Sometimes in photography we have to be a bit lucky, and today was one of those lucky moments. I was just out and about on a nice winter day and checking the usual spots for eagle viewing and maybe some photo opportunities so I decided to go down to Sauk by the dam. Not much for activity there so I made my way to the VFW park and there was a bit of traffic down there but I didn’t know why. I did however get out of my car because of this beautiful swan who was cruisin’ down the river banks.

I am still getting used to my new Nikon z7, paired with the Nikkor 200-500 and a 1.4x adaptor. I find that focus speed is a tiny bit slow but I need remember that this camera is just over 45mp and I probably don’t need the reach with the adaptor vs the speed of focus when photographing wildlife. Enough about that, back to the reason we are here. While on the river banks a fellow photographer told me there was an eagle release today and I had no idea it was happening. You better believe I was going to stick around for that! We made our way over to the crowd and REGI ( Raptor Education Group Inc. ) pulled up shortly after. Now I have been a big fan of REGI for a long time now but thanks to social media algorithms I rarely see their posts so I was unaware of the release today. I need to pay more attention for sure!

Three, now healthy, eagles of various ages that were suffering with injuries or illnesses were being released back into the wild thanks to the team at REGI. It was a great little event but emotions for some were still high as you can imagine they would be working with these amazing animals. Their hard work and dedication to helping these birds get back into the wild shows when you see them interact with these beautiful creatures whether it is in person or on their socials. REGI is a non profit so you want to make sure to visit their website so you can make donations, every little bit helps.

Below are some of the images I got during the release event!