Using A Fish Slingshot For Better Eagle Photography

I know that the first thing you did after seeing that title is looking at the date thing on your smartphone. No it is not April first.

Photographer Ken Kester from Clinton, Iowa knows how hard it is to photograph Bald Eagles, so he rigged the system. Instead of depending on luck waiting for the eagle to arrive into a comfortable shooting position, he devised the perfect mechanism to lure them.

Using a homemade contraption, Ken slingshots dead fish about a hundred meters away from the docs. This is far enough from the docs that the eagles feel comfy enough to snatch the fish out of the water, while close enough to allow photographers to get good shots of the birds.

Ken tells the The Quad-City Times (video here) that the “Fish Launcher is popular with the ever-growing number of photographers who gather daily near Lock and Dam 14 [at the Mississippi River]. The large number of eagles along the river this year seems to have drawn out the photo enthusiasts who can number from 10 to more than 150 in recent weekends… …It brings the birds in and allows more opportunities to get a dramatic shot”

[via The Quad-City Times], thanks for the head up, Jason.