Beside my two favorite canine Goldens, I realized today that I have a third favorite Golden, an aquiline one. Cleo, the Golden Eagle, has been featured on more than one occasion in this blog. I spent the day taking photos at my hawk rescue group’s annual open house. The California Foundation for Birds of Prey rescues and rehabilitates raptors, releases those that can be released, and makes education birds out of those whose injuries prevent their release.
I captured a few shots of Cleo that I like. Since I am reflected in Cleo’s eye in all of the shots, I consider them all “reflections in a golden eye.” The irony of this is that the 1967 movie, “Reflections In A Golden Eye” starred Elizabeth Taylor who also played Cleopatra in the film of the same name. Cleo the Golden Eagle is named for Cleopatra, Queen of the Nile, after surviving West Nile Virus which destroyed her near vision so she cannot see to land or to find food so she cannot be released. I have known Cleo for about three years now and she is a beautiful bird with a distinct personality. Cleo’s handler and caregiver, Mike, loaned me his newly acquired 500mm lens to try. I had trouble getting far enough away to get in focus shots of Cleo. I guess this wasn’t a good test of that lens.
I took the first two shots with my 70-200mm lens; the second is cropped to show my reflection and that of my friend Carly who is an aspiring wildlife biologist so I took her with me today so she could meet the hawk people. I took the third shot with the loaner 500mm lens.
These are AMAZING!!!!!!!