ahead of me as I was driving in. Some days it rained, blew, and was cold.  Other days were dusty and sweltering. One especially balmy day, the cottonwoods made it look like it was snowing all afternoon. 
There was no cell service so I was unable to return calls or text. Traffic on the dirt road was light, however I did meet many wonderful people, with whom I excitedly shared what I was learning about the nest and chick. Despite being outside, it was difficult to remember to social distance. For those few people with whom I was a bit short, I apologize. My excuse being that after waiting hours for a shot, if it was about to happen, I had to focus on my job.  
It was at the same time incredibly boring and exhilarating. Boring when the chick slept for hours and no adults flew in; exhilarating as I visualized the shots I might get if I waited long enough.  
Leaving the nest was really hard. I would arrive and decide I could stay 3 hours. If nothing happened during the three hours, the next thing I knew I had been there 6 hours. This, of course, created an ongoing inner conflict. I still had obligations and office work, yard work, housework, and a husband at home.  As much as I would have liked to, I could not dedicate 14 hours a day to this project. My solution was to schedule my Zoom Lightroom Workflow clients in the middle of the day so I had to get back to my home office at a certain time. On the days I did not have clients, I purposely did not bring any food or snacks with me, thinking that would force me to quit and go home... it didn't, it just made me wish I had packed a lunch.
In the end, I have over 750 TB of still images, 800 TB of video files, and even more fond memories. A wonderful learning experience on so many levels!
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In this photograph, the chick has just hatched, but is not visible. When I arrived at the nest and set up, the female was calling loudly. I quickly metered and watched her through the view finder.  When she leaned forward I anticipated that the male was about to bring something in and I let the shutter rip.  
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Photograph taken on May 15.

F/8 1/1250 ISO 1600 600 mm plus 1.4X. Canon 1DxIII
Shot with a Skimmer sack, skimmer and Wimberley head out of the driver side window.
Dogs in the back knew not to move or pant.