Golden Eagles At Millerton Lake

Dale Matson

Click On Photos To Enlarge

It is possible to get fairly close to the many Bald Eagles at Millerton Lake. There are two nesting pairs and several seasonal visitors. Additionally, the Bald Eagles seem to be used to and tolerate the proximity of people. They live close to the lake and take prey from the water including fish and Coots. They are often seen on boulders down by the lake looking for fish near the surface.

There is also a resident pair of Golden Eagles at Millerton Lake. I also believe there is at least one juvenile Golden Eagle which has white under the wings. Golden Eagles like open terrain with rolling hills and cliffs and feed on rabbits and ground squirrels. Unlike the Bald Eagles, they are not easy to approach. The juvenile Golden Eagles look similar to juvenile Bald Eagles.

There are no “Drive By” opportunities to photograph the Golden Eagles who hang out on the Madera side of the lake along the cliffs of Millerton Lake and Finegold Creek. If you take the Millerton Lake eagle boat tour you may see them high on the cliffs in these areas but even long lenses on good cameras will not make them very big.

I have done a considerable amount of hiking and climbing over the last two years in my efforts to take a telephoto photo of the Golden Eagles. This year, I have had some success. I use the Sony AR73 and a 560mm Sony lens. This is nearly equal to a spotting scope when the photos are cropped.

My perched photos are rare and small. Most of my photos are of them flying above me in ever higher circles until they are out of sight. They are beautiful to watch and their eyes are equal to my binoculars. So when I am looking for them, they are looking at me before I ever see them. Here are some of my Golden Eagle Photos.

Juvenile Golden?

Perched Golden From Eagle Boat Tour

For close photos of Golden Eagles please see my article on Eastman Lake

http://midsierramusing.blogspot.com/2018/02/eastman-lake-raymond-ca.html

Eastman Lake Raymond CA

Dale Matson

Click On Photographs To Englarge

Eastman Lake From Vista View

Let me begin with some particulars about Eastman Lake from Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastman_Lake

“H. V. Eastman Lake is an artificial lake formed by the construction of Buchanan Dam across the Chowchilla River in the foothills of Madera County, California. A small percentage of the northwest area of the reservoir is in Mariposa County.

Buchanan Dam was a 1975 flood control and irrigation project of the United States Army Corps of Engineers. The earthen dam, 218 feet high with a length of 1746 foot at the crest, impounding a maximum capacity of 150,000 acre-feet of Chowchilla River water in the reservoir, is owned and operated by the Corps.”

Eastman Lake is about an hour from my home in Fresno CA and I enjoy the mostly two-lane drive through the rolling hills of Madera County. As you near the reservoir, you think to yourself, “How could there be a lake in the middle of all these foothills?”

As you begin the climb around the dam and up to lake level, there is a wonderful vista view area. After that, there is a ranger station/visitors information center as you begin to descend toward the boat ramp. The folks in the ranger station know lots about the wildlife and can be very helpful. There is another boat ramp on the west side of the lake also. There are also many nice camping and RV accommodations for those wanting to stay more than a day.

The place is full of hawks but has other bird species like the Belted Kingfisher. My main interest is the Bald and Golden Eagles that nest here. Unlike Millerton Lake near me, all the eagles at Eastman Lake are year-round residents.

I have no idea where any of the eagle’s nests are but the lake is small enough to find a few places from which to scan much of the lake with binoculars. The Bald Eagles really stick out with their white heads.

If you go during the week, there is very little traffic with most visitors parked at one of the two boat ramps for fishing. There is also a hiking trail that is about 4 miles one way that ends at the Raymond Bridge. Raymond is the closest town to the reservoir.

The landscape photos were taken with the Sony A7R3 and Zeiss Batis 25mm F2. The Wildlife photos were taken with the Sony 100-400 GM with a 1.4X extender.

Golden Eagles

Red Tailed Hawk

 Mature and Juvenile Bald Eagles