I had a great day yesterday out near Starved Rock park on the banks of the Illinois River. There were about 25 bald eagles there fishing in the churning waters below the dam. I was surprised to learn a few years ago that Northern Illinois is one of the best places for bald eagle watching in the lower 48 states. The catch is that they are mostly around in the coldest parts of winter, so dress warmly!

I had pretty good results with my Canon 7D and 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L zoom lens. I kept the zoom pegged at 400 almost the whole time.  That focal length was adequate for getting shots when the eagles were closer to me, but there were lots of great shots that I could have obtained with a longer lens. Next time I come out here I will be tempted to rent something like the Canon 500mm F4L and use it in combination with my 1.4x tele-extender.

I cannot say enough for the battery life in the 7D.  I shot over a thousand pictures during 5 hours in ~20 degree temperatures and the battery was still nearly full at the end of the day.  I had planned ahead bringing along two spare batteries to rotate to a warm pocket in the cold weather, but it turned out they were not needed.