f2point8

Irishtown Nature Park, Moncton, NB. At one point this evening there were as many as five adult eagles soaring over the reservoir. Unfortunately only this fellow, a loner and the first one I spotted as I entered the park, came close enough to get a picture.

A juvenile bald eagle roosts near the reservoir, Irishtown Nature Park, Moncton, NB. Shot with the 40D, Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L, and Canon Extender EF 2x II.

Mathieu plays with his Nintendo DS before going to bed. Shot with the 40D and a Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 wide open at f/1.8.

Stéphanie reading just before bedtime. Shot with the 40D and the Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 lens @ 1.4.

This could be better but it was shot through extremely dirty glass. However, I wanted to try shooting through glass, and at high ISO’s (this was shot at 3200 ISO), to see what the 40D could do. While the shooting conditions were far from perfect, the performance isn’t bad - 3200 ISO on the 40D is about where 1600 ISO is on the XT. But what really amazed me was the AF speed and accuracy, not to mention a blazing fast 6.5 frames-per-second that made it hard to fire off just one shot at a time in servo mode. I think I’m really going to like this camera!

An osprey hunts over the reservoir at the Irishtown Nature Park.

The migratory birds have yet to arrive in any great numbers, but a few are slowly making their appearance. Above are a pair of ring-necked ducks, taken at the Sackville Waterfowl Park on 16 April 2008.