Photo Of The Day By David Connel

Today’s Photo Of The Day is “Aerial Contest” by David Connel. Location: Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve, Alaska.

“I traveled to Haines, Alaska, specifically to photograph the bald eagle congregation,” explains Connel. “The eagles congregate to eat the dead and dying salmon after the late spawning run up the Chilkat River. You walk along the river until you see interesting bald eagle behavior. Even though there are dead fish everywhere, they prefer to steal another eagle’s fish. Most of the time they steal from each other on the ground. This was an unusual aerial contest where the eagle was forced to drop the fish while flying. The falling fish is just out of the frame of this picture. Ironically, a third eagle stole the fish after it hit the ground.”

Exposure: 1/500th sec., f/8, ISO 800, 340mm.

Photo of the Day is chosen from various OP galleries, including Assignments, Galleries and the OP Contests. Assignments have weekly winners that are featured on the OP website homepage, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. To get your photos in the running, all you have to do is submit them.